Rising prices fail to dampen Australians' appetite for meat Lucy Cormack Meat continues to be the meal of choice for Australians, who are spending $378 million a week on meat to cook at home. 
Figures released by discount supermarket chain Aldi show the average Australian household cooks four-and-half meat meals each week, spending around $46.
According to the Galaxy Research poll, chicken is the highest- ranked meat in Australia, with 47per cent of the nation ranking it as their favourite.
Lamb is most popular in NSW, while Western Australia has a greater taste for pork than anywhere else in the country.
The ACT has the biggest appetite for meat, with just over half of respondents eating five or more meat-based meals a week.
Lisa Sharp, chief marketing and communications officer for Meat and Livestock Australia, said Australia led the world in meat consumption.
"Australians love their beef and lamb, they have been staples on the dinner table for decades," she said.
"This has meant that despite consumers experiencing large price rises at the retail level over the past decade, Australians have been prepared to spend more on red meat."
Over the past few decades, the value of the Australian beef industry has increased from approximately $5 billion to $8 billion.
"At the retail level, the value share of beef sales (as a percentage of total meat sales) has remained solid, averaging between 36-40 per cent over the past five years, whereas chicken's value share has averaged 24-26 per cent," Ms Sharp said.
At the end of last month, Aldi took the lead in a meat price war with rivals Coles and Woolworths, which started when Woolworths cut the cost of its lamb leg to $10/kilo, along with the price of mince and sausages.
The dramatic price cuts garnered criticism from some in the industry, who argued small, independent butchers could not compete. Beef prices have on average increased 66 per cent, from $10.60/kg in 2000 to $17.61/kg retail weight, in 2015.