This past Fathers Day, Maeve Webster decided to splurge by cooking a socially distanced lobster dinner for her parents. But instead of the sometimes hefty price shes used to paying at her hometown market in Arlington, Vermont, she discovered that the crustaceans were selling for $5 a pound.

Ive never seen lobster so cheap, Webster, the president of Menu Matters , a consultancy focused on trends and consumer behavior for the food industry, told HuffPost. I think the least Ive ever paid before is $7 a pound. At that price, I even bought a little extra and we had lobster rolls the next day.

Its not just high-quality shellfish thats suddenly more available for home cooks. Im noticing that prime cuts of beef are consistently available at grocery stores, Webster said. Prime is the highest grade for beef, usually sold almost exclusively to restaurants. It is more expensive than other cuts, like those labeled choice, but Im finding it to be far more affordable than it ever was before the pandemic.

Why this is happening

The unprecedented affordability of Websters Fathers Day dinner was a result of how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the food service industry, and how that slowdown is rippling through supply chains to ranchers, farmers and the fishing trade.

Traditionally, restaurants get dibs on all the best stuff, like dry-aged steaks, racks of lamb, sushi-grade tuna and the seasons most delicious lobsters. But with restaurant sales at an all-time low , many of the suppliers who used to sell exclusively to the food service industry are now finding ways to get their goods into the hands of consumers. Depending on where you live, how you shop and how lucky you are on any particular day, you might be able to find food fixings that would normally only be available as part of a high-priced white-tablecloth meal.