And you can use less. A single de-cased link, used as flavor/structure instead of as a macro taking up half the plate, can completely upgrade a dish's potential to fill. Pasta con salsiccia, ragù, or even veg sautéd in the rendered sausage fat topped with the crispy bits.
Dallas Fed survey is always good, but this is an all-time comment from someone in food manufacturing —
"As the economy weakens, we are seeing modest growth in our category of dinner sausage. This category tends to grow when the economy weakens, as sausage is a good protein substitute for higher-priced proteins and can "stretch" consumers’ food budgets."
dallasfed.org/research/surve…