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Generally speaking sacrificed animals were still eaten, though certain parts might be burned completely.

Conveniently, the parts that were said to be desired by the gods, thus they were destroyed by burning, were among those less desirable for humans.

The good meat was normally eaten by humans after sacrifices, not wasted.

A sacrifice was normally a loss only for the owner of the animals, if after being sacrificed in a public ceremony their remains were shared with everybody in the community, instead of being sold or consumed only in the house of the owner.

This isn't consistently true. The kind of animal sacrifice that happened during the First and Second Temple periods often involved burning the entire animal, except for its skin[1].

(To my understanding, giving the god(s) only the "undesirable" parts of the animal is popularly associated with the Greek gods, not Abrahamic faiths.)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_offering_(Judaism)

It’s a glorified, ritualized barbecue— and probably even more ethical (too bad that today it is frowned upon to see your meat before it dies)

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