I could get that number down to $400 with more information, but again, it's a tradeoff - you're exchanging effort and time for money.

Example: I spent $11 on a 5-lb pork belly this weekend. This morning I cleaned that up and started the curing process. I will get 4.5lbs of pancetta from that, in a month. At current prices of $14/lb or more, that's roughly $63 worth of pancetta.

Curing: 4% salt by weight of meat, plus a little black pepper and brown sugar and a negligible amount of other spices, and somewhere cool to hang meat (fridges work) for a few weeks.