what do you buy at the butchers/fruit shop ?

Legacy_user

ive decided to stop buying my meat/fruit + veg from the supermarket but its about 12 years since ive actually been to either of these shops any tips or hint , i hear a lot about cheaper cuts of meat but what are they ? sorry to sound so dense .

Halloway

Ask your butcher. Contrary to what you might think they are usually very happy to sell the cheaper cuts because those cuts are often the ones they have difficulty selling.

griffam

Neck of lamb......fantastic slow cooked with pear barley.:j
Gammon hock........boil and then use meat in carbonation, on a pizza.:T

Brisket of lamb....boned stiffed and rolled.

If you search for thrifty meat recipes you will also get loads of other ideas.

Kimitatsu

My hubby did slow roast beef with a brisket joint the other day and it was gorgeous!

Belly pork done slowly with newmans own bbq sauce - melts on the tongue.

Oxtail stew - thats if you can find the oxtail! Hard to find even though it is a relatively cheap cut.

Griffam - love your signature :rotfl: welcome to the boards :T

nuttywoman

Beef Skirt is lovely after its been cooked slowly for hours, also stewing beef for pies, broths or stews.

shopndrop

I think if you just ask your butcher for advice, he will be more than willing to help. Just tell him the sort of meal you want. I would never go back to buying meat in a supermarket, the meat from the butcher is cheaper and has much more flavour.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I buy rib of beef from my butcher. It is not chaep but there is loads of the best tasting beef, juicy tasty and enough fat for about £10.
Also I get free range eggs, cheaper than the supermarket. Somtimes I buy thier home made faggots 40p each and very tasty.
I don't bother with the greengrocer too expensive, instead I use the farm shop. They have decent resonably priced fruit and veg, and the milk, and free range eggs are cheaper than the supermarket and locally produced.
And I work in a supermarket and get a discount so that is factored into my decisions.

hels123_2

Beef Skirt is lovely after its been cooked slowly for hours

Absolutely, its the only meat for stew in my opinion.

Tarry

I used to work in a greengrocers and the seasonal veg was always popular and the local produce.

jenniewb

I used to work in a Green grocers too- its fine just to go in and ask "whats in season", so many times we would get people in who were sorely dissapointed over the fact we had to charge more then Tescos for stuff that was out of season! we had to explain "its because its not been frozen for 8 months in storage" to which we would get back "no I am not talking about frozen veg, I'm talking about fresh..." thing is, so were we...

This time of year if I am remembering correctly, is good for figs, permisson fruits (both just ending though), Oranges, apples, pears, and other orchard fruits, and veg wise your looking at largeish potatos, parsips, cauliflower, beetroot, squash and the tail end of brussel sprouts. These tend to also be cheaper this time of year as a result of them being in season.

Come summer, the rough rule of thumb I used to follow was the hotter the weather, the smaller the fruit/veg and the thinner or more delicate the skin and sweeter the fruit (its the sunlight that helps make them sweet)- though thats the rule of thumb and there are always exceptions to that.

MsCrow

Chrissy, you won't regret this, the quality and taste of the produce will be so much better. I second what has been said, my butchers are full of good advice, this is particularly important to me as I don't eat meat but cook it for husband. For really cheap cuts, trotters, offal in general, right up to decent cheap cuts such as neck, skirt and brisket, try buying a slow cooker if you're at work, nothing beats a really lovely smell of well cooked and tasty cassarole or joint as you walk in through the door. On veg, do ask what's in season as you'll cook more creatively anyways rather than shopping on auto pilot.