Organic Meat - where to get at lowest cost?

zar

HappySad wrote:

I agree with everyone in that Organic meat is very expensive. Because of the better animal welfare (is this true? please comment) and the use of less or no chemicals in the production I will be moving organic.

To counter the large costs of the meat I will only now eat red meat twice a week and chicken once a week. Then its fish twice and veggy meals (tofu, lentils, etc) for the other two pays. I can then afford the organic meat.

I know they are all expensive but I am looking at quality at a low price. If they are all organic what is the difference in paying more for your meat? Please advice me..Gritts you seem to have some ideas in this area.

There will always be differences in quality and taste but it doesn't necessarily reflect in the price as it also depends on market forces and production costs. For example, I have two local sources of organic chickens, my local farmshop and Canterbury farmers market (which isn't like a normal farmers market, more like a farm shop that has produce from a dozen different farms and is open every day). Both are nice, but the farm shop ones are nicer. They are also cheaper, partly because they are being sold on-site, partly because I suspect that there is a markup in Canterbury farmer market as it tends to be the "posher" people looking for exclusive products who buy there (not that there's anything wrong with that). You also get the giblets from the farm shop which are great for stock. :T The plus points of the farmers markets ones is they always have some for sale, whereas with the farm shop its a case of ordering them or snap them up when they're there! I do buy organic chickens from tesco etc sometimes but they aren't as good.

This detail obviously doesn't help you unless you happen to live near me, but it might give you some ideas of where to buy your meat. You can do a bit of research on the online suppliers, and then why not take a notebook with you when you go shopping at supermarkets, markets and farmshops. When you buy the meat, make a note of the price. (you could also note the prices of cuts that you aren't buying that day but might in the future) Then when you cook it make a note of what you thought of it (in your head or with the prices). Hopefully that will help you decide what's best value for you locally.

Meat from "rare breeds", particularly lamb/beef, may be more expensive depending on the breed. It takes a bit of getting used to as it is stronger tasting but v nice. So that is something else to experiment with over time. Locally we have sussex beef which is very nice. When I was in Yorkshire I found a souce of shorthorn beef I think it was, which was also lovely. In Wales you can get Welsh black beef and so on.

Slightly off-topic, but I was rereading the river cottage cookbook the other day and if I understood correctly, in the luxury lines of the supermarkets when they offer aberdeen angus beef or hereford or whatever with a huge markup, they beef can still be from holstein (i.e. black and white milking cow) mothers with a hereford father via AI. :rolleyes:

Pretty much the only reason I buy organic over free-range (I don't always) is the higher welfare standards with organic. For example stocking rates are lower with organic. Similarly I buy other organic produce when I can because its better for the environment. For example farmland birds (almost all of which are in severe decline in the UK) have higher breeding populations on organic famland - this makes sense, as the insects they need to feed their chicks aren't being sprayed to oblivion. If you care about animal welfare and/or the environment then you can be smug at buying organic. Personally this is why I do it rather than concerns over chemicals.

Free-range meat can be as good as organic with respect to animal welfare/environment, but you have to do your research, whereas with organic someone else has done the research for you.

gravitytolls

I'm inclined to think we should all be looking more for free range, rather than organic.
Personally I can't tell the difference in taste.
The Jeremy Vine show had a feature a few mths ago on this. He tried 2 eggs, and he thought the tastiest one was organic, it wasn't.

Anyhoo, I think the best way to ensure animal welfare is to use your local butcher, and ask where his meat originates.

Sarahsaver

surely in theory an animal can be intensively reared but still be fed on organic foodstuffs. Imho organic says nothing about welfare. Sheep and lamb all run around in fields because they will not thrive indoors, so eat these if free range is a worry.
I have a big problem with supermarket 'organic' ranges. I mean it seems a bit daft to me to see 'organic chocolate digestives' in a fancy box. Best to cut out the many middle men and make your own with a bag of organic flour. A lot of it is over processed.
Taste alone Im not sure about that either. That's not exactly an environmental principle nor should it be held up to be.
I will try the expensive japanese beef one day when I can afford it, you know the one which is massaged daily and fed with beer. Not particularly free range but I expect they feel well looked after;)
The best thing we all could do for a start is to stop buying meat from supermarkets anyway.

Burlesque_Babe

little_lil wrote:

Have a look at

http://www.devonrose.com/

we have recently started using them and their meat is fantastic. Their half lamb or pork boxes work out at very good value. Their sausages are so filling that you can make a pack stretch very easily. And the thought of their sausage plait just makes me dribble :drool:

Hope this helps

Agree 100%. I've been buying from Devon Rose for well over 2 years now and the meat is very good. The sausages are excellent and I'm also drooling at the thought of the sausage plait!!!!!

It's a family run business and they are really helpful - give them a call if you wanted to know anything in particular.

[Deleted User]

I have always ordered from craig farm organics but I have just made my first Devon rose order. I am going to go with the fortnightly box to begin with. I enjoy the variety of my veggie organic box so a meat box is also very appealing and I`ll know where I am financially from month to month.

Thanks little lil for the link

gritts

Sarahsaver wrote:

surely in theory an animal can be intensively reared but still be fed on organic foodstuffs. Imho organic says nothing about welfare.

Organic will mean better welfare conditions simply because you cannot have such high stocking densities as seen in intensive farm ie less than an A4 piece of paper per chicken in a warehouse with 30000 to 40000 birds in. Disease will spread and wipe out your flock. The organic flock is not laced with drugs and antibiotics to prevent these diseases through living in unnatural conditions. In intensive, 41 days a chicken has to reach full killing weight. That's a lot of growth quickly - I wonder how they do that?

To be labelled ORGANIC there are considerably more criteria than simply what they eat.

The Soil Association standards for chicken welfare are by far the best, possibly in the world. 2/3's of the chickens life should be spent outside. The highest number of birds that can housed inside is at any one time is 2000 with considerably lower stocking densities. Minimum slaughter ages is 82 days.

gritts

HappySad wrote:

I know they are all expensive but I am looking at quality at a low price. If they are all organic what is the difference in paying more for your meat? Please advice me..Gritts you seem to have some ideas in this area.

Hi HappySad.
I've spent ages looking into this as I want 2 things:

1: Quality meat - sourced from the UK/Locally, well hung, well butchered
2: Meat that is not pumped with growth promoters, antibiotics, has had the tails cut off, beaks removed, kept in concrete bunkers, that never feels the rain or sees grass. That has a happy life.

Organic meat does fit the bill for welfare standards and typically it will be of better quality. Having said that I have had Tesco organic fillet steak that was as tough as old boots as it was hung for 20 seconds.

My search for organic meat led me to farmers markets that led me to good butchers that led me to independant producers/suppliers.

The meat I buy is not all organic but it is (hopefully) free range and lived a life as you would expect in a childrens book about farm yards, if you know what I mean.

In the last two weeks we ordered £65 worth of organic meat (various cuts) over the internet from a Soil Association acredited farm.

We went to the local farmers market and bought some non organic, well hung beef from a local supplier who encourages you to visit their farm - 'they have nothing to hide'.

And yesterday we went to a free range pig farm (non organic) and bought bacon and sausages. Three weeks ago we were at the farm and saw the pig who graced us with the bacon.

I should say we live on the M25 border, and it's not exactly rolling countryside here.

The bacon from the free range pig farm is the same price as 'Taste the diffence' (from the other crap we sell) or 'Finest' bacon. But there are key points to note.... the bacon tastes sublime, it does not shrink to nothing when cooked as it's not pumped full of water, and the pigs were allowed to wallow in mud and root for whatever they root for. The Supermarket pigs (unless stated as 'outdoor reared') most likely live in a concrete bunker, never see daylight, have their tails docked, and I won't even mention farrowing crates... etc.

I urge you to borrow MEAT by H.F. Whittingstall from the Library (it is MSE after all) or get it cheaply from Amazon and read it like a book rather that select recipes from it

http://www.rivercottage.net/pics/rcmeat.jpg


I'm not an expert but thanks to the Soil Association (I am a member) it has opened my eyes to how meat should taste and be produced.

scorpio_biker

I agree with little_lil about Devon Rose (but then I would, she's my sister and I introduced her to the company).

The meat is very tasty, and because it is you don't need as much. And being family run the company is also very friendly and helpful.

Debt_Free_Chick

gritts wrote:

Hi HappySad.
I've spent ages looking into this as I want 2 things:

1: Quality meat - sourced from the UK/Locally, well hung, well butchered
2: Meat that is not pumped with growth promoters, antibiotics, has had the tails cut off, beaks removed, kept in concrete bunkers, that never feels the rain or sees grass. That has a happy life.

Well Hung Meat fits the bill. Numerous awards and endorsements too.

gritts

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

Well Hung Meat fits the bill. Numerous awards and endorsements too.

Know it well and agree!