meat from butchers V supermarket

gilligansyle

It all depends on the butcher, we have 2 reasonably close, one is a lot dearer than the other, but the shop is posher etc. The cheaper one is very old fashioned but the meat is good. Not necessarily better than supermarket, but the chicken is definitely not padded out with water, and the sausages have more meat in them.
For me though, as a single person, the advantage of the butcher is that I can just buy what I need. I can just buy one chop, or a few slices of ham.

cooking-mama

we have several butchers in town(5 in total,tho 3 belong to the same family) and despite the fact that the 3 family run ones have won several awards not one out of the 4 sold organic meat,not even a free range chicken was available..I was very surprised at this,was shocked at the prices too.,OK for 1 person,individual portions,but not for a family of 4.:eek:
I also live in the town that had the massive E-coli outbreak when hundreds got ill and over 20 people died , all due to an award winning, years established ,well respected butcher who in the 90's breached basic health and safety guidelines and caused cross contamination from raw meat to cooked..kinda lose trust after a tragedy like that,:(
I did also for a while try our local farm shop which has its own butchers on site,meat was more expensive..didnt particularly taste any better,but I felt better cause i was buying local,and the cows etc didnt endure hours of travel before slaughter as they used an abbatoir(?sp) 20mins away,but got put off there when i found a bit of straw in my prepacked diced steak.!,bit too close for comfort.
To be honest,i think we get exploited wherever we buy,
Buy from the butchers-bump up the price cause its local and we are led to believe it must be better(but not necessarily so, ) or buy from farm shops...bump up the price cause your buying in the countryside and its all very twee,and were led to believe its better,but again,not necessarily so. .At the end of the day,a dead cow is a dead cow,therefore beef is beef is beef,so as long as we buy decent cuts with not too much fat and no added water etc,then what can be so different?
I would prefer to know that the animal im eating had a decent life before it died rather than know more about it after its dead,and from my experience none of our local butchers can supply this info.so in my eyes they aint any better than the supermarkets.
So for me its now,free range or RSPCA freedom food chicken from the supermarket (cos the butchers dont sell it)and beef/pork type meat prepacked by the instore butchers in Costco.Ham hough for soup from the butchers in morrisons,and some other stuff if on special offer.
I know i should buy local,support individual butchers etc,but to be honest my priority is in supplying my family with good quality healthy food that i can afford,i dont think our local butchers are missing my custom anyway,they still all live in bigger houses than me,and driver newer fancier cars;)

wallbash

Are we all comparing/contrasting the same thing ?

Are we lumping the supermarkets , selling the pre wrapped chilled priced parcel .
With the .. 'Hello Madam / sir what can i get you today' butcher!

So where does the in store 'butcher ' fit into the argument . They will cut your joint to size if asked. Will serve you 7 sausages if required.

Ps as the advert says ... they are trained Butchers.

Penelope_Penguin

wallbash wrote: »

Are we all comparing/contrasting the same thing ?

The in-store "butcher" isn't the same as an independent butcher.

Take a look at supermarket beef (pre-packed or "butcher"); it's bright red, and moist, showing that it hasn't been hung for long enough, so will consequently be tough.

Butcher's beef will more likely be dark red, and dry. That way you're more confident of tender meat. It may be dearer per kg, but there will be less shrinkage on cooking, so if you compare price per cooked kg, the difference isn't so great.

Penny. x

OrkneyStar

Farway wrote: »

As other have intimated, depends where you live, a lot of local butchers, bakers & candlestick makers were absolute crap and only survived due to lack of competition and a local monopoly

I remember supporting my local butcher by ordering a turkey for Christmas, he supplied a frozen Bernard Matthew's one on Christmas eve. That was last time I went there, and he has long since closed

Yes and a lot of supermarkets are absolute crap and only survive due to a lack of competition and a local (national ?) monopoly ?
Supermarket meat is generally inferior in taste and quality, and although may appear cheaper, by the time the added water (and whatever else) is cooked off, it is less value for money!

Churchmouse

Oh well, here's my twopennorth

Many of us do not have the luxury of decent butchers nearby. Some "butchers" ( and in my locale, this accounts for most) are nothing more than meat resellers, just like the supermarket. Just because it's a smaller shop, selling only meat does not mean the quality is better The trays of prepacked chops, chicken pieces etc look pretty poor quality to me, but my neighbour swears it's superior because it comes from the "butcher" :rotfl: There used to be a test to see if you had a proper butcher or not. Can't remember now what it was you asked for. Only someone who butchered their own carcasses would have this part of the animal to hand, or would say you could have it from the next one. When I can't get to a decent butcher, then the supermarket (Waitrose, M&S, even Sainsgubs etc) hung for longer meat does quite well.

losingpatience

I'm now trying to buy most of my meat from butchers. The only place I will buy meat from other than a butchers is Mr S as to me their quality of meat is much better than other supermarkets in the area. I've had mince from other supermarkets that I have had to drain twice while dry frying as the amount of water coming out of it meant it was almost boiling in it ( and I always buy steak mince, so it wasn't cheap :eek: ). Also bought some stir fry beef from another supermarket which was completely inedible, all gristle, even the dog turned his nose up at it!

I know for some people supermarket meat is their only option, either for financial reasons or simply because there isn't a decent butcher nearby. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford to spend a bit more and go to a butchers, to me the quality is far superior so it's worth paying that little bit extra. Now the only meat I tend to buy is gammon joints from Mr S which I do in the slow cooker and slice up for sarnies ( I used to buy the pre packaged stuff which cost a fortune and was no-where near as nice! ) Sometimes sausages as well if they're marked down, but even then I tend to buy the premium/taste the difference ones

jjef

I am very fortunate to have a very good village butcher (he has his own farm so follows the cattle from the start to the end!!) also offers to help with any road kill should anyone find and want sorted.

Overall I have found that I buy slightly less meat but the quality is far better than supermarket bought - ie chicken breasts I buy 2 from the butcher and can make curries etc without lots of water coming out of them whereas the supermarket chicken is full of water, smaller in size and doesnt cost that much less.

Best ever butcher tho is in the northof scotland close to relatives who we visit every easter I always come home with about £40 worth of meat which lasts about 3months!! (compared with supermarket prices once and it would have come to approx £85 with them)

andygb

When it comes to meat, I am not very "fundamentalist", because I use both supermarkets (Sainsburys and Waitrose) for organic free range chicken, and lamb mince, and I use one local butcher for pretty much all red meat.
I like to make beef stews, such as Bouef Bourgignon, and the supermarkets rarely keep beef skirt or feather steak, so the butcher keeps some aside for me (because not many people ask for it). Lamb shanks from a butcher are often much cheaper and better quality than the supermarkets.
I should point out, that we have four butchers within a five mile radius, but I will only use one of them. The rest are pretty poor quality, and I would use a supermarket rather than buy their meat.
The other thing which I have found, is that local farmer's markets are a total rip off, trying to charge £10 a kilo for sausages.

OrkneyStar

I am feeling very lucky to live somewhere that has locally grown and slaughtered meat, sold in proper butchers .
Sadly we have no decent farmers market although one of the butchers and the Coop sells local carrots, turnips, tatties, and certain other things when in season.