meat from butchers V supermarket

WantToBeFree

Firstly apologies if this has been asked before

But am curious which people tend to find cheaper? Or does it tend to depend of the cut of meat?

Also, extra lean beef mince or cheapest there is and drain the fat after cooking?

Am new to this site and want cheap but healthy meals I can 'con' my kids with :rotfl:

krlyr

Personally I get all mine from the supermarket, we don't have a butcher in town and the one in the town next door has shut down. I keep meaning to get some meat from the butcher near work to try - feel like I should buy something since he gives me free bones for my dogs! - but not sure if it would be any cheaper.
Buying frozen makes things a lot cheaper, we use lots of frozen chicken portions, frozen sausages, etc. or I'll buy reduced fresh meat and freeze it. For mince, we tend to use own brand (not value range) fresh stuff - buy several 900g/1kg packs on multibuy offers. You get a fair amount of fat out of it which I bin, but it tastes fine. I tend to cook most mince dishes in the slow cooker which helps get it nice and tender. You can bulk out meals to save money and make them healthier by adding to them - e.g. I just made a batch of bolognese with 900g mince and added red lentils, several grated carrots, a few tins of tomatoes and ended up getting 6 meals (2 adult servings per meal) out of it. We never manage to eat enough vegetables, and could do with cutting down our meat consumption (but are both big meat eaters so unlikely to loads of veggie meals) so it's a good way to enjoy the taste of a meaty meal but get the benefit of some healthier ingredients hidden in there too.

HelenYorkshire

Go for lean mince - the value stuff just dissolves, you get barely any meat, a bit more gristle, and an awfully slimy sauce :O

Price depends on your cut, you can usually find something a bit more odd in the butcher (ox tail etc), supermarket is limited and standardised. Also in the butcher you can get just what you need instead of a set package size.

forgottendreams

I tend to buy at supermarkets for convenience more than anything.

Butcher meat is generally of better quality and they do often have deals on which make it good value.

If you have a lidl near you they do meat half price every weekend. Its good quality and good price. Every weekend the offer changed depending where you live. Its good to stock up with a couple of packs every week to keep the freezer full. There is a weekly thread made up by KC over in the food and grocery section of the forum, it shows all the lidl offers for that week.

HTH x

WantToBeFree

Will check out the Lidl thread, there is one in town but I've never been in there!!!

ETanny

I normally go to the supermarket and get whatever meats on offer

Quillion

I go to the butcher once every 4-6 weeks and the meat is lovely. When the top freezer drawer is empty i know its time to visit. I always get the same stuff chicken breasts, minced beef, pork loins, diced beef,steak, sausages and bacon. I sometimes get a joint of beef salmon cut but not always.

kezlou

It depends on want you want.

We have about five different halal butchers so if want mince or chicken i tend to get it from there, its out cheaper for me. Its £3.99 for a kilo of lamb mince or £5.99 for mutton mince.
If i want beef or pork i look in another butchers in the centre of town as they do recuded met packs for £10 instead of £25. but if its not offer i don't buy it.

I only tend to buy reduced meat and full price sausages and bacon from the supermarkets as it cheaper from there. Lidl and Aldi are quite for meat too and the value bacon is really nice.

GreenQueen

We use both.

Things like mince and bacon are usually just as good from the supermarket and cheaper.

I always buy whole chicken from the butcher - it looks more expensive, but it doesn't shrink like a supermarket chicken so we get more leftovers, and it tastes better.

Sausages we get from the butchers if we're treating ourselves - they make their own and they taste fab - but for everyday we tend to use the supermarket finest.

Don't tend to buy any value meat, as we've found it poor quality and taste. Did once buy some value sausages - never again!

GQ

busiscoming2

Butchers! I go every 4-6 weeks and stock up. I find bulk buying costs less and much better quality meat than the supermarket.

I always buy lean mince - can't stand fat! Sausages are far superior, better taste and no fat!