meat from butchers V supermarket

Big_Graeme

The meat van at the Sunday market, I can spend £40 and get enough meat for four weeks and it is all top quality stuff too.

Kanichen

We've just switched to buying from the butcher and greengrocer. The butcher meat is far superior and the only thing we've found to be more expensive is the mince (but we do buy value usually and drain the fat). This year we've decided that even if it does cost slightly more we'd rather support local businesses than the supermarkets! The veg from the greengrocers or fruit and veg stalls taste much better - although I do agree they don't last as long. We are in town most saturdays anyway and there are 2 huge F&V stalls there so its not exactly a hardship to buy weekly.

red_devil

butcher better quality and offers expert advice and help. Knows about meat and butchering. Supermarkets are grocers.

building_with_lego

Butcher. I sometimes buy Truly Irresistible sausages on offer in the co-op but every time I buy supermarket meat joints I am disappointed with the quality. Our butcher's bacon is cheaper than Sainsbury's on- offer price, and the chicken doesn't have that awful watery goo seeping out of it. _pale_
They also sell mince at cost, so I get well over 2kg for under £7, and trays of chicken leg quarters (about 8) for a fiver. He's a real treasure, and a much loved part of the local community.

LondonDreamer

It really depends on your local stores. Most find it cheaper but my local butcher and health food store (has a produce section) cater for the posh organic crowd and while it's fabulous food, my budget only stretches to shopping there for special occasions. So I buy my meat in the supermarket or M&S/Waitrose when on offer.

Specifically for mince, I buy frozen and drain the fat. Maybe I've gotten lucky, but I haven't noticed much more water/fat than when using fresh lean mince. Also buy frozen chicken breasts (less wasteful for my household) unless whole fresh ones are on offer.

And as suggested above, check out Lidl since you have one locally. The offers depend on your local store, last week mine had Beef Brisket for £4.99/kg instead of around £7/kg when compared to supermarkets.

red_devil

butchers provide quality. Supermarkets are factory produced rubbish mainly. What on earth is value bacon and sausages whats in it? Old butchers would turn in their graves.

bearcub

We buy from both, plus the local farm shop. From the supermarket, we tend to buy packs of chicken thighs for casseroles, and their good quality steak mince and frying steak. From our local butcher, we buy chops and sausages - my OH is a great butcher's sausage fan - but the butcher always has suggestions for good quality cheaper options. When we want a joint or whole chicken we always buy from the farm shop, because it's not just a local butcher, but the meat is all local, too. It is more expensive, but we've had three meals from the brisket we bought for Sunday, and a chicken can be used for upto three meals, plus good hearty soup from the carcass. Our spoiled cat gets a treat as well! In addition, a local independent grocer sells the most wonderful bacon. :j

CH27

I get my meat from the butcher.
I get his expert knowledge & can buy exactly the right number of sausages etc so it works out cheaper for me & the quality is excellent.

Possession

I have switched to mainly buying from the butcher, but only because we get trade deliveries of bacon and sausage from him anyway for our business, and therefore trade prices. If it wasn't for this I would likely still be buying from the supermarket for convenience, as the butcher is in the middle of town, I don't often go in and parking is a nightmare. I recently got 10 kilos of beef mince from the butcher and it was £20, but that was - presumably - trade price.

BlushingRose

We've been trying to decide about butcher vs supermarket. Which would be cheaper...
We'd bought a 'hamper' over Christmas which had three roasts in it as well as the turkey. We finished the last roast this week, and have made each one last two meals, so we're thinking of a weekly roast perhaps. We buy mince, sausages and bacon from the supermarket but would be interested to know the cost of 'like-for-like' at the butcher. We might have to do a trial run and see.