Butcher v supermarket for meats

felicity1

Decided to have a steak meal this evening, and would aim to buy local as shops are so busy and like to support local where possible. Butcher 1 on the high street - Sirloin steak £19.99/kg, butcher 2 (always a queue, very popular) £23.99/kg. Now, is it me, or is this just way too expensive? I went to Tesco in the end, got some very good steak (reduced) for £9.42/kg and another 2 packs of their Finest Scotch Sirloin at £13.84/kg. Oh, and they were happy to take my vouchers from Waitrose/Sainsbury's, making it a very inexpensive deal altogether.

So, is the meat at the butcher's so much better than that found at Tesco and the like? Would love to know as not sure I will ever be able to justify paying £20+ /kg for steak!

ljonski

I in the past have steered clear from local butchers and their prices. But now what the heck ! Once you have found a good quality local butcher - I would say forget the price and enjoy the meat. Am saying this after having jam roly poly that i found in the freezer from Iceland. How naff it is in comparison to my usual home cooked sweets.

zenseeker

Rather like organic food, locally sourced products rarely actually taste much different to the cheaper stuff bought in any supermarket. Your subconscious makes you think it tastes better because you feel better about the whole organic/local fad, truth is in various reported blind taste tests, the supermarkets win all the time.

Of course now there will be people saying that organic/local does taste better, but that is the point, you only think it does.

Gigervamp

The beef in the butchers will have been hung for longer. 28 days is best, whereas supermarket meat is only hung for a couple of weeks unless you buy the finest stuff which is hung for 21 days.

Welshwoofs

Depends on what you're looking for in a steak. With Tescos you're getting a lump of meat in plastic which has been hung for around 17 days and has no provenance.

With my local butcher I can choose the breed of cattle I'm getting beef from, the thickness of the cut and how long it has been hung (I generally like beef hung for 5 weeks) and what farm it has come from.

There's no comparison and you can't really expect an independent local butcher to be able to match the prices of a major supermarket...they're not buying in that kind of bulk.

Having said that I do buy some meat from Tesco......it goes to feed the dog, which is about all it's fit for.

felicity1

'Having said that I do buy some meat from Tesco......it goes to feed the dog, which is about all it's fit for.'

Bit harsh I think, and utter rubbish. Tesco profits speak for themselves, plenty of folk shop there, meat purchases included. If you can afford your local butcher then you're very lucky.

We had the Tesco steak last night, really nice too (my lovely hubby v good at getting our steaks just right though!) Only asked this to see what other folk pay at the butchers, that's all.

RHYSDAD

Butcher everytime. It may cost more but, if not supported and this goes for any local business, they will disappear and once Tesco et al gain the monopoly just watch those prices rise. The supermarkets aim is to obliterate ANY competition so they can have 'carte blanche' to charge what they like.......

NiceGuyEddie_2

Butcher wins on most occasions for me. I firmly believe that if I'm going to eat meat, I want to know where it came from, how it was raised, where it was killed and what's happened to it since, and with my local butcher I can find this out.

I won't eat battery farmed poultry, crate-reared pork etc so unless I want to pay a premium in the supermarket, I'd prefer to go to somewhere that sells sufficiently ethical meat by my standards as a matter of course. I'm not a rampant tofu-eating veggie at all, I love eating meat, but it's important for me to consider the source of what I'm eating if I'm going to put it in my mouth and expect my body to digest it properly - and I appreciate that such demands mean I have to pay more, which I do and compensate for by eating less meat.

There's a significant number of butchers who are no different than supermarkets in terms of quality, and they're not worth bothering with, unless they provide a better service in terms of advice, sourcing different products etc.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

when you find a good butcher, you will know it, the diff in the prime cut meats is totally noticeable....

I have never had a good steak from the supermarket... but my every time i buy them from our btucher, the knife goes though it like butter, and you dont get jaw ache after you finish eating it...

I normally buy in bulk from my local btucher and freeze, but on the odd occasion i have bought a tray of mince from the supermarket...

The supermarket might be cheaper per kg.... but how much water have they 'pumped' into that joint etc before you buy it..

So in reality the butcher even though might be a bit more expensive.. is far better value in the long run....

plus when you are making a sunday dinner the quality of the meant will determine the quality of the whole meal....

motherhen2234

I now buy all my meat from butchers at the farmers market bar some odd chickens as the farmers i use don't do them. We first thought it would be significantly more expensive but is only about £10 a month dearer (a lot for some people i know!). The meat is always good quality and tastes great. yes we have had similar quality meat from the supermarket but we have had also had worse ones! At the end of the day I love the fact that i know where it is coming from, im helping the farmer directly and i have driven past the animals etc :-)

valk_scot

Butchers every time.....

....unless it's in the Reduced to Clear section in Tesco at 75% off, like it was today. If I'm paying full price for meat I like the best quality the budget can stretch to but I'm not so rich I can afford to ignore sirloin steaks at ~ £3 for a pack of four, or a humungous piece of roasting pork at £3 reduced from £12, which was on promotion anyway so it was more like a £20 joint. It's bigger than the cat! An organic chicken for £2, steak mince...well suffice to say I filled up the freezer for £30 and I'll buy a really nice ham for Christmas from the butcher with what I've saved on this month's (and next's) meat bill.