Where to buy meat

Penny35_2

Anyone know where is the best place to buy meat that is not a over the top price. Currently we have all of our shopping delivered by Ocado however I feel we spend a lot on shopping so would like to go back to cooking more from scratch. Plus I bought a new kitchen gadget at the weekend which will make things easier.

I am also going to investigate some local fruit and veg farm shops.

We eat a lot of meat (everyday) so would be good to see where others buy good, quality meat from.

Thanks

toriaterrier

We usually try to use local butchers we use more than one as different butchers have different offers etc so it depends what we fancy that week. We sometimes use MrT/A for meat for convenience.

Aarons_mummy

I get mine from my mum, honestly she over buys all the time and gives it to me, I haven't bought meat (as in joints or cuts for a while now). When I was buying it I found the 3 for £10 deal in the supermarkets pretty good, a chicken gives you at least 3 meals, a joint of gammon can be sliced for sandwiches or portioned up for meals, so say another 3 meals plus a pack of mince/stewing steak if you used the mince and bulked it out with veg/oats/lentils I would say 3 different meals again. £3.33 per joint, 3 meals per joint - £1.11 if you got 3 potions of each meal that works out at just 37p for the meat portion so great value.

Alternatively look for various offers, I don't buy chicken portions apart from wings often but if reduced I'll buy them in and freeze them for future use. Look for offers ie Sainsbury atm has half price chicken breasts, normally almost £7 a pack only £3 odds atm.

Try your local butcher/market if you have one nearby. We have a market here that has a butchers van that sells quality meat really cheap. If you knew what you wanted and had the budget/room you could go once a month and buy it in one go, or once a week which will save you a bit of money.

Some butchers can be rubbish but I've found that local, independant ones are the best way to go they have more quality although sometimes it can be more expensive.

chella71

Hi There I buy most of my meat from Costco, I know this is not an option for everyone as you need a card, but I just go with my mum who is a member which is very handy so you may know of someone with one?
The meat, I find is superb, I buy the large packs of mince beef for around £10-£12, I will often wait til they have things on offer and then bulk buy and freexe, with the mince I then portion the meat into 5 or 6 portions, each portion although not enormous seems to go a long way, I think it must be because when it is cooked there seems to be no excess fat or water to drain off so what is in the packet is mainly meat for once!!
I also buy their frozen chicken breasts and portions, the portions are really good value, the breast more expensive and not so OS but 1-2 breasts will do my whole family of four in a curry or casserole or just grilled as they are soo nice, it all seems to go a long way.
Lastly family and I are partial to a bacon sarnie on a Saturday morning and I buy their large packs for just under £6, you can get around 50 slices in them so I just repackage them into 6-8 slice bags and freeze and just bring one out on a saturday morning to defrost.
Theres loads more but I wont waffle
Sorry if this is not much help in your situation but hopefully someone will gain from it

Chella x

rachbc

I like ocado/waitrose and morrisons from the supermarkets but am lucky in that I work at a large college that teaches butchery so get good meat and really good prices from the butcher shop. I am in adiffernt office now so don;t go as frequently and really miss it.

quintwins

i just use tesco or sometimes the local butchers, i buy cheaper meats, like mince (and portion it up) and beef shin for stew, i tend to buy chicken thights but i've come across alot of fillets on offer lately (tesco are doing a bag of frozen ones 600g for £3 at the mo which i still have from being on offer 3months ago) so we have alot of fillets, i only use 2 or 3 per meal anyway

i agree with the 3 for £10 meats aswell you can get a big packet of pork chops or a chicken and ofcourse a gammon these can all do 2-3 meals (altho gammon never lasts for more than 1 meal in this house cause it's our fav)

Darren_G

Penny35 wrote: »

I am also going to investigate some local fruit and veg farm shops.

I have found that farm shops offer great value and better quality of meat than any supermarket and all but the best (traditional) butcher's shops. Some also have online ordering facilities, so if you find a good one, you can continue with a 'delivered to door' approach, or simply stock up the freezer.

A decent butcher is also a good option. Meat bought fresh from farm or butchers is less likely to have water added, so you are paying for the meat, not anything added to bulk up profits. I did a test last weekend and bought half my bacon from the farm shop and the other half from the supermarket. Needless to say, there was very little shrinkage of the farm shop rashers and a puddle of salty water under the shriveled excuse that was from the supermarket!

Bitsy_Beans

I LOVE Costco meat (for stull like minced steak (hardly any fat and NO gristle ), pork, lamb and beef joints). I find their meat is butcher quality but more like supermarket prices.

Penny35_2

Darren_G wrote: »

I have found that farm shops offer great value and better quality of meat than any supermarket and all but the best (traditional) butcher's shops. Some also have online ordering facilities, so if you find a good one, you can continue with a 'delivered to door' approach, or simply stock up the freezer.

A decent butcher is also a good option. Meat bought fresh from farm or butchers is less likely to have water added, so you are paying for the meat, not anything added to bulk up profits. I did a test last weekend and bought half my bacon from the farm shop and the other half from the supermarket. Needless to say, there was very little shrinkage of the farm shop rashers and a puddle of salty water under the shriveled excuse that was from the supermarket!

Hi - Do you have any links to any online ones please.

imogen-p

I've used an independent butchers in the market here in Bradford for the last 11 or so years, and found them to generally be cheaper and better quality than the supermarkets.
If I do buy from the supermarket I generally go for Morrisons as they have their own in house butchers and often have cheap/discounted cuts at the end of the day.

Pink.

Hi Penny,

I too prefer my local butchers. They are very slightly more expensive than the supermarkets but the quality of the meat is so much better and the advice/tips he offers make shopping there well worthwhile.

As you've now had some input from the Old Stylers, I've moved your thread over to the Grocery Shopping board where you should get more replies.

Pink