What's the cheapest meat you've found?

BrandNewDay

I was wondering what the cheapest meat would be. Like, what option yields the greatest volume of cooked meat?

Taking into account: bones, water (that's been added "for succulence"), and fat that either drains off or you don't want to eat. I'm talking about regularly-priced meat, not what's marked down on its sell-by date.

Right now, I think it may be those supermarket basics/smart price/etc whole chickens. Asda has them at £2.07 per kilogram. But, I'm not sure how much of that weight is bone. True, you can boil it for stock, but it is essentially non-edible. Also have caught my eye: those beef and pork mince mixes and some of the large roasts - beef and pork - can be quite cheap. I'd consider cutting them up for stew meat.

Does anybody else ever think about this, and have any suggestions?

freyasmum

I know this won't help everyone but atm I'm using the local college for chicken. They supply organic and free range produce, with different offers each week - this week I got 3 bags of (huge) legs for £4.00, which worked out to 25p per leg. They also had large, whole chickens for £4.00 and 30 eggs for £2.00. I can't quite believe that it's all FR but it's cheap because the students are learning - just like the catering departments in colleges do 3 course, silver-service lunches for £3.50, or manicures for £2.

One of the other offers was a tray of eggs, 3 bags of legs and 2 bags of chicken breast (so, about 10) for £10.

If you have one near, you might wanna phone them up and see if they also supply the public?


For a wider-reaching reference: whole chickens tend to be much cheaper per kilo, even after discarding the bones (which, naturally have been used for stock ), free range birds tend not to be injected with as much water - I was particularly impressed with the M&S turkey I got at Christmas. It was £70ish, reduced to £15, was juicy and tender and barely had any water come out (so had to make completely spearate gravy, boo!). If you have the freezer space, you might want to keep and eye out around the holidays?

Frozen meat it cheaper but, from what I've seen tends to have water added. Fresh, value meat is also cheap but has SO much water added that it probably works out more expensive at the end! Unusually, the value diced chicken breast is cheaper than the value whole breasts.

Also, with regards to the bones being non-edible, yes they are. But all you need to add to the resulting stock is a few veggies and you have a delicious soup. Or some noodles and a handful of your meat. Or rice. Or pasta... you get the idea

mqandy

I judge meats by how many portions I can make them last. A good stewing beef cut (£4.50) will last me about 7 portions (2x evening meals for 2 + smaller lunches) if I stretch it far enough...

Grated carrots, lots of bulky swede, etc bulk up stews, chilis, lasagnes for me.

kittycat204

i am a big fan of offal and can make a very cheap meal with liver, kidney and black pudding.
liver with a sage flour coating and fried off and black pudding with apple, mash and peas. tastes great and a bargain.
oh and i'm a big fan of ham hock, a faf but we worth it for the yield of meat and flavour.

Fruball

I managed to get 2 fillet steaks from the new wa!trose nearby that had opened recently... I got them for about 29p from memory!!!

Doubt I will ever find such a bargain!!!

Skint_yet_Again

Its very rare I managed to get decent reduction yellow stickered/reduced to clear meat. I have now switched to @ldi and I find their meat has very little water and is reasonably priced

2 large gammon steaks £1.99
8 chicken thighs £1.99
Butchers choice sausages £1.49
whole chicken £2.59
frozen chicken breasts £3.99 for 700g no added water

I do still occassionally pick up a pack of liver at Moresons about 69p must be the cheapest meat I think

BrandNewDay

mqandy wrote: »

I judge meats by how many portions I can make them last. A good stewing beef cut (£4.50) will last me about 7 portions (2x evening meals for 2 + smaller lunches) if I stretch it far enough...

Grated carrots, lots of bulky swede, etc bulk up stews, chilis, lasagnes for me.

Yes - I think that way, as well. Mince stretches well, as does stewing beef. As far as I know, for stewing beef, you just want the cheapest per kilo, keeping fat in mind.

anna-marie

Hi there:)
I get "cooking bacon" from Tescos or sainsburys at £1.48 a kilo. My local asda seem to have stopped doing it. I always think its a dumb name because who'se gonna eat raw bacon? Anyhow it's in the budget ranges and it's mismatched uneven shaped bits.
I find it really tasty and versatile. I cut it up with sharp kitchen scissors and cook it with lentils to use in place of mince for bologaise and cottage pies etc. also great in carbonara, pasta bakes soups or even just fry it and have a bacon buttie yum yum!!

valk_scot

My local butcher does "Monday Morning Packs" which is basically all the stuff he's got left from the weekend that he wants to move on. These can contain anything from a steak pie plus a chicken, mince and sausages to venison, cubed stewing meat (beef, pork or chicken) and burgers. Whatever you get there's usually about £30 worth of stuff for £10. You don't get to choose, except from within the packs he's made up. You usually get a dozen eggs with the last one though because it's usually the weirdest!

quintwins

i found a lovely butchers shop onsite that does lovely meat, it's a proper butchers that mainly supplies to resturants. but ofcourse not avaliable to everyone.


I like beef shin it's very tasty when slowcookered and cheap, i used to buy alot of pork shoulder but it's went up in price lately.

whiteguineapig

at aldi this week they have bacon lardons (smoked) for 69p
they look ok for cooking