Tips and advice for buying meat

gailey_2

In light of latest horsey news made me wonder

I buy lean mince from sainsburys, m&s waitrose, lilds, co-op how do I know its 100%beef?

I buy poultry and fish mainly from supermarkets.

I go to mobile buctcher ie in avan for

steaks
sausages
bacon
diced beef
lamb
pork

They seem to be fab service but wondering if should ask more about origions.
guess what worries me is

the food chain.

tesco pay factory who pay european supplier so they havent knowingly purchased horse although suspect something dodgy gone on.

Could my freindly but cheap butcher have brought meat and not really know where its come from or what it is?


I always try bird eye beef burgers and chicken as says 100% now im thinking well still dont know enough as when buying fresh poultry free range or rspca and free range eggs .

Thinking now any readymeal/frozen is too grey when comes to meat.

as is takeaways and eating out maybe should go veggie or fish when out.

I used to be vegetarian for 9years so could eat less ,meat and buy better.


We could afford spend more buy less.

but where?

we have farm shop nearby

would you trust waitrose more?

what online retailers?

city centre has a few high end butchers too

able and cole?

not sure want organic but want meat thats had nice life and kno where its come from and prerably british.

gailey_2

Looked at this site as they have shop in city too but seems just so pricey,

http://www.sheepdroveshop.com/acatalog/Organic_Beef_Braising_Stewing.html

Edwardia

Good questions gailey, I'm sure you're not the only person wondering about the quality of the meat they buy, today !

You mention the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme and if you buy food that is certified by a particular body - and others include Red Tractor Scheme, The Vegetarian Society and The Soil Association to name a few - you get that extra bit of reassurance.

To meet their standards, the producer or manufacturer has to go that bit further than the minimum standards. They don't have to be more expensive (though some are) for example you can buy Red Tractor logo fresh meat in Lidl.

At the moment it does seem like at least some of the affected meat was in frozen burgers. So it may help, to buy fresh and freeze yourself rather than buy frozen where you're having to rely on a supermarket or manufacturer claim.

Much of the fish you seen on supermarket fish counters eg sea bass, bream, salmon and trout, is farmed. You're unlikely to find meat protein DNA in them but they could be fed GM feed as this doesn't have to be labelled. The easy way to find out if it's wild is to ask.

If you're buying frozen or packaged fresh fish look beyond 'Scottish', 'Aegean' and 'Mediterranean' because that's often fancying up farmed fish. Wild fish doesn't have to be expensive, you can get cheap wild fish at fish counters, as pre-pacjaged fresh, frozen and tinned from places like Poundland.

100% chicken doesn't mean that the chicken is prime chicken breast. You have to look at labels on the back, to find out what it's made of. Chicken kievs can be made of stuck together bits of chicken, like reformed ham is bits of pork stuck together and sliced, not slices of actual ham.

There should be an easily accessible government website that shows us how many times companies like Tesco, Lidl, Marks and Spencer etc have had to recall food or have been found selling contaminated food. That way we would all be able to make choices about these shops based on their performance rather than their flowery phrases on websites and photos of cute lambs.

gailey_2

Looked at the duchey originals on waitrose seems much cheaper.

I guess im being paranoid its just do i trust even a pack of mince is 100%beed?

As they have no idea where and whats gone wrong in chain.

so thinking with beef organic british way to go.

Edwardia

The Irish are blaming the Dutch and Spanish

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2013/0116/breaking4.html?via=mr

A._Badger

gailey wrote: »

Looked at the duchey originals on waitrose seems much cheaper.

I guess im being paranoid its just do i trust even a pack of mince is 100%beed?

As they have no idea where and whats gone wrong in chain.

so thinking with beef organic british way to go.

I don't think you are being paranoid at all.

Personally, I almost always try to buy fresh meat from small, privately owned local butchers near me, all of whom show the sources of their meat - usually one of the local farms in Kent or Sussex.

Now it's perfectly true that they could be lying and it's also true that they are dependent on the farms not to be cheating them but I think it's quite unlikely.

If I have to buy meat from a supermarket I try to stick to Waitrose.

I simply no longer trust the other supermarkets or processed foods generally, though I do stray now and again.

I realise not everyone can do this - in many towns local butchers have been put out of business by the supermarkets, but I do think they repay our support where they exist. They are usually even cheaper, let alone better!

VoucherMan

gailey wrote: »

how do I know its 100%beef?

Build, or hire the services of a forensics lab.

Buy meat & make your own mince.

Also have several other equally unhelpful answers available if required.

Presumably you shop at the supermarket for price/convenience. Unless religious / medical reasons make eating other meats an issue I'd stop worrying about it. The chances of it happening again are unlikely after recent events.

gailey_2

Ok had email back from regular butcher-ie van man.

most comes from uk not all

none organic/free range.

They have always been fab customer service.

I trust them just unsure i trust the market trader or suppliers to meat market.

spoke to hubby who said diced beef we had other day wasent very nice.

I have changed his mind of free range chicken last few years and eggs and various programmes have helped.

I told him the plan eat less meat but eat better.

I think last few years been tough finacially as it is with many people but with young fanmily its task of balancing quality, nutrition and price so kids dont eat readymeals but do have odd frozen meal with chips.

I have always been quite well considered consumer but this latest scares made me think about it much more.

is meat full of hormones damaging?
is milk ok? we get through loads.

with regards to chicken go for higher welfare bird still think lilds/aldis free range seems better value as always quite big.

Im not going to go organic everythinga s cant afford it.

But with meat I think we can.

we have few local farmshops-well a drive on hubbys day off
waitrose seems to have good range and £50free delivery wondering waitrose order every fortnight.

ill still use aldis and lidls
morrisoons for fish
still go on reduced hunt for fresh fruit/veg

Not sure about sliced meats and bacon? normally buy aldis/lidls now.
hate buying cheap reformed stuff.

so thinking 7week meal planner will have

meat 3days
egg based 4th day
3days veggie.

feeling inspired as stuck in food rut and rut want to be healthier know what im buying and give family best diet I can.

A._Badger

gailey wrote: »

so thinking 7week meal planner will have

meat 3days
egg based 4th day
3days veggie.

feeling inspired as stuck in food rut and rut want to be healthier know what im buying and give family best diet I can.

Fish is extremely nutritiuous. If it were me, I'd have fish for two of those days (one of them oily fish) in place of vegetable only, or maybe fish in place of the egg day (though eggs are excellent too)

Just a thought.

parsonswife8

A._Badger wrote: »

Fish is extremely nutritiuous. If it were me, I'd have fish for two of those days (one of them oily fish) in place of vegetable only, or maybe fish in place of the egg day (though eggs are excellent too)

Just a thought.

I agree with you! We are eating a lot more fish now and it's lovely!
Haddock, plaice, fresh mackeral, salmon, tilapia. There are so many recipes that you can make with it.

And there are often offers on fish too.:)

jeanmd

If anyone's not too far away from Denby Dale (The pie village) in west Yorkshire, there's a fab butchers there called David Gawthorpe that sells local meat. There's a blackboard on the back wall which tells you which farm it's from and how far the meat has traveled. The large selection of home cooked pies and hot beef sandwiches are really nice. Must admit I miss them since I've stopped eating meat, just talking about them is making my mouth water.