Tips and advice for buying meat

sooty&sweep

Hi
Personally I try to buy meat from my local butcher's, it isn't, organic but it is locally sourced and they make their own sausages and burgers etc. I buy poultry from my local farmers market again not organic but high welfare and locally sourced.
The thing I'd say is think about the cuts of meat you use personally I don't buy chicken breasts because partly we prefer the dark meat but also because they''re so expensive. At my farmers market I buy a 1lb turkey leg meat for roughly £2 they also sell things like turkey drumsticks which are good when slow cooked.
I try to avoid buying cheap meat from supermarkets because I don't trust the way they raise the animals or produce meat products.
Jen

henmuffin

It is a worry especially if you are concerned about standards and animal welfare. This is a good site from Compassion in World Farming and they explain what the different labels mean and advise on what to buy;

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/your_food/default.aspx

Aldi and Lidl do organic chicken and riverford or able and cole deliver organic meat too.

Good luck.

C_Mababejive

My top tips would be,,

Only buy meat from your trusted high street butcher. Not supermarket rubbish


Dont eat from takeaways

Dont eat at curry "restaurants" or chinese "restaurants"

gailey_2

Thanks for input guys

if eat out will be veggie options from now on.

Its the trusted high street butcher who does local that could be challenge. Theres 2 near me will visit and interrogate.

By butchers honestly said their meat comes from all over
allthough they have best intentions and customer service if they dont really know what they are buying.

I always buy free range/rspca poultry anyways.

I have never brought value meat or frozen meat but not sure I trust the prem/finest ranges now either.

Also never considered drugs and hormones before in meat.

I knew lids/aldis did free range dident realise they did organic so thats good:).

fish-dont have fishmongers nearby anymore.

Is morrisions fish counter best option? we have 3morrisions nearby one at mall is best one as big.

we like seabass, lemon sole, codm haddock and salmon.
We always enjoy fish and say ahh should eat it more costs been factor really gone off frozen fish.

blackandwhitebunny

I also think that you are less at 'risk' if you don't buy processed meat products. A piece of stewing steak is not likely to have been messed with but burgers and sausages could be. If you can only afford to go organic for one or two items I would recommend those two. Another option could be to buy mince from a kosher butcher if you have one around you, their traceability etc is very strict.

Edwardia

Aldi does organic in Germany and USA but not UK, I called and asked HQ.

Lidl does organic and I've bought milk,carrots, bananas, onions, Heirloom tomatoes and pasta for OH but never seen organic meat or poultry in my local store.

Morrisons told me that they have an organic range and every store should have some but I've never seen any organic meat or poultry just baked beans, olive oil, carrots and spring onions.

ASDA does organic food but I've never seen organic meat and poultry just carrots, onions, spuds, beans, olive oil and beans.

I live in a town of 50,000 people with only one butchers now and they don't do organic meat just organic free range eggs.

Sainsbury's has some organic meat and poultry but not a big choice. They do quite a few veg now but some of the veggies are more expensive than Ocado.

So whereas I used to shop mostly in Lidl and ASDA plus bits from Waitrose, I'm using Ocado, Abel & Cole, Waitrose and Sainsbury's because they have the most organic food.

I'm boycotting Tesco now.

gailey_2

50,000Quite decent sized town.

Well tonight had mince from freezer

was on 2 for £7 range-got it £1.35pack reduced boxing day
non organic lean mince
says british and has tractor on it but back of mind did worry.

The waitrose duchy mince is £4.69 for 500g £9.38 £2.38more for organic.

Thinking might give tesco wide berth this year despite wanting clubacrd points not sure I trust them.

When I did reguarly shop with them used to buy a range called willow farm was higher welfare as in rspca but was nearly as expensive as free range/organics.

With free range-guess water could still been added to chciken so is organic best?

Also can waitrose organics and ocado be totally trusted if need to shop with a supermarket? Im sure they can but scary how many used same huge suppliers.

A._Badger

gailey wrote: »

50,000Quite decent sized town.

Well tonight had mince from freezer

was on 2 for £7 range-got it £1.35pack reduced boxing day
non organic lean mince
says british and has tractor on it but back of mind did worry.

The waitrose duchy mince is £4.69 for 500g £9.38 £2.38more for organic.

Thinking might give tesco wide berth this year despite wanting clubacrd points not sure I trust them.

When I did reguarly shop with them used to buy a range called willow farm was higher welfare as in rspca but was nearly as expensive as free range/organics.

With free range-guess water could still been added to chciken so is organic best?

Also can waitrose organics and ocado be totally trusted if need to shop with a supermarket? Im sure they can but scary how many used same huge suppliers.

Tesco hasn't as much to lose as Waitrose. To be brutally honest, many of Tesco's customers (or Asda's come to that) are ah... um... (tries to think of delicate way to put this) a little less discerning and probably still don't know about the gee-gee problem.

Waitrose, on the other hand, has probably the fussiest, best read and wealthiest customer base and they do care. That's why they shop there. Waitrose also owns its own farms and has the reputation of being a tough customer - though not in the penny-pinching sense of Tesco etc

So. on the whole, I'd say you are safe with Waitrose. M&S too, has the reputation of being very hard on its suppliers over product quality.

Personally, I'd lump Aldi and Lidl in exactly the same basket as Tesco, whatever their legions of fans say. Most of their UK-sourced products come from the same manufacturers that supply everyone else and are 'me too' lookalikes. I can see no reason these would be any better than Tesco's.

I have no idea about the quality of their German and Continental lines. But then, who has?

.

Kirri

Both Asda and Morrisons have been mentioned as importing more non UK meat in the last 6 months... I find that disappointing.

Gailey, come and join the organic thread, even if you are undecided on whether to buy it, there are lots of links on there if you are thinking of investigating alternative places that might help

Edwardia

So far it seems like all of the meat and poultry I have bought from Abel & Cole comes from Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire. I have bought their stuff from Sainsbury's and Ocado too.

Ocado has a bigger range than my local Waitrose plus its own range and loads of products you just can't buy in other supermarkets. AFAIK, no other supermarket sells Daylesford Organic poultry for example which comes from Gloucestershire.

Waitrose buys direct from farmers but AFAIK it doesn't have its own farms.

The Co-operative has quite a few farms, there's a map on the website and they do open days. Elmwood chickens come from their farms.

Morrisons was on BBC radio this week saying they buy from farms, have their own abattoir and processing plant.

As a student I graded produce for Marks and Spencer and they certainly were fussy. However fussy they are though, few of their lines are organic. Even when they buy from organic producers they tend not to call it organic and avoid certification while charging an organic premium price. Laverstoke Park Farm and Island Bakery being two of their organic producers I've seen named on M&S products.

I have seen farmer's names and counties on organic produce in Sainsbury's but don't recall seeing it on organic meat or poultry.

Re: Lidl the prosciutto has the proper Parma crown which not all prosciutto/Parma ham has and the labelling gives the ingredients as pork legs and salt.

I know the names and whereabouts of the actual farms where my eggs, milk, meat and poultry come from usually. That kind of traceability you don't get eating frozen burgers.