Bragging! And I'm not ashamed of it.

Kirri

cutestkids wrote: »

None of the meat was however sourced locally, and it was not until a friend of mine started working there that I found out, the following, the fresh chicken breasts on display in the shop were taken out the freezer the evening before and defrosted overnight to be sold as fresh the next day fine if you know what you are getting but not so good if the plan is to freeze them when you get home.
The same applied to the burgers, sausages and quite a few other things, basically they were buying packaged meat from a wholesaler and freezing it then selling as fresh.

Genuine question, I have no idea as I don't buy meat, but do they not have to label if meat has previously been frozen??

senileturtle

I've been to a battery farm. The smell was awful. And right across from the giant shed was a large field, empty. To think how all the caged hens in that shed could benefit from that field...

If I do get eggs for those in my house I get them from pet ones some people I know have. I am planning to have my own chooks in the future. Got the names planned already, lol.

cutestkids

Kirri wrote: »

Genuine question, I have no idea as I don't buy meat, but do they not have to label if meat has previously been frozen??

Yes I believe it does have to be certainly in the supermarket it is.
The point though is many of us buy in to the wholesome local butcher,baker, greengrocer ideal when in reality you do not know what you are getting in many cases.

The days of a local butcher sourcing his meat from the farm up the road are long gone for most towns.
The three butcher shops closest to me don't even have butchers working in them, the stock is delivered prepackaged and the staff unwrap it and put it out in the chillers to give the illusion of a real butchers.

Regarding the whole eggs from battery chickens if you read the post you will see that my ethics only go so far I was using the egg as an example what I am saying is if there is a choice between eating something that my not have been produced to the highest welfare standards or not eating then I will pick eating every time, I think most people would.

fuddle

Are we saying that the days of going into a butcher for advice on the cheapest cuts of meat and how to cook them are over?

Im not interested in going in for over priced meat, dressed in herbs and sold by the 'butcher' in a striped apron. I'm interested in sourcing the best meat I can get for my money and advice in how to cook it.

cutestkids

fuddle wrote: »

Are we saying that the days of going into a butcher for advice on the cheapest cuts of meat and how to cook them are over?

Im not interested in going in for over priced meat, dressed in herbs and sold by the 'butcher' in a striped apron. I'm interested in sourcing the best meat I can get for my money and advice in how to cook it.

I have to say that is the case in my area I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a real butcher, one who actually has a skill and has learned his trade, the vast majority on the high streets near me these days are just another shop selling a product and the staff don't seem to know much about that product.

I think if you truly find a real butcher you are very lucky indeed but they are few and far between

honeythewitch

fuddle wrote: »

Are we saying that the days of going into a butcher for advice on the cheapest cuts of meat and how to cook them are over?

Im not interested in going in for over priced meat, dressed in herbs and sold by the 'butcher' in a striped apron. I'm interested in sourcing the best meat I can get for my money and advice in how to cook it.

I have been in three that have never heard of pigs liver. I gave up after those three. I was astounded. One of them actually said "I didn't know pigs had liver" :rotfl:

lobbyludd

I've only found one butcher in this city that actually has any knowledge beyond the average supermarket employee, They are in the very centre of the city in a covered market and are extremely expensive, they don't do cheap cuts.

We have a farmer's market that travels into the city, but it's on a circuit and some of the "local" produce comes from 100+ miles away - which is better than new zealand, but still not that local, and again they don't sell cheap cuts of meat, they only bring their premium products.

captaincool

Great job OP!!

attentionseeker1

I'm very lucky to have a local butcher who you can watch carving up the carcasses- they train others in butchery as well so know what they're doing. They also state which farms the meat comes from although you're right senileturtle, there is no guarantee about what goes on behind closed doors.

It's a posh London butcher with posh London prices IF you go for the obvious things! But next to the fillet and sirloin steak is the tastiest braising steak you could imagine- at a small price- you just have to know what to pick!

Thanks for the link about Freedom Food- I wasn't aware the scheme had been somewhat discredited, I'll have to look into that.

lostinrates

Re eggs....

We have ex batts, ex free range and heritage and hybrid hens.

There is a difference in all the eggs. Colour of yolk is not so much a determiner, this can be altered through feed....though grass is distinctly more orange and I find our old breeds turn more orange than the commercial hybrids on the exact same diet.


Something which DOES interest me more is protein condition. And if there is any relation to the frequent test of a fresh egg, which is how 'tight' the egg stays on breaking, but we find, even after a couple of years, this quality is less good in our rehouse chickens than in our own home bred hybrids and heritage rare breeds. I have read no research into this and its something we really have only become aware of in the last couple of years since taking the ex batts /ex free rangers. But it puts be off the commercial egg breed eggs a lot I am afraid.


A second note on back yard eggs sellers. I would not necessarily say this means higher welfare, in fact, I'd say in many cases it is very well meaning but very poor welfare. Small runs with very poor enrichment, too infrequent worming and land rotation. While its lovely for their owners I'm not sure its all that fun for the hens.


We eat meat somewhat more rarely than we good afford on supermarket range prices though are committed carnivores. We buy meat in bulk from the farm and extra to that I am a big fan of unpopular cuts that farmers find hard to put in the sales boxes. We put a shared cow kill, and a whole lamb and half a pig in a freezer the size of a small panic room. Not every one is able to have this size freezer, but a good chest freezer is really the secret to most of our exonomies in the kitchen.

We love meat, but we like vegetarian food too. Many menus we post here are meat heavy for health I think (including mine). I'm about to post my food for tonight, and we are having lamb chops. My resident parent had some mince ip earlier in the week, but I had meat last on Saturday (I think) , when we had some one here for breakfast and i made bacon to go with the rest of the American style spread.