cheaper cuts of meat

EllieA_3

Can anyone suggest the cheapest was of buying meat, i've tried the local butchers and they don't seem any cheaper than the supermarkets.

I have a husband who insist's it's not a meal unless it's 80% dead animal and the meat is costing a fortune.

I don't mind using cheaper cuts or value ranges but i do draw the line at anything that been mechanically recovered or anything with lots of weird ingredients i don't recognise.

So i tend to stear away from value sausages etc but im happy enough to have value pork/gammon etc.

meritaten

hmmm - does your OH like liver or kidneys? or chicken livers? very cheap ways of providing meat or stretching dearer cuts.
neck of lamb is still quite cheap and makes the best stews. shoulder is the next cheapest cut and makes excellent casseroles or curries.
a good rule of thumb which i expect you know is that the cheaper the cut the longer it takes to cook!

princess*daisy

Do you have a local outdoor market? The ones who have "mobile" butchers? These tend to be the best value. I went with my auntie once and she got LOADS for £40, I mean loads too. It was excellent quality as well. Lasted her for months. All you have to do is clear enough space in your freezer first.

tiredwithtwins

Like your oh, i dont like the bargain meats like cheap sausages etc, so I tend to buy meat from my local co-op or tesco when its been reduced - the co-op tend to reduce it all at about 5.30pm, so i often call in then on my way home from work, and its usually about 50% off at least, sometimes up to 75% off. Ive also started buying larger cuts of meat rather than chops etc ... i find the cheaper cuts of pork (eg rolled shoulders) are just as tasty as pork chops but work out cheaper. If i also manage to buy reduced veg, i will sling it all in the same roasting dish as the pork and it slow roasts so any bits of veg that were looking a little tired become lush with the pork juice/fats
I did this last monday - the 1.25kg pork joint was reduced to £2, 2.5kg spuds reduced to 20p, carrots 10p, leeks 10p, and a bag of mixed veg reduced to 30p. So we got a huge meal incl home made roast spuds and yorky puds for about £3!!

last saturday i got to tesco just as they were putting out the reduced meat ... so i got about £40 of pork/beef&lamb joints for about £12! there were 9 joints of meat, all 1kg or over. its now filled my freezer for the month!

twas a good weekend

parsonswife8

Well done you!!!!:T:T:T:T

babyshoes

My OH tends to do the shopping as there is a supermarket near where she works. She is good at finding reduced price meat, and often comes home with unusual bits of meat which have been heavily reduced. Duck breasts are a common treat, and I have worked out how to cook them now, but am still a bit nervous of the 'pheasant breasts - may contain shot' which are lurking in the freezer!

Apart from that, I stretch mince with oats and finely grated carrot. As long as you don't go too overboard (1 large carrot and 2-3 handfuls of oats per 400g of mince) you won't notice them in the final sauce.

parsonswife8

babyshoes wrote: »

My OH tends to do the shopping as there is a supermarket near where she works. She is good at finding reduced price meat, and often comes home with unusual bits of meat which have been heavily reduced. Duck breasts are a common treat, and I have worked out how to cook them now, but am still a bit nervous of the 'pheasant breasts - may contain shot' which are lurking in the freezer!

Apart from that, I stretch mince with oats and finely grated carrot. As long as you don't go too overboard (1 large carrot and 2-3 handfuls of oats per 400g of mince) you won't notice them in the final sauce.

If you examine the pheasant breasts quite carefully before cooking, by giving them a good squeeze all over, you should find the shot, if any.

It is quite small though, so be careful or risk a broken tooth.:eek:

celyn90

I must admit to having done sneaky things to make meat portions look more; butterflying chops, stuffing chicken breats, slicing things into chunks, lots of thick gravy and heavy sauces, adding onions and mushrooms (which go brown and don't taste of vegatation), soya protien in with mince. Serving things on the bone I found worked well too.

I tend to pick up meat reduced and will cook almost anything (mainly because I don't eat it!) but I agree, it can be really expensive. Other than that, markets tend to have good deals and it might be worth checking out Aldi and Lidl for cold meats and deli style things as they tend to be very reasonable for this sort of thing.

flipperOSN

I have a covered market nearby with a few butchers shops. If you go at around 4.30 on a Saturday you can pick up some real bargains as they try to get rid of stock. It's hit and miss but if you've got something similar it might be worth a look?

valk_scot

You can serve things like stuffing balls with a roast to make it look like more and meaty...but of course, the stuffing can be completely meatless. Also you can use soya mince or quorn to bulk out real mince (I dislike oats or lentils in mince) and bash out any flat pieces to make them look bigger.

But bottom line of course is to persuade him to eat less meat. It's actually quite bad for anyone's health to live on a diet of 80% meat and he's just storing up problems for himself. Given that the recommended portion size of meat is 4-6oz (100-150g) for a grown up and not at every meal either, your OH is obviously eating far too much. Anything more is a complete waste of money when it comes to nutrition and health tbh.