Cheap sources of ethically produced food/other items?

kcmatt79

Hi

I'm new to this site, and I'm very serious about starting to save some money! I have debts :mad: to pay off as quickly as I can so that I can move house and feel more positive about the future. I've had some fantastic advice so far, and I was referred over here for help with shopping bills.

To cut a long story short, I need to pretty much halve my monthly shopping bill of £320 for 2 people (and a dog!). We have decided to start doing a weekly shop at the local greengrocers and butchers (cheaper, but also MUCH better produce than supermarkets).

The one thing we're really stuck on, however, is how to make our meat shopping cheaper. We are very insistent that the products we buy are ethically sound. We only buy free-range or organic meat. I also insist on eco washing powders/detergents etc., which can be very costly.

One tip I can pass on already is that many market stalls now sell the Ecover range. It's a lot cheaper than the supermarkets. Also, ebay sell Ecover products in bulk, which works out much cheaper over the whole year.:D

Anyway, I would really like to know if anyone has any ideas about the best places to buy free-range/organic meat. I put the two together, knowing very well that one does not necessarily mean the other. :mad:

Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Hi KCmatt79, welcome to the forums! The only suggestion I can make is that you cut down on your meat consumption and spin it out with pulses. I can get a few meals out of a chicken if I'm careful (roast, boil bones for soup, sarnies with meat, maybe a pie or a stew etc...) You could add lentils, oats and beans to mince to make it go further.
I have saved by reducing my meat consumption and we as a family feel better for it.

ceridwen

Just wondering how much you want to stick with meat? Organic meat is EXPENSIVE - thats one reason I don't eat it myself (there are others). There are loads of vegetarian and vegan recipes out there - its quite astonishing how many websites there are - no need for cookbooks any more.

You could try googling for the Vegetarian Society website to start and take it from there. Meat isnt an essential part of a diet from the health point of view - and you'd be surprised at some of the people I have fed vegetarian meals to and they have come back for seconds (I was - as it was very far from their normal way of eating!). With avoiding meat - my diet costs me between £25-£35 per week I estimate - with me laying huge emphasis on
health/organic/etc and I only drink real coffee (okay - coffee? healthy - I dont think so - but we all have our vices and thats one of mine).

www.fatfree.com
www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk
www.vegsoc.org
www.VegWeb.com
www.savvyvegetarian.com
www.fatfreevegan.com
www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com

kcmatt79

Hi, thanks for your message.

I was veggie for 11 years, so I'm not adverse to veggie meals by any means!! My o/h is also very fond of veggie meals and I would say that we eat probably 65% veggie anyway. We do, however, like the odd dinner of meat - particularly chicken, which is VERY expensive. He also likes his roast dinners, but we always use the left over meat the next day (lamb rissoles for example). I just can't seem to find anywhere that sells reasonbly priced free range/organic. I wish I could convince everyone to buy it, then the prices would come down but for some reason people will insist on buying that cheap and disgusting chicken in the supermarkets!! How they can eat that stuff is beyond me. If I really couldn't afford free range, I wouldn't eat meat at all.

ceridwen

Quite agree - euggh! Must have seen quite a few tv programmes etc by now re conditions non-organic chickens and other animals are reared in - and it aint pretty - and I dont want to be a part of it by eating the end product. I am always astonished too at seeing people buying battery eggs - as goodness knows, free-range eggs are pretty easy to obtain these days (even my corner shop has them - instead of battery eggs). Animals are not here to serve our needs regardless.

Meanymoo

Do you have a butcher nearby? If so, I'd go and suss it out - ask about the origins of the meat etc. You may be lucky and have a butcher who uses local farms etc whose welfare standards you are happy with. Try different, cheaper cuts of meat for your slow roasts and stews, and develop a taste for offal! Not much you can do about chicken though - good chicken is very expensive and not budget food. Have you tried wild rabbit? It's very tasty and as free-range as they come :T . You can buy it online from the realmeat company for about £4 a rabbit (= 4 portions) if you can't find it locally.

kethry

there are meat suppliers out there who offer boxes of organic/freerange meat. I don't use one myself as i don't have a cc/dc to order with, but hopefully someone will be able to recommend a good one. That, or finding a good butcher, even if you have to travel some way, may be an idea. The sister of one of my ex's used to get about fifty pounds worth of meat in one go, and put it all in the freezer (and this was 15 years ago when fifty quid went further than it does these days) - because she was a regular bulk order customer, the butcher often cut her a deal.

HTH

keth
xx

kcmatt79

Thanks for suggestions. Yes, we have a very good butcher nearby, but he is pretty pricey. I was thinking of doing the filling the freezer though, and see if he'll do me a deal if I buy a lot. It all requires planning, I guess - going to the butchers/greengrocers on a Saturday and maybe doing rest of shopping at supermarkets in evenings. Just hope I can stick to it. Last week's shopping cost £80! Eeeek!

vixtress

although not organic i get our meat from a local farm shop. its much cheaper and all free range, the lambs are from there own farm and i have had long conversations with the owner/butcher about the welfare/origins of the cows and pigs. its much cheaper than nasty supermarket stuff too!
i also get organic veg box from a local organic grocer

i still manage to keep to about £200 a month for 4 of us (2x young children)