Best-value "value" meat

lauren_1

Hunt down on freecycle, ebay or carboots for a mincer. Its better to make your own mince from value steaks or butcher off cuts that to buy that god awful stuff, we tried it and i had to stop eating every 2 mins to spit out gristle and bone, yuk yuk yuk

primrose04

Today I bought 2 pieces of Sainsburys Taste the Difference pork loin steaks and sliced them in half lengthways to feed 4!

queen_of_string

value smoked salmon is fab too and as it is a product with such a strong flavour, a little goes a long way ( not strictly meat I know)

scrivette

I purchased Sainsburys Value Mince at the weekend and used it last night, I used lots of vegetables and cooked it slowly and it was fine. Mr S (who is fussy) didnt notice any difference.

Ezmondino

I like my steaks but I never buy it already cut (unless reduced heavilly!). I buy top rump joints (vacuum pack stuff mainly) and then slice it myself for 1/3 of the cost, and when it's on offer even better!

FairyElephant_2

With a DH like mine, who doesn't consider a meal 'proper' unless it has meat in it, we eat meat pretty much daily - although we have the odd meat-free day in the summer when we can have cheese salads & the like (he prefers 'plain' food).

Due to budget I buy lots of 'value' type, or stuff which has been 'whoops' stickered. Value mince I find OK for bolognaise & chilli, but I do dry-fry and drain offf the fat. I buy better quality mince when on offer and freeze it if I can.

I'd love to be able to afford to buy free-range and/or organic, but I'm afraid we just can't stretch to it on a normal basis.

DH is fussy re ham, which has to be 'real' not pork loin boosted with water, or wafter thin bits stuck together.

I am fussy re sausages - they have to be good quality with a high meat content, but I do buy the cheapest 'value' ones for the SK's, simply becuase they like them and don't like what I consider 'real' sausages (guess it has something to do with what they were brought up on - but not by me!!!). We do grill them all though, so lots of the fat comes out (the sausages - not the SK's - LOL!!!!!!!!!).

moanymoany

naturally wrote: »

I bought a pack of value bacon, which claimed to be the odd bits, looks pretty fatty but for the money I thought I'd fiddle and take the fat and skin etc off...

Got it home and opened it, and I had misunderstood the label! I was expecting slices, maybe not full ones with the odd weird thickness etc. What I got was lots of lumps and no slices! :eek: I diced it and used it in cooking but couldn't use it as I had intended - bacon butties!! :rolleyes:

I think what you got was bacon pieces. I buy Tesco value back or the whole thing - back and streaky together. It is usually fine, I think unless you buy the really expensive stuff there is little to put between the cheaper buys.

moanymoany

naturally wrote: »

I bought a pack of value bacon, which claimed to be the odd bits, looks pretty fatty but for the money I thought I'd fiddle and take the fat and skin etc off...

Got it home and opened it, and I had misunderstood the label! I was expecting slices, maybe not full ones with the odd weird thickness etc. What I got was lots of lumps and no slices! :eek: I diced it and used it in cooking but couldn't use it as I had intended - bacon butties!! :rolleyes:

I think what you got was bacon pieces. I buy Tesco value back or the whole thing - back and streaky together. It is usually fine, I think unless you buy the really expensive stuff there is little to put between the cheaper buys.

moggylover

lauren_1 wrote: »

Hunt down on freecycle, ebay or carboots for a mincer. Its better to make your own mince from value steaks or butcher off cuts that to buy that god awful stuff, we tried it and i had to stop eating every 2 mins to spit out gristle and bone, yuk yuk yuk

Don't know if it is different in different areas - but I find it worth watching the value mince. For ages it was rather white and lardy looking - but just lately in both our local Tesco stores it has been really nice and red, just a little fat (which it needs for flavour and so that it is not dry and bitty) here and there, and no "coloured" look to it. My only dissapointment was that the first week it was a chunkier cut mince, and thereafter down to that fine ground which everywhere seems to sell these days! Really enjoyed the chunkier one for a change.

I bought one to try and it was lovely, so I stocked up on half a dozen packs for the freezer. I suspect that the quality just varies - but then so does what is on the butchers slab much of the time.

Fact is, two cows reared in the same field and in the same way - one can be quite a bit "fattier" meat than the other - and one breed of cow may be "fattier" than another.

Having a butcher in the family taught me that he might want to sell you the totally lean piece of meat - but the best cuts for flavour are often those with some fat on: i.e. rib of beef, brisket, belly of pork, breast of lamb. Don't get me wrong - I like a piece of topside as well, but I always get an extra piece of basting fat out to improve the flavour.

pigpen

lauren_1 wrote: »

Hunt down on freecycle, ebay or carboots for a mincer. Its better to make your own mince from value steaks or butcher off cuts that to buy that god awful stuff, we tried it and i had to stop eating every 2 mins to spit out gristle and bone, yuk yuk yuk

Most butchers will mince it for you if you ask.. and free of charge.

I don't like the mince from the butchers.. it is all gritty and fatty.. like they mince the junk!.. I usually buy value or shops own brand and it is always fine.. I have tried 2 of the butchers down our street.. one twice after it changed hands.. the third one I don't ever use as they always have flies on the meat! One of them is my BIL

I fry mine with onions and then make it into whatever I am making.. savoury mince/bolognaise.. never had a problem.