Best-value "value" meat

moggylover

pigpen wrote: »

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.

I quite agree - but it is not anything new! Mince was never a "quality meat" it was always what the butcher did with all sorts of bits and bobs (but not generally gristle or bone - not nice butchers those) and until fairly recently no-one would have wasted steak (for instance) on making mince or put anything other than the scraps into a sausage!

I have to be honest that I am with Hugh FW on this point. If we are going to eat meat, then we have to forget "squeamish" and eat pretty much all of the cow/pig/chicken/lamb that has lost its life for our appetites.

I'm not a veggie - and I buy a lot of my meat direct from the smallholder when I can get it (i.e. a lamb, half a pig or half a cow at a time) I find myself with lots of cuts that one no longer sees in half the butchers, let alone the supermarket!

I almost always find myself able to have some extras free of charge as well. So many people will not eat offal - that I can have hearts, livers and kidneys in bulk! I also often end up with half a cow + 5 tails - and oxtail is the most wonderful tasting meat and makes superb stews or soups.

I think it is really sad that many of the things that absolutely everyone ate without any harm coming to them for Centuries are now considered "rubbish" or "eeuk" and not wanted. All it really needs is for people to learn how to cook them again imo, because many of them were real delicacies in previous generations (kidneys for instance) and offal is particularly lean, rich in vitamins and iron, and cooked well it can be out of this world.

I have to admit, that even I had not had pigs ears! But was shown how to prepare and cook these as a starter (well shaved and cut into thin strips and coated and crispy fried) and they are truly delicious with a dip! One friend tucked in heartily - and then refused to believe me when I told her what she was eating.

Another flatly refused to eat a dish made with chicken livers - even though both her KIDS told her it was absolutely georgeous as they had had it before at my house and loved it!

I think we have had a few generations of being "spoilt" for food, i.e. more money than sense, and that maybe we will all profit from the fact that food costs are rising as we will quite possibly have to be more adventurous in what we try or face doing without!

lesley1960

melli wrote: »

I won't buy Value Chicken for ethical reasons and tend not to eat much meat however I am doing an experiment in Values foods and have had Value Bacon which is great. My current pack has eight slices all really thick!
Value Sausage Rolls aren't nice though and I have a pack of Value Smoked Mackerel for my tea tomorrow

re pork items , dont be fooled that all piggies have a lovely life ,your value pork has more then likely come from a farm that practices intensive farming , and also could have been imported from god knows where.

Pretani

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

Lamb cannot be reared indoors,!

That's only an assumption. There's nothing to stop lamb being reared indoors

Larumbelle

I can't stand supermarket meat, usually, but I'm totally broke and needs must and all that...

OH wants me to buy a Tesco Value gammon joint. I think they look a bit grim but that may be my prejudice showing. So I'm doing the objective thing and asking if anyone here has any experience of buying / eating one, and if they're okay or not. If we got one I'd be slicing off some gammon 'steaks' to freeze/cook then cooking the rest in the slow cooker as a cold meat for dinners and sandwiches. Also, if I did this, how long would it keep without freezing?

I know that technically this should maybe be on another board, but I have more faith that people who post here will get what I'm on about.

Lozza17

Haven't tried one (admit they look a bit grim) but the Co-op are currently selling un-smoked gammon joints half price, 1.5 kg for £5, not sure how that compares with the value one.

ShelBell

I have used the asda value one and it was lovely. Did mine in the slow cooker with some apple juice and it was really nice. I often buy value cuts now for in the slow cooker as they come out beautifully.

Pretani

I love Gammon, the smoked Gammon joint is nice. Lidl's had an offer on recently, buy one get one free, so that's 2kg joints for a £5. That's better value than Tesco or asda.

Jorgan_2

My local butcher sells gammon joints that are, bigger, better looking and tastier than the Tesco Value ones. Have a look at your butchers, you may be surprised.

freebiequennie

we have the asda smart price bacon joints and they are fine sometimes worth soaking for a couple of hours before cooking we then cook ours wrappped in foil with a small amount of water in and a chopped onion, in the oven.

generally my husband eats it within 2 days but if we buy one of the huge joints of gammon at xmas it last a good week in the fridge on a meat platter the ones with metal spikes and then cover with tin foil.

blimey i sound like jamie oliver the amount of tin foil i use (sure that guy has shares in bacofoil)

[Deleted User]

I actually did one last Friday in my SC and it was really quite nice. My Sis-in-law, who was staying with me over the week-end and I had it for lunch on Saturday with salad ect, plus again some sliced up on Sunday morning with a poached egg on top, and the last of it I used up for lunch on Monday. So it did for 5 meals altogether which when I bought it cost abot £ 3.50 so it costed out at around 70p per person per meal.Sliced some carrot into the SC and laid the joint on the top and drizzled some runny honey and a little water over the top.Cooked it for about 6-7 hours on slow and it was melt in the mouth.Its a lot cheaper than buying that 'plastic ham' in a packet and there was so much of it