Cheap cuts meat false economy?

tallyhoh

I had some shin of beef for £3 for the 2 of us. It was absolutely delicious having been in slow cooker for 5 hours but a miniscule amount & a fair bit of fat.

Got me thinking, I could have had a leanish rump steak between us 2 for the same price with no long cooking involved.

Are the cheap cuts still worth it or is it now a false economy?

Farway

Would you have same quantity of steak for £3? Seems unlikely to me

However I take your point, I could buy a posh Cornish pasty for around £3, or a thick, free range, organic pork chop for much the same price. I know what i choose

downshifted

Always check the price per kilo before buying. I!!!8217;ve bought roasting joints for casseroles before now, because the price per kilo was cheaper.

Slow cookers are cheap to run, and once you have thrown everything in take no effort

VfM4meplse

tallyhoh wrote: »

Are the cheap cuts still worth it or is it now a false economy?

I have no interest in meat, but I did catch a C4 programme run in the early hours of the morning that made a good case for eating the whole animal given the animal has already been slaughtered for that purpose. Beef brisket was given a particular thumbs up. Most people enjoyed the taste of the dishes served up, until they realised its provenance

kerri_gt

I did wonder about the economy of some oxtail I bought, it was prob about £4-£5 for a kilo, however by the time you then factor in the bones / weight (and some pieces were bone with very very little meat) I did wonder how much it worked out at per kg for just the meat. Also found the same thing before with some cheap lamb.

Floss

kerri_gt wrote: »

I did wonder about the economy of some oxtail I bought, it was prob about £4-£5 for a kilo, however by the time you then factor in the bones / weight (and some pieces were bone with very very little meat) I did wonder how much it worked out at per kg for just the meat. Also found the same thing before with some cheap lamb.

But once you cook it all together, long & low, the meat will fall off the bones and have a wonderful flavour.

kerri_gt

Floss wrote: »

But once you cook it all together, long & low, the meat will fall off the bones and have a wonderful flavour.

The oxtail was nice, however the lamb was just fatty without much meat or flavour.

My point was more that whilst these cuts / packs might have been cheapest per kg on the label, it would be intesting to know the price per kg without the bones which can't actually be eaten, and how this stacks up vs price per kg of more expensive cuts.

System

Neck of lamb...so expensive for what it is.

Brambling

A lot of what was once considered cheap cuts of meat have become popular with chefs now so cuts like the beef/ox cheeks, shin and belly pork have become more expensive than they were years ago. These cuts tend to be more fatty which is what producea a tasty gravy once slow cooked but you're just have to do your sums when buying

purpleybat

Brambling wrote: »

A lot of what was once considered cheap cuts of meat have become popular with chefs now so cuts like the beef/ox cheeks, shin and belly pork have become more expensive than they were years ago. These cuts tend to be more fatty which is what producea a tasty gravy once slow cooked but you're just have to do your sums when buying

i agree very much about the price being bumped up by chefs using these cuts of meat.
years ago i remember buying HUGE lamb shanks for pennies (one would feed 2 easily) as they were considered an off cut. now they're tiny and cos a small fortune.
not so long ago brisket was nice and cheap and that's crept up in price too, tho it is very rich i find and a little goes a long way.
luckily we like liver and kidneys here and they're still cheap i draw the line at tripe tho ugh!

maman

tallyhoh wrote: »

I had some shin of beef for £3 for the 2 of us. It was absolutely delicious having been in slow cooker for 5 hours but a miniscule amount & a fair bit of fat.

Got me thinking, I could have had a leanish rump steak between us 2 for the same price with no long cooking involved.

Are the cheap cuts still worth it or is it now a false economy?

In that particular example you won't have paid much to cook it so it's definitely an economy. As another poster said, the weight of shin should be far more than the rump of the same price.


Oven cooking shin might cost a lot more than a SC so that's something to consider.


Liver is still relatively cheap though and that cooks very quickly.


I agree about checking the cost per kilo. It's often possible to buy joints (of silverside particularly) cheaper than stewing beef. It's easy to cut them up at home into either smaller joints or casserole cubes or whatever you want.