Where to Buy Meat?

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

There's been a lot in the news recently regarding eating/buying meat and I'd like to try and buy some online as opposed to getting it at the supermarket. I've tried googling as to where's the best website to buy the meat but I've still no idea.


Does anyone have any recommendations, thanks.

Depends where you live & what you want, cheap or ethical tend to be at opposite ends of spectrum, as does knowing exactly where it came from, reared, slaughtered

I use a local farm depot shop, because I want ethical, free range, non Halal etc. It is not cheap but suits my requirements

It took a bit of online sleuthing to find it. Because of delivery arrangements I wanted click & collect option as well

Local butcher could not verify all the items I need, and free range chicken seemed to be a rude word:(

I've had some really terrible orders from Muscle Food, including turkeys that were badly packed and leaked blood everywhere. I did have a few that were problem free but it wasn't the norm, often there was chicken that smelled really bad, not because of the gas flushing, it was just off. 
I have ordered from a Scottish online Butcher called Campbell's a few times and everything was okay, no leaks, well packed and plenty of ice packs that were still mostly frozen. They often have a discount offer for new customers too.

Just like I do with supermarkets, I use different online butchers for different things but you have to accept that there is a price difference over supermarket meats.
Supermarket meat is generally (like fruit &  veg) bland & tasteless compared to what independents offer, with a few exceptions (like an occasional 5% fat mince where taste isn't important in a chili con carne).

Farmison are excellent - huge range, you often have a choice of breed of animal and with many items (like burgers & sausages) the ingredients listed. Quality is excellent as is delivery.
The Blackface Meat Co for "specials" - like Ayrshire rose veal; mutton; Galloway beef and game. Again, quality is top-notch and delivery is excellent.
Then for something a bit different - The Buffalo Farm. It's not ALL buffalo though buffalo is a fantastic low-fat beef alternative and I would recommend anybody try buffalo mince and buffalo steak, which has extremely little fat so it goes a long way plus tastes great too. Should I mention their stroganoff burgers? Oh my word they are good. *stops drooling to type* TBH their buffalo sausages are the nicest "everyday" sausage ever and are a "go-to" here too. Again quality & delivery are excellent.

Living near a town with a few butchers of supposedly good repute I was generally disappointed in the quality and taste, which is what led me to those online butchers I use ............ and the purchase of a second freezer, but at least I have no trouble finding something good for dinner.

As I began using online butchers over this past year or so, I was tempted to try Muscle Foods as the original part of this post suggests a few times but there are a lot of "iffy" reviews about them, for deliveries not arriving; for trouble getting refunds; people having random payments taken.
It can be an expensive business finding out who is good for buying meat from so I hope my go-to's are of help to someone.