Do you buy your meat from a butchers?

[KTeePee]

If so, what do you buy in a normal week, do you think it costs much more than from a supermarket, any pros & cons?

We don't eat a huge amount of meat - maybe use lamb or beef mince once or twice a week, roast a chicken once ever one or two weeks, use chicken portions a couple of times a week, lamb casserole once in a while. just wondered if it was worth the effort of going to a butchers?

[sparkler]

I like to go to the butchers when I can. Usually a mixture of things and stick them in the freezer to last. The meat is such better quality as the supermarkets tend to pump lots of water in theirs. I find the butchers a little more expensive but I don't mind paying when it's better quality.

[sparkler]

We always order our Christmas turkey from the butchers. Cost a lot, lot more than a supermarket but there is a big differece in taste etc.

[liath]

I buy roasts and lamb/beef for casseroles as they are much better quality & taste than supermarket equivalent,

[KTeePee]

How much would you spend there for a weeks worth of meals do you reckon?

[SoMuchToBits]

I always buy mine from the butchers. I would say it is more expensive, but IMO definitely worth it. A couple of times I have bought supermarket meat, and not told dh, and he has noticed the difference in quality, and he is by no means a connoisseur.

[Ghostashoshabuster]

I buy it from the butchers van at the local market. (the butcher does have ashop in a town further away)

This month I bought

5lb pork chops
10lb mince
10lb chicken breasts
3lb lamb chops
2x ham joint
2x beef joint
2x free range chicken
3 pks butchers sausages

it came to £64.00 and taste fantastic.

I would never buy in a supermarket.

[Ghostashoshabuster]

Sparkler Go to Wimborne Market, saturday or sunday, the best butcher is the one outside the entrance.

[KTeePee]

Mmm I suppose it's because we don't really do roasts I'm feeling that things like mince and chicken breasts are not really going to be much better quality from a butchers are they?

[Ghostashoshabuster]

God yes mince in particular, much much better.

[KTeePee]

Maybe I'll give it a try as an experiment - dh would love if I started buying him steak lol but I hate it myself!

[Ghostashoshabuster]

I buy 4 huge steaks for £10.00 off the same guy, I buy about once every6 weeks, one time i buy hops the next time steak and braising steak.

This feeds DH, myself DGD and the mindees for the 6 weeks. (although we always have steak chops etc left which is why I alternate buy.

[Boco]

I only buy meat from local butcher - they have their own herd and all chicken is free range organic. It costs more, so we have meat maybe 3 times a week and fish once and vegetarian 3 times. I'd rather have good meat less often than supermarket meat every day.

[nimnom]

Waitrose or butchers. You can tell if meat is from the other supermarkets.

[Overrun]

Its got to be a good butchers, we got steaks from a butcher the other day, and they were awful. Butcher doesn't always mean best.
Ask is their meat locally sourced, organic or not if that is important to you.

[SenoraPostrophe]

beware of chain butchers that sell lots of super-deal packs of meat: I used to work in one of those and it's pretty much the same stuff as you'd get in a supermarket. except for the chicken - we sold the decent ones of those and sent the green ones to kfc...

anyway a good butcher is well worth the extra. apart from hanging and keeping the meat properly, they'll also bone it for you saving lots of effort later, and give you bits of fat etc.

[SenoraPostrophe]

oh yeah, in answer to the question, I buy whatever looks nice usually.

[Mercy]

What do you mean by locally sourced?

Where do large town or city butchers get their meat from - do all butchers buy straight from a farm/slaughter house? [ignorant]

[littlefrog]

yes, usually - several different ones round here, some much better than others. When on holiday we got some meat from the Riverford shop which was lovely, but eye-wateringly expensive (£15 for HALF a leg of lamb - a big one, but still...) Very delicious though. Am wondering about their meat boxes.

[PandaG]

buy most of my meat from the local farm shop, most meat reared on site, the rest within a few miles. Is really good quality, but not too pricey - I usually spend £30 a month - we only eat meat a few times a week

[mandymac]

We buy from our local butcher. The chicken's are about £7 and we get it jointed and keep the carcass for stock. We get at least 3 meals from that for DH, DD and I.
He sources all his meat from local farms, hangs his beef for up to 21 days. Cures his own ham and bacon and makes 20 different types of sausage. Its all fab and best of all, that is where DDs nursery get all their meat too. I think it is really important to support local businesses like this. Our lovely bakers closed recently, not long after a Somerfield opened up the road. Very .