If you buy/have bought more expensive meat, does it go further?

[beforeihit30]

I know from a welfare perspective and most likely on quality, getting more expensive meat (as in free range, from a butcher etc) is probably better.

I’m wondering for those of you that do buy higher quality/welfare meat, if it goes further?

I buy just above the cheapest meat (usually the supermarket own brand, British meat) driven largely by cost but we’ve changed our eating habits significantly in recent months which has helped us to save money on food (priority was on health benefits, but it’s a nice bonus!). We are saving currently and I have a budget, so don’t want to go wild on food costs, but for a long time we’ve wanted to move to higher quality meat.

One thing with cheaper meat is the issues with shrinkage and water, and perhaps taste/meat quality. The meat we buy is usually ok, but I would like something better quality. I’ve heard other people say that their better quality meat is ‘meatier’, eg it doesn’t shrink, it goes further etc. Have any of you found that to be the case?

Next on my list is veg... but trying to avoid astronomical food bills!

I find that more expensive chickens go further. We only buy organic ones from our local butcher....but only once a week! We do find that we get two meals from one chicken. They're big!

There are two adults and two DD's aged 14 and 10 in our house. We roast it and then have a sunday style dinner and then the following day, pull the remaining meat off it, make stock and have a curry. There's not loads of meat but enough for us.

We find the best way to make meat go further is to only eat it about twice a week! We have a chicken and on another meal, we have something like spag bol from good organic mince.

Other meals are vegetarian pizzas, veggie curry, chick peas with salads and avocado/cheese/olives.

No it doesn’t. It’s a myth. Meat is meat. You’re paying for the welfare before it died, not some super chicken. Unless you’re talking about frozen processed meats which are injected with water to make them appear bigger

Yes, a proper organic chicken tastes amazing. The meat is so rich you don't need to eat a lot of it, hence why it goes further. A £10 will easily do two meals plus you get stock from the bones. A £5 will only do one meal. So they technically cost the same but one tastes better than the other!

It is tastier per ounce, but that only makes it go further if you change how you eat, eg stir fries with small bits of meat can get away with less, ditto stews. I grew up with meat in every cooked meal but mainly as a flavouring - never had a roast at home until sixth form - so less and better works well for me. I can get a good six meals for two out of a large farmer's market chicken, picking off the bones for the tasty bits, and then making stock and soup.
If you still eat meat by weight or volume, it won't work.

^^ yes citris said it better than I did

Thanks, that’s helpful. We are not big meat eaters, which has increased since we changed our eating habits (if that makes sense - basically we seem to eat less meat now). So if the ‘it goes further’ is because it’s tasty and you feel satisfied by it with less, that may work for us.

I have made stock and soup with carcasses before but am not always inspired to do so as I don’t find them as flavourful as I feel they should be - maybe it’s in my head or maybe I would get more from things like chicken if the carcass did actually produce more flavour.

It doesn't go further, but I find it's more enjoyable. I also find the DC are more likely to eat and enjoy it.

I've found that Morrison's mince does not go nearly as far as waitrose mince - both fridge aisle, not frozen! The Morrison's one is much more watery! Can't speak for other brands, but I do think our meat goes further and is tastier when we spend a little more on it

I'm interested in this. Is it worth buying Tesco's finest slow cook beef over ordinary diced beef, for example? Is free range organic better than organic chicken, and organic chicken or again Tesco's finest? I've tried different types over the past month or so, but the only thing I'm sure about is that the very cheap meat is tasteless and not worth buying.

It really depends how you cook. I was already of the Mumsnet chicken school of cooking, but knowing I have spent more, I do make expensive meat more of an event and make it go further.

I have a chest freezer and buy half a pig and half a cow and we slowly work our way through it.

The cow for example comes with quite a lot of steaks and they are all massive and they all get divided in half - there is no shrinkage and so one easily feeds 2 people. Joints end up with loads of leftovers and then you end up in the old style of cooking - cold cuts after a roast, chopping it into mince for a pie, using bones to make stock and so on.

So yes, it does go further but whether it goes further enough to justify the cost I'm not sure. That would have to be a personal decision - taste is better but you have to use a lot less.

1kg of mince is still just 1 kg of mince. It doesn't go further by being more expensive. You're paying for the welfare and which debatably improves the flavour.

Cheap pork and chicken tends to be watery, and cheap mince is usually higher fat and loads more fluid oozes out when you fry it.

Yes mince is cheaper when you get a higher % fat content but that is clearly labelled and doesn’t correlate with happy meat / higher welfare. Tesco’s sell the same mince product in 5%, 10% and 15% fat, getting progressively more expensive but the cow it came from is the same

It may be the fat content issue. If you are buying high fat content meat it will seem to shrink as the fat melts and comes out more so than lean meat.

I recommend Waitrose Essential meat for better quality at a reasonable price.

Buy Ox Cheek instead of stewing beef & cook in the slow cooker. It’s a cheap but far tastier cut of meat

No. I eat more because it tastes so good...

Yes.
XP thought organic chicken was nonsense until he ate it and realised how much there was leftover to pick.
We're a wanky Duchy organic chicken family. But I only buy meat a few times a year tbh, I prefer to be a veggie household. Better for us, my wallet and the environment.

No, I don't think it does. There is still the same weight of meat. I couldn't make the argument that it tastes better so I'm satisfied with less. More likely to keep picking til it is gone tbh.

I think it is better for other reasons such as higher welfare, fewer nasties etc. But not because it will feed more mouths.

You will have less shrinkage with properly aged beef if buying a joint.

I was prompted in part because our chicken recently hasn’t been that great (Tesco British chicken, not free range/organic/finest), and last week we had some steaks (sirloin) that were really watery that took us by surprise. Then we bought a joint of lamb which has shrunk loads (not just fat).

Of course I’ve taken this to a whole other level and am now thinking about buying a ridiculous chicken from my closest and incredibly expensive butcher...

I should probably try something in between the extremes too...

Try the best first, then try the middle. You will see a difference. Humans should be reducing their meat consumption though...to save the planet.

Lamb joints always shrink, that's what they do.

Mince is totally worth paying for middle rank - a 5% fat packet will literally have more meat in it than a 12%, and usually by a lot more than the numbers imply. Fancy named breed mince? Not so much.

Other stuff, it depends - aged beef steaks are tastier but won't go further as such, while cheap stewing/casserole steak will go further as you build it into a large stew. A £9 chicken will be tastier and probably will stretch further (plus chicken welfare is still atrocious for the cheap stuff, though a lot better than it was 20 years ago).

A small amount of fillet (beef/pork) makes for a large amount of stirfry, and is tastier than a large amount of something less fancy so works out better all round.

Horses for courses. If you can find horse :D