Anyone else buying cheaper meat?

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Things like chicken thigh, Turkey mince and gammon?

Used to be chicken breast and steak but cutting back and trying to think outside the box.

Any hints and tips on best way to cook gammon? Thinking slow cooker as apparently they are also cheap to run. But do I just plonk it in and turn it on?

Any other inventive cheap meat options?

i have all but stopped buying it now. Extremely expensive & unless you buy organic/butchers it tasteless & awful these days anyway. I buy organic mince for chill once a month & use far less & bulk it out with lentils/beans. I eat more eggs/sardines etc now.

Mutton os generally cheaper because it is toucher and the flavour is not to everyone's taste ime. It is stronger than lamb and many people don't particularly like that even if they like lamb. That's probably why it isn't widely available as well

I don't have an Asian supermarket nearby. 😞 Do butchers sell the really old fashioned cuts of meat, like beef skirt, oxtail, or scrag end of neck?

Don't eat dead animals? Solved the problem for you there and also helped the animals and the planet

^^. This

Mutton isn’t cheap is it? . It takes longer to grow than lamb and is harder to find so usually is more expensive.

Oh, ok. I assumed it'd be cheap but I've no idea really. 😂

Gammon is great in the slow cooker - just put it in with a 2L bottle of cheap cola (and maybe a bay leaf if you have one) and leave for 8-10 hours.

We eat mostly chicken, turkey and pork for cost reasons - they are really versatile though which helps. We only rarely have beef or lamb. I'd love to eat more fish but that's expensive - we get some cheaper fish like mackerel, basa, pollock etc but it's still not that cheap.

@SatinHeart frozen fish is absolutely fine if you want more fish. I always have frozen white fosh fillets in freezer

Yes, chicken thighs are far tastier than breast anyway

I buy the cheapest 20% fat mince - don't need to use any oil to sauté onions, then I skim off the excess and use it for roast potatoes

Gammon you can soak overnight to take out some of the saltiness. I pour a can of cheap cider in to cook and keep moist

Brisket/casserole steak cooked with a can of cheap bitter

Frozen lamb chops are ok

Frozen salmon is just not the same as fresh though!

Nope .

If I couldn't afford ethically produced meat I'd eat less of it

I’ve always cooked to a budget so these meats aren’t new to me.

Gammon is popular here. I cook in the slow cooker with a bit of honey and slice or pull it and add bbq sauce in rolls . Usually there are scrappy leftovers which I freeze and add to a pasta dish or a pie.
I quite like Turkey mince in bolognese, it tastes lighter, you can do burgers but it needs a lot of seasoning as it can be bland.

Of course the vegans have popped in to tell us they're vegan 🙄

I haven't really changed my shopping habits yet, but I will be. Fewer roasting joints because of the cost of the oven.

I much prefer chicken thighs to breasts, so that's a no-brainer.

I'll be buying fewer steaks, unfortunately, although not none, as we all love them and I need the iron.

I'd love to be able to buy mutton. Had it a few times and it was gorgeous. I grew up eating goat as we kept them. In fact we never ate beef in our family, always goat, pork and chicken, all our own.

Gammon is nice slow-cooked. I think DH just does it in water, not sure. Really nice with some boiled spuds and green veg.

I'd agree with the veggie days. I'd much rather a high quality meat free meal than faffing about trying to make poor quality meat tasty and healthy.
I started cutting down on meat a few years ago and haven't eaten it at all for a couple of years now. So much easier to make healthy economical meals without it and I don't miss it at all.

I’ve always bought cheap meat - stewing beef, boned breast of lamb, chicken thighs on the bone, pork shoulder steaks. None of these were in stock on my last trip to the supermarket, I suppose they are suddenly more popular … might go veggie for a while.

Us! The problem is l don’t like them so have to cook them carefully. This is where slow cookers and pressure cookers come into their own. For beef l get cheap cuts throw in some mushrooms, stock, chopped onions, stock cube and some water. 8 hours or so later super soft meat

For gammon l put it in with ginger beef or coke.
DONT use diet, max or zero it has to be the “full fat” versions. Covering the meat. Maybe with some star anise sprinkled in

Hm not especially

But I have noticed pork is cheaper than it used to be, or is it just me? So I have been trying to make more meals with that.

One of my favourites is a receipt from one of the pinch of nom books, Dirty Macaroni, you use pork mince in it

I have ordered a pork shoulder to have on Sunday and the left overs will be used in a stir fry

We don't really eat steak, but often have gammon done in the slow cooker, which is lovely. Have with veg one day, then maybe with egg and chips, then leftovers on homemade pizza. Also I buy good quality minced beef, do in slow cooker with stock, tin toms etc, lots of veg, add oats to thicken, 500g mince makes 8 meals for 2 adults (one portion to eat, two for freezer).

Another receipe from the Pinch of Nom Books; "Campfire Stew" you use a slow cooker and gammon. It is very nice and the gammon takes on an almost "pulled pork" effect

Chicken thighs are more expensive than chicken breast!

(Sainsbury's skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets 640g are £5.15, £8.05/kig, Sainburys's skinless, boneless chicken breasts 640g are £4.08, £6.38/kg). I do buy thighs though, as they are tastier.

Turkey mince is also more expensive than beef mince or pork mince.

So I think you are making false economies and may as well change back!

Steak is of course an expensive meat and always has been, and gammon has long been relatively good value (and delicious!).

Chicken thighs are IMO tastier than breasts anyway. Breasts can be very dry.

In winter I sometimes buy neck of lamb, which is about the cheapest meat you can get.,
But I hate any meat fat, so what I do is fry it gently with a chopped onion, then simmer with water for a while. Then let it cool completely, pref. overnight, so I can skim all the fat off the top.
Then take the pieces out, take all the lean meat off the bone, discard fat and bones.
Add sliced carrots and turnip (they go very well with lamb IMO) to the cooking water, plus a lamb stock cube, pepper etc. plus usually potatoes, add the already cooked meat towards the end, to warm through.
Can also add a handful,of,pearl barley with the veg.
Cheap and very tasty - and no fat!

Ours do (I am not in UK but I assume all do), as they buy animals whole and cut the meat accordingly, and the cheaper cuts are sold as slow cook meat usually. But I can most definitely ask for a particular cut.

Mutton is widely available, and is cheaper than lamb. It doesn't make sense in yes, there had been a cost to keep them longer, but they are a cheaper meat as mutton is tougher than lamb. We can get mutton chops, but I wouldn't buy those as they are a bit tough imo, but for slow cooked meals, mutton is a good option. You don't find it is a standard supermarket really though, as they aren't as quick selling as lamb chops for eg.

Also oxtail. Cooked properly, it's quite the feast, although I am not sure they are now classed as budget.

I just used beef shin last night, but I also buy beef chuck, mutton neck, brisket etc. And don't underestimate ribs, including pork. Also a cheap cut, but very easy to cook and tasty. Not quick, but simple enough.

Shin or skirt beef is cheaper. Osso Bucco, oxtail. Pork ribs. lamb or pork shoulder. lamb shanks

There is some kind of mutton meat softener thing powder. I saw it in shops.
Marinade helps a lot. Dairy and acid. So lemon and yogurt base for example. Or bit of vinegar. We sometimes do vinegar on beef for shashliki.

I think case of mutton vs lamb price is like beef vs very old cow. Latter is not much liked

No we have stopped eating meat. A life changer in so many ways.

I haven’t looked lately, but Asda often used to sell packs of ‘stewing lamb’ which would include neck and sundry other bits - always relatively very cheap.

Whole chicken. In the ninja. Chicken and baked potato one night, tacos or fajitas next then soup on the third.