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?

Try game. Pheasant shouldn't be so expensive.

Fyi there is also corned mutton! Glorious

Chicken thighs in a curry in the slow cooker is so good. Much nicer than chicken breast, they dry out. I do a chilli with one pack mince and then 2-3 tins of beans, will go so much further

Oh yes, you’ve just reminded me! I’ve done both stuffed and slow cooked lambs’ hearts before now, they’re very good. I got mine from the butcher but I have to ask at the right time, as it’s not something she would habitually have in stock. 85p each though, and that was from decent Welsh lamb too.

They do look a bit like meaty tulips though, don’t you think? 🤣

Hi yes I do eat meat. Only beef and maybe some chicken occasionally.
I love ducks and couldn’t eat one of those. Too cute.
fair play to you if you pluck and gut them yourself.

Ducks are twats if that helps

@Bubblebubblebah they bloody well are! 😂

Yes @user1471541711, tbh I try to use as much as possible. The carcass and neck go into stock. The feathers go to a lady who does wreaths with them and I save the wing tips for training my gundog pup. It is only the feet, head and guts that get chucked. I love eating duck because it is wild, not reared in tiny pens or intensively (like gressingham duck). It is shot and dispatched quickly and treated with respect.
I can tell so much from a bird - species, sex, age. I can identify condition and what it had for its last meal. You don't get that from a chicken in Tesco!

No. I,m buying less meat but won’t compromise on quality. I use a local butcher and buy organic. Only buy grass fed beef but no longer always doing a roast partly due to increased food costs but also the cost of the oven.

@OrlandointheWilderness couldn't feet go into the stock too? Chicken ones make good atock. Loads of collagen

Nudja or sobrasada, a little goes a long way in terms of flavour

For curries or sauces like bolognese I add more cheap veg and lentils to make it go further

Slow cooked brisket wit bbq sauce

Pork belly strips marinaded and grilled

Pork cheeks - amazing slow cooked

I don't personally, but i'm very, very meat fussy, will only eat chicken breast meat, i'd never touch thigh/leg/wing. Only pick pork medalion steaks, beef rump/sirloin with no gristle or fat running through it, just the tiny bit round the edge that i cut off. Won't eat leg of lamb or anything on the bone.
Won't eat meat i can't see first, so nothing like meat pasty, ready meal etc, only meat i pick, process and cook myself.

As such i typically eat mostly meat free, but my dad will eat any meat, so i'm still buying the bloody stuff as hes a big meat eater.

@Bubblebubblebah did I put that they were chucked!?! Fecking tired fingers. Yes they are normally chopped up and shoved in! Sorry brain not working. 😂

I'm buying cheaper cuts but only of really good meat. So basically we eat very little meat these days.

That may have been me misreading! Sorry

@christmas2022 no turkey mince isn't that bad if you cook it right and have a decent recipe like Larb Gai or something. People who say it's rank are like those who say turkey at Xmas is too: they basically can't cook 🤣

All tirkey is rank 😁 And I can cook.

There is some distinctive taste I was never fan off. I do goose for Christmas

Still buying high welfare quality meat here, but less of it

Good things to try on this thread

I buy frozen chicken feet, and give them to my dogs as an ice cream snack. I have an arthritic Lab and these are full of collagen and apparently help with joint issues.

We can also buy packs with the beaks and feet in (cooked well they are tastier than expected but I they don't look appetizing I won't lie) and we call those packs Walkie Talkies 😂

Otherwise like pp mentioned, you can make a good stock with these.

Yes @isthismylifenow I do chop the feet up and add them in - for some reason my poor tired brain and fingers doesn't think I do and it's in charge of the typing!
Walkie talkies! 😂 😂 😂

We are eating less meat now, one chicken breast serves three of us, where I would have used more in the past. However, I do think that we had grown accustomed to eating more meat than necessary as the portion sizes increased (E.g. one chicken breast now weighs nearly 300g compared to a few years ago, when they were smaller at around 200g).
I now try to restrict the portion size of the meat content per person to just less than 100g per main meal and this has cut down considerably on cost, along with using chicken thighs and drumsticks in a casserole, which tastes better, too, as PP have mentioned….

That's interesting because I noted few months ago that chicken brests got smaller in halal butchers. We used to buy one betweem friend and me. They used to be massive! 3 nice schnitzels worth usually! I guess the slecific breed isn't used nowadays