What can I do (meat buying-wise) to help with the British farmers

[Flamesparrow]

Foot n mouth, now bluetongue, all these various cows etc keep end up being slaughtered I know I can't stop the diseases, but is there something I should be doing w/r buying different meats etc to help keep British farms going?

Should I be using a local butcher (where I would find one would be my next question!)? Is supermarket "british marked" meat actually helping in any way.

My funds are few, but I am thinking that not eating meat every meal, but making the meat that I do buy count seems a better idea.

(Does any of that make sense or am I rambling? )

is there a farmers' market or a farm shop nearby so you can buy direct?

if not the little tractor icon on meat means that it is British

if there is a local butcher go and talk to him and tell him what you want to do and see if his meat comes from local sources

I use our local butcher because I don't trust the quality of supermarket meat and most of my butcher's meat is locally produced - and fantastic quality.

I also don't have much money to spare but I think it's definitely more economical to buy from the butcher than the supermarket too - and there's less waste on packaging (which the producers have to pay the supermarket for).

I had heard that the tractor symbol has been abused by the supermarkets and that they sometimes package the meat from other countries in the UK and can then label it as British (and this was from a farmer.

I'll have a look round town tomorrow

flame looky here

Local butchers usually use british - ask them. And waaayyyy cheaper than supermarkets. Check online - some producers do meat boxes like the veg boxes. And,(fro someone with a farming family) thanks for caring about farmers,it's not all subsidies

I normally just listen to the news on the radio, but actually bought a paper yesterday and it made it sink in more.

Hurrah! Will look at the link later and get onto it.

Our local butcher only has locally sourced meat. It's a bit more expensive than supermarket meat but SO much better. It's hung for the optimal amount of time, doesn't shrink and full of flavour. Which means you don't need to do much with it so makes life easier in the long run.

The other good thing about buying from a local butcher (apart from how much better the meat tastes) is that you can usually get cheaper cuts of meat (such as skirt etc) that the supermarkets just don't do but that you can do great meals with. The butcher will always be happy help you if you're not sure the best way to cook it too.