working on a budget-cheepest cuts of meat? looking forward to winter soups and stews

[mothersmilk]

its all in the title really planing next months shop got the online bit sorted now i just need a list for my butcher. Woul like a selection of beef lamb and chicken, can someone recomend the cheapest best joints.
Many thanks

Rolled shoulder of lamb is a lot cheaper than leg. It's got a fair bit of fat in so you cook it really, really slowly on a bed of vegetables and then it's really sweet meat.

There was a progrmme about cheap meat on the other night. Cheek meat was good, if cooked slowly. I think it was pork cheek.

With lamb, chump end chops (not chump chops) are much cheaper and make good roasts.

thanks any more? looking for cassaoles and such so all will be cooked slowly

lamb neck is good for stews

I tend to buy whatever is cheapest (or reduced) and sling it in the slow cooker. For soup you can't beat pea and ham. Buy the little lardons of bacon, dry fry them and then add them after you've liquidised the pea bit. Even DD will eat this.

Might be worth checking out Delicious Magazine. I have used tons of recipes from this site, and they always seem to work! I'm sure I saw an article in the magazine lately about cheaper cuts of meat. DH doesn't eat red meat so I didn't pay it loads of attention, but I'm sure the recipes will be on the site somewhere if you search.

Hugh Furnley Whittenstall (sorry spelling!) is your man. You'll be able to source all you need on the River Cottage website.

Fresh liver
chicken thighs (better than beast)
Shoulder & neck of lamb
Beef mince, shin, brisket, LMC and loads of cubed stewing
Pork shoulder & belly.

May be worth popping to a farmshop too as you'll prob get better value.

I like a bit of beast!

Beef shin (usually just referred to in supermarkets as stewing steak) is fabulous for long, slow cooking. It goes really tender. Braising steak often goes too dry.

Pork belly is lovely too. I buy it in a whole piece, take the skin off, sprinkle the inside with finely chopped garlic, dried chillies, oregano, salt/pepper and the juice of a lemon/lime, then roll it up and roast very slowly for about 2-3 hours.

agree with Bacon re H F-W, and her list of cuts is spot-on.

scrag end of neck is fabulous - it costs about a pound a pound, cook it for hours and it's all melty and gorgeous. But it is fatty, so adjust portion size/accompaniments accordingly.

if scrag end is a bit too hardcore for you, ask for middle neck.

don't overlook cheap game if they sell it; game is a bit random so sometimes butchers have too much of something and sell it cheap; pheasant is lovely and you can cook it more or less like chicken except that it's drier and stronger-tasting.

btw, people used to go on about lamb shanks being cheap, but they're not these days as they are so trendy in restaurants.

Small amount of meat goes a long way if eked out with pulses and lots of veg. 1 medium roasting chicken does 4 of us 3 days at least (plus extra one for soup from carcass)

the River Cottage Meat Book (H F-W again) is excellent.

Agree about Chicken Thighs, way more flavour than breast.

Also Brisket makes a lovely Beef Roast. Slow roast it and it is so tender and tasty, I buy it even when we're not hard up its that nice.

The cook in the home where I work can do amazing things with cheap cuts of meat. Pork shoulder especially, tender, melt in the mouth meat and nice crispy crackling.

Neck of lamb is lovely in both stews and curried with split peas. Also breast of lamb can be braised with a bay leaf, a couple of cloves and peppercorns, Strip the meat of and skim the stock and then cook with onions, carrots and swede, topped with sliced potatoes to make a sort of hot pot type dish.

Pork hocks are good braised in cider and then roasted to crisp up the skin for crackling. Boned and rolled shoulder of port also works well done this way.

Beef flank or skirt is good and can be cheaper than shin which can sometimes be expensive,