Convince to buy meat from my local butcher rather than from my local supermarket - I can't get beyond the price difference!

[Kellamity]

I have a very nice butcher/deli in the next town to me. It is run by some very friendly helpful butchers but it is on the pricey side. I also have the usual selection of well known supermarkets who sell significantly cheaper meat especially when part of their many deals.

I know the quality will be better at the butchers but as a family of 5 can I afford it?

You can if you eat less of it.

I find if I get to know a butcher I get a better deal. I buy cuts I wouldn't at the supermarket like lamb breast boned and rolled - very tasty stuffed and slow roasted and cheaper than your average supermarket joint. I probably eat less meat but enjoy it more this way.

I was surprised how little it actually cost. For one thing I only buy the quantity I need and with things like pork steaks there is less fat on so goes further. The butchers chicken breasts I only have to buy two as they don't shrink when cooking do divide between three of us whereas at supermarket I would buy pack of three or four and use them all in one meal

We have a lovely butcher in our village. I buy my meat from him. It is tastier for a start. The portions for chops and chicken breasts are huge. We used some breasts tonight for Cajun chicken and I cut all the "little fillets" off from underneath which actually were not so little and I will freeze them. They will come in handy to make sandwiches with on say a Friday when I am waiting for my online shop to come and I have run out of sandwich fillings.

The taste.
You only have to buy what you want.
The taste.
Knowing where the meat comes from.
Oh and did I mention the taste?

OK I am liking this

The butcher will probably do special offers. You can buy cheaper cuts of meat and the butcher tells you how to cook it properly so it tastes better. You can get bones/carcasses cheap/free and then make really good gravy, or even better stocks for soups, so effectively getting an extra meal free.

Your children will understand more about where their food comes from, and you get a lovely shiny glow when the butcher knows your name.

The taste. I used Tesco's mince recently as I couldn't get to the butcher's. DH ate the resulting chilli but said to me 'That wasn't as good as usual - the meat tasted a bit.... odd and the texture was a bit funny.' So, in a blind taste test, the butcher won out!

And yes to only buying what you need. We're a family of 5 - I don't need to buy 6 chops when I don't really need them (thinking more of the prepackaged stuff here). And my butcher does good deals, so a decent freezer space helps (3 for the price of 2 on a pound of mince for example).

The butcher's meat just tastes much better (and has a nicer texture). We only eat meat/chicken about twice a week (the rest of the time eat fish/veggie) so don't mind spending on quality when we do have it. Have tried supermarket meat, but even the so-called good stuff wasn't anything like the quality of the butcher's meat.

Do you find that you menu plan then to know what you want rather than go to the supermarket and end up with loads of meat you don't really need right now but the offer was too good to miss?

It tastes better, you don't feel the need to 'dress' the meat in the same way (so saving there).

Also as others have said, it goes further - 1 chicken breast would be enough for DH and I in a stir fry where as you'd need 2 from tescos.

Quality comes from animals who have been raised in a good way. If you can't afford the dead animals you eat to have been raised in a humane way then you can't afford meat. (IMHO) Go veggie one /two nights a week.

I always menu plan.

It will taste much better.

Things like bacon won't oooze watery liquid when you fry them.

Fighting global corporatisation and keeping your neighbour in business.

Mine is actually cheaper than the supermarket, stocks sausages dp will eat (I love them, he doesn't eat pork) and rounds either up to the nearest lb or down to the nearest £

Combined with veg off the weekly market our house is a two person fight to keep our highstreet alive!

I don't find the butcher that much more expensive - there is definitely less water in the meat (so thicker cooked bacon, chicken lasts 2 or 3 meals...) less fatty, better tasting, you know where the animals were reared... and you are supporting a local business. What's not to like?

Another bonus of using a local butcher; every now and then dh buys a nice bit of fillet, and it really is far superior to supermarket stuff. Last time, the two fillets the butcher cut left a funny-shaped lump of meat that couldn't really be sold, so the butcher gave it to him for nothing! Stroganoff the next night, really indulgent.

We also get free bones for the dogs.

I buy good quality meat from the farm shop-I therefore eat less of it and quite a lot of meat free meals.

The meat really is much, much nicer and I find you need less of it. You can buy exactly how much you need, not a supermarket's idea of a standard pack - with a family of 5 isn't it tricky managing that? Also if the meat is better you can buy cheaper cuts and still have an amazing meal eg I've been buying ribs lately which are fab cooked slowly. The sausages, if they make their own, are way better than anything mass-produced.

Oh yes and there is something very lovely about the butcher greeting you and your child by name and asking how the big joint you bought the other week went down/suggesting a way to cook that cut of meat and general chat about life and the weather rather than spotty surly teenagers who couldn't give a shit

Most do fantastic deals on family packs. At my fab local butcher I can get 1 whole chicken, beef steaks, mince, stewing steak, pork chops, bacon, sausages, black pudding, a family steak pie, half a dozen free range eggs and a bumper pack of chocolate biscuits!?! for £20. Lasts us almost 2 weeks with meal planning (family of four)

Oh and the taste difference is amazing!

our butcher does cheaper cuts and though he has eye wateringly expensive joints on sale, he does deal stoo.

1.5kg of local sausages v heavy on the meat for £5 on sat! Plus chuck mince 1kg for £5.

Does yours do some cheaper stuff? You might have to change what you eat.

oh, and 5 chicken legs for £5.

that's 50p a portion.

I think my local butcher is cheaper than the supermarket.

Mine is fab too. Their sausages, which they make themselves, are delicious (my 11 year old niece was fascinated when she saw them making them at the back of the shop one time!), they have sausagemeat (un-sausaged as it were) as well so for all those recipes which require you to skin sausages, don't waste as much time.

All their meat is great and yes, I find I use much less than I used to. I really would rather go without, than buy it from the supermarket.

They also do 'naice ham' which is the only ham I buy and lasts much longer.

I can ring them too if I'm running out of time and they'll put things aside for me. And, as another poster said, it's rather nice to be greeted by name as you go in.