Butchers

For starters it would be worth learning how to butcher a whole chicken and saving money on buying pre-packed chicken breasts. It's not a massively hard skill to learn, although it does take some practice, and you get a lot more meat for your money plus a load of lovely bones for making stocks.

When it comes to mince, sometimes it pays to get the offcuts from your local supermarket's Meat Counter and grind/mince them yourself, but that can be an utter ball-ache for a few quid saved here and there.
 
DM said:
Hurts to admit it but Tesco is probably fresher and cheaper than any high street butcher.
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Fresher no, cheaper yes.

Any decent butcher should have links to the local farmers and slaughterhouses and get their meat directly from there, which avoids it having for it to go to a main warehouse and be distributed from there as with the supermarket chains.
 
glitch said:
Fresher no, cheaper yes.

Any decent butcher should have links to the local farmers and slaughterhouses and get their meat directly from there, which avoids it having for it to go to a main warehouse and be distributed from there as with the supermarket chains.
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TBF, where they are based is very close to the middle of nowhere, so I would expect to be locally sourced
 
My local butchers is more expensive that Tesco certainly, but the quality of the meat is miles higher.

When I buy mince from Tesco, I have to pour water out of the pan when frying it, that doesn't happen with butcher bought meat
 
I buy mear in bulk from an abattoir and it works out considerably cheaper than butchers or supermarket. Only downside is you need lots of freezer space
 
I live next door to my local butcher which is a bonus. The local farm shop does great cuts too. Far superior in terms of quality and price isn't that far off a supermarket either. Supermarkets are only considerably cheaper if you buy their special any two for £5 offers which is usually from a limited range and would feed me for so long I'd be bored of it. I'd rather pay a bit more and get the choice my butcher offers.
 
DM said:
Hurts to admit it but Tesco is probably fresher and cheaper than any high street butcher.
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What do you mean by fresher meat though?
Tesco probably doesn't hang its meat for as long as a good butcher and sells inferior quality meat as a result. If you want 'fresher' stuff that's not had the time to mature then by all means go to Tesco.

I really only buy chicken from the supermarket, anything else comes from the butcher and the difference is very apparent.
I will say that out of the supermarkets Waitrose and Morrison's seem to have the best meat, but it's still not as good as my local butcher.
 
Haircut said:
What do you mean by fresher meat though?
Tesco probably doesn't hang its meat for as long as a good butcher and sells inferior quality meat as a result. If you want 'fresher' stuff that's not had the time to mature then by all means go to Tesco.
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This. People seem to have forgotten that most meats shouldn't be 1 day old from slaughter.

Butcher > any supermarket every-time for me. Better cuts, cuts you actually want, extras (fat, crackling, giblets bones for stock etc), service, knowledge and you are supporting a local business.

That's before you've even started on how many million times better the meat is :)
 
Discovered the joys of local butchers after christmas. I find the chicken breasts there are enormous compared to the tesco ones and cost the same so can't grumble there, plus they're not pumped full of water. Just generally better all around. As for other meat It depends what it is. Lamb is so expensive in my local butchers and even he says it's expensive now and advises me to get something else. Good for cheap burgers too and bulk buys of bacon.
 
glitch said:
For starters it would be worth learning how to butcher a whole chicken and saving money on buying pre-packed chicken breasts. It's not a massively hard skill to learn, although it does take some practice, and you get a lot more meat for your money plus a load of lovely bones for making stocks.

When it comes to mince, sometimes it pays to get the offcuts from your local supermarket's Meat Counter and grind/mince them yourself, but that can be an utter ball-ache for a few quid saved here and there.
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I always do this, it is much better value. You will get several meals out of it. E.g 2* breasts will make advert large portion of fajitas, 2*thighs + 2*legs will make a decent chicken curry and the carcass will make a nice soup or stock.

Back to Op's question - not sure whether you will save money. That really depends on the type of butcher it is. Some butchers seem to specialise in cheap meet, probably at the expense of quality.

Mince from a butcher is nearly always much nicer.
 
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