Friday 13 January 2012

Supporting your local butcher


Whilst it may be true that the meat from the supermarkets may be cheaper, and I do on occasions buy meat from them, I like to support our local butcher. I set myself the challenge today of only buying the cheaper cuts (not including the sausages) and this is what I bought:

4 herby sausages for £1.66, 1 lb of beef skirt for £2.38, 3 chicken legs and 1 v. large breast for £6.49 and a smoked ham hock, weighing 3 lb 7 oz for just £1.00.

Yes, the chicken was the most expensive but the legs and breasts are huge. I shall simmer them to get myself some stock then make at least 2 meals for each of us from them. The same goes for the skirt. I should be able to make a large pot of beef and vegetable something with that. If I serve the sausages just as they are, that would be one meal each, but I can stretch them to two by doing mini toad in the hole or sausage balls with pasta. Finally, the hock, gosh it is huge. It is now steeping in some water for 24 hours then I shall boil it until done. I had intended using it just for pea and ham soup but feel there is enough meat on it for at least one meal plus the soup.

All in all, for £11.53 in total money spent, I reckon I can get at least 14 meals (7 each) out of it, working out at around 82p per portion for the meat side of things. If I then get at least 6 portions of soup, that will drop the bought portion price to 57p – not bad me thinks! 

Our way of eating, i.e. not mixing protein and starch at the same meal, makes it very difficult to eat very cheaply, but we always have 1 and sometimes 2 main meals that are mixed just to catch up on those things we miss. We tried before and during the holidays to get back onto a more 'normal' way of eating but we both felt dreadful - bloated and very uncomfortable. So for us, at the moment, we shall stick to it and our 1 or 2 'treat' meals. 

3 comments:

  1. I use my butcher too. He has a stall on the indoor market in town , and a shop in another suburb of town - in the opposite direction from where I live. I tend to bulk buy at the market once every 8 weeks or so and pop things into the freezer. I do exactly the same with sausages- we have cut right back on our meat consumption , and prefer to bulk a small amount out with veg.

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  2. We use our local butcher too. The quality is second to none and I dont think its so much cheaper to get from the supermarket.I got 1lb minced beef, 1lb stewing beef,1lb bacon, 8 tomato and beef sausages,2 chicken breasts,1 steak pie and a bottle of orange juice for £15. This is more than a weeks worth of meat for us and some will end up in the freezer.His meat is just so tasty and we dont have lots per meal but have it with lots of veg and potatoes to eke it out anyway.

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  3. Also, should I want to, we can check the beef animal's number on its certificate to see where it came from etc. The chicken is organic and they make oodles of lovely pies if we want a treat. On the rare occasion I buy from the supermarket, I always lift the packet to check the colour underneath - the amount of time it has a grey appearance makes me promptly put it down!

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