Where do you get your meat?

For quite awhile now, I have been getting my meat (beef, pork, chicken, etc...) from a local butcher.

He is quite interesting on many levels....I'll get to that later even though it may be a bit off topic.

The meat I get is as fresh as it can get. By that I mean, the animals were processed (butchered is the non PC term) just a day before I buy the cuts I want/need.

* Side note:

Personally, I'm not a big meat eater and do not really enjoy red meat at all...I'm more of a fish and chicken kind of eater. But, my family does enjoy fresh and safe red meat and pork. I know this habit will likely NEVER change. It is what it is.

So...

Here are my questions: Do you buy your meat from the supermarket or a butcher? Do you even have a local butcher?

Have you ever tasted the difference between fresh "meat" as opposed to "supermarket meat"?

reply to post by MagesticEsoteric


I forgot to mention the tad bit of detail of my local butcher.


Lets just say he could give a rats butt about being politically correct. At first, it was a bit shocking. Over time, it became refreshing

to hear someone speak their mind without worrying about the fallout of speaking outside the realm of political acceptance.

I think I've become a life long customer.




"

We buy our meat from a supermarket, because I don't know of any other nearby affordable option in Americas most populated city.

I've tasted the difference between fresh meat and supermarket meat. One tastes familiar and delicious, the other tastes unsatisfying. Turns out my uncle fed us the deer he hunted.

reply to post by MagesticEsoteric


I get my meat from moose, chickens..etc. fish from fishing and hunting myself... I trust my source.
100's of pounds of red salmon, moose, halibut for a years supply for myself, friend's, and close family. If I can help it, I only by spices an alcohol at the store

Myself, friends, and family put our kills on the tables or cutting boards, crack beers, kids play, listen to music and butcher ourselves. Why pay for it, when you can do-it-yourself

The store.. Pffttt.

reply to post by MagesticEsoteric


Like you...I buy my meat from a local butcher...who is also the farmer that raises the cattle. We usually buy a half cow and a half pig at a time. This usually lasts my wife and I about 8-9 months.

We have to call 2 weeks in advance before we can pick it up....something to do with the pork having to hang for a certain amount of time I think. When I go to pick it up it is wrapped, and cut....and the bacon is maple smoked or honey flavoured...depending on what we decide when we order.

It costs us just under $1000 all in. I find the quality of the meat and the cuts are far superior to anything I could buy from a store and I know exactly where it comes from....plus it keeps my money local.

We also buy turkeys and chicken from him from time to time as well.

It's a great way to go if you can.

I hate to say it but I get meat from the supermarket. I am planning on buying my own house this spring and raising chickens,I will hire a buddy to butcher them... once I have room for a freezer will buy beef by the 1/4 or 1/2 cow/



Used to be a meat market in the city, gone now.

The store.. Pffttt.

reply to post by AK907ICECOLD



Not all of us live in the wilds of Alaska.

We mainly use supermarket meat. It is affordable for us and our number is 8. We do supplement with venison. Sometimes we mix it with the ground beef to stretch that choice a little and depending on what we are making, it can be more tasty to us with just venison for a dish that calls for red meat. or a mixture of venison and ground beef. WE enjoy all kinds of meat. I don't have any really picky eaters...I have had recently processed meat and supermarket and I think you can get "used" to either flavor. For us, the price is extremely important so, Krogers it is...

reply to post by FidelityMusic


You do have to get used to wild meat. Straight venison burger I would never make a hamburger.

reply to post by deadcalm


I really do sometimes feel sorry for those in the city life.

But then again, some here may think its retarded an plain stupid to walk 15 miles to pack 1000lbs of meat between two guys, when one can spend money to drive to the store.

I'm not saying its right or wrong. That's just the difference between cultures and how hey buy or obtain food.
I'm also not saying that I don't buy bags of jerky (different than Alaskan meat) here and there at he store, love those things.

Just sharing my experience.

I buy most of my meats from the local supermarket, but I live in an area in which the stores have easy access to local processing plants that provide very fresh meat.

As for beef, I prefer dry-aged meats with at least 60 days of aging. Since I am an Executive Chef, I have foodservice providers that i can contact and purchase from them.

Around here we also have many small towns with old school meat lockers/butchers that will sell whole pigs and sides of beef. But I only go that route when my brother and I both need to fill the deep-freeze. But we save a ton of money.

We buy from the local butcher or if buying an entire cow we get it straight from the local farmers they will sell direct but you have to buy the entire cow. Goats and lambs we get from a friends of ours who raises them, eggs and chickens from another friend, also supplement with elk and deer we get hunting, living in a rural setting is great for fresh local meats. I do go to the grocers for veg and fruits as north Alberta growing season limits our choices of what we can grow.

Get fish from river nearby .. at times get water buffalo meat from local hmong village .. occasionally catch a wild boar .. fresher and better than any store bought meat also none of it genetically modified chemical filled or lab made rubbish that passes for meat over there..

reply to post by tinner07


Venison is too lean for burgers, in my opinion. When I lived in Minnesota and hunted with my father/local indians, we would grind the venison scraps with beef suet or even some pork fatback.

The fat from other animals and the quality of the venison meat made for some of the best burgers I have ever had.

reply to post by MagesticEsoteric


90% of the meat we eat I kill myself when hunting Deer, Elk, Squirrel & fish.

Probably 20% or so we get from a butcher here in town.

Once in a while we do pick up something from the grocery store here in town, usually crab legs or scallops or fish.

I prefer to kill, butcher and wrap my own meat for the freezer. I am fairly sure of what goes in my families mouths that way.

If I didn't bleed it out, or don't personally know the person who did, I'd rather not eat it.

I don't hunt (costs too damn much now days), but have many friends who do. They give me a lot of game. Sometimes it's parts they don't want: venison shoulders, necks, ribs, etc. One fellow gave me a 180 pound buck this past season because their freezer was full. Maybe I get the odd wild pig. Varmints like armadillos, coons, nutria come my way.

There's a pond and a creek very near my house that I plan to start fishing soon.

I have a friend who raises sheep and goats. Sometimes I help her kill and butcher (no p.c. terms here). I often get the parts they don't want - offal like hearts, kidneys and livers, feet or heads. Goat and sheep heads are good. I've surprised many a friend with a small barbacoa or a pot of Kaleh Pache.

I want to start raising chickens and/or rabbits to provide fresh meat for the family.

We'll eat store bought meat if it's served to us, or if we go out to eat (not too often, that). We even buy supermarket meat now and again, usually bacon or sausage. (Though I do make my own uncured bacon from bellies if I get a wild pig.)

Interesting story: A few weeks ago, I walked into the house and there was a stench in the air. My wife was cooking supermarket ground meat. Mind you, we'd cooked nothing but venison and wild pig for the previous two years. The stuff was so stinky that we gave it to the dog and dug out some venison from the freezer.

Here's a big pot of Kaleh Pacheh, a traditional Persian soup with sheep head and feet, onions, garlic, cinnamon, bay leaf, tumeric, rosemary, parsley, best served with fresh bread and lime.


And a roasted goat head done barbacoa style:

tinner07
reply to post by FidelityMusic

 

You do have to get used to wild meat. Straight venison burger I would never make a hamburger.

You still have to mix beef or pork fat to the venison or it won't hold together to make a burger, too lean on it's own.

AK907ICECOLD
reply to post by deadcalm

 

I really do sometimes feel sorry for those in the city life.

But then again, some here may think its retarded an plain stupid to walk 15 miles to pack 1000lbs of meat between two guys, when one can spend money to drive to the store.

I'm not saying its right or wrong. That's just the difference between cultures and how hey buy or obtain food.
I'm also not saying that I don't buy bags of jerky (different than Alaskan meat) here and there at he store, love those things.

Just sharing my experience.

edit on 8-4-2014 by AK907ICECOLD because: (no reason given)

edit on 8-4-2014 by AK907ICECOLD because: (no reason given)

It's all in how you were raised and what you want in life. We have 3 grocery stores and a couple butchers in town but most my meat still comes from the woods...

reply to post by sheepslayer247


You are a chef?

reply to post by MagesticEsoteric


Yes I am.

I run the kitchen for a hotel banquet/convention center that services up to 1700 people. I'm also the "purchasing agent" that not only buys the products needed for the kitchen, but equipment and such as well.