anyone who uses butchers..

Not got a bundle like this but generally it all works out cheaper as the meat has less water in it as a start off!

I tend to use less meat in things this way/or it goes further.

Most butchers are independant so I don't think anyone is really going to be able to tell you about the particular bundles that your butcher sells (unless they use the same butcher of course!). Prob best to ask the butcher, ours are always really helpful and know their stuff.

We've used 2 different butchers where we live and I do find that they work out more expensive to buy the actual meat but it goes so much further than supermarket meat so probably cheaper in the long run. i.e chicken breasts are more expensive per kg but using supermarket chicken I would have to use 2 breasts for a meal for 2 of us, with a butchers chicken I only use 1 breast as they don't shrink when you cook them.

I buy what we need each week, so a bundle wouldn't suit us. The quality of the meat is so much better than supermarket meat, I wouldn't buy meet from a supermarket again.

I think we must live in the worst butcher area in england! All ours sell meat full of water, even the farm shop

What BBD said, really. Our farm shop meat is so incredibly better than supermarket meat, I just go in every couple of weeks and buy what takes my fancy (we don't eat meat every night). I have thought about doing the bundles, but part of the "fun" of going to the farm shop for me is chatting to the butchers and deciding what to have. However, I did buy half a lamb once and kept most of it in the freezer. It was good, but again, it took the "fun" out of choosing meat for me ("oh, we'd better eat some of that lamb in the freezer tonight, or we'll never get through it")

Our butcher is definitely not cheaper than supermarket. If I make a dish of chicken breast or something for MrH and me, then I still need two chicken breasts regardless. We just get more on the plate!

The meat is better quality and the butcher is very knowledgeable and helpful (he lent me a huuuuge pot last Christmas to boil my ham in - it was to serve 25 people so was too large for any pot I have) and I like supporting local businesses. Definitely not cheaper than Tesco though.

Hi

My favourite subject - Meat!

Supermarket meat is bland, injected with whatever and just isn't that nice. I would never buy a "Freezer box" as the butcher is trying to sell you too much!

I would suggest that you start by just going and buying small amounts of various bits n pieces that he sells - your soon work out what you like / need.

Additionally ours doesn't take plastic, so I was drawing out say £40 to go to the butcher, and would spend the change on nothing so the trip to the butcher cost £40, not £23.56 or whatever - so I now pay with a cheque.

I'm in Herefordshire so obviously an area known for its meat. I was speaking to a local farmer who supplies two of the butchers in my town. I happened to shamefacedly tell him that whilst I do use the butchers in the town (we have three good ones on the High street alone) I also use Tesco because it's so convenient. He said that Tesco meat is also good and he sometimes supplies them too. I was expecting a ticking off but his answer really suprised me.

TBH I can't particularly tell the difference but I do find I can get the exact size of cut I want at the butchers and they have a different selection, one of our butchers also has home made faggots and pies etc and they are divine.

My mother always used to buy a hind quarter of beef and then have it cut how she wanted, some steaks, some joints for roasting, some stewing beef, some minced etc, she would also have some of the fat put into the joints as well. The average cost per pound when worked out did mean that there was some saving rather than if she had bought everything separately and of course she had exactly what she wanted, some small joints some large etc. However she always bought her meat from the same butcher even if she just popped in for 1/2 lb of mince etc she never bought meat from a supermarket, but then few people did in those days (not in semi rural Yorkshire anyway)

I suppose it all depends on what you want from your meat, if you want chicken that you can make a curry out of etc then there is not much difference as you don't appreciate the flavour as much as in say a roast chicken, so the consideration is more a moral one about the way the animals are kept rather than one about taste.

There is also the argument that supporting small businesses rather than multi nationals is more beneficial to the local economy, but then again many local farms etc are now supplying the supermarkets albeit at much lower prices then they would sell to butchers etc.

I've had good meat and bad meat from both supermarkets and butchers to be honest, beef tends to be a great leveller in my opinion, and I would never buy a joint of beef from a supermarket or mince, but then I am funny about mince anyway and like to see it minced before my eyes rather than as a lump.

I did recently buy some pork from a supermarket, simply because it was reduced and it was a HUGE leg joint and I had people coming over for Sunday lunch it was lovely - really tasty and cost me about £6.

In a long and rambling way I suppose I am saying that it's swings and roundabouts, you can get some good deals on meat from supermarkets but the quality is not always there, especially if you are buying at the budget end (ironically this is not true of bacon, the ASDA smartprice back bacon does not have water injected into it because it's not worth their while going to the added expense - that seems a little bizarre to me but there you go and it is tasty and no white scum when you cook it_