I'd like to know more about meat from the butcher please..

My mum buys most of her joints from the butcher and to me there's a difference, beef tastes so much nicer (she has tail end of rump), it's got a different texture and more flavour, lamb is much nicer (usually shoulder, boned and rolled), more succulent and more taste. Other people might disagree but that's my view on it. She's a good cook which i'm sure helps lol!

You'll probably have to try a couple out but see what responses you get to questions like what they would recommend, where their meat comes from, how long beef is aged etc. A good butcher should be enthusiastic about their meat.

In my experience, butchers are no better than the supermarket. Meat still full of water and not amazing taste. I realise this completely depends on the butcher, but in our area, it's not surprising they're not great quality.

When we decided to start using a butcher, H asked about at work and got a couple of recommendations. We found one we liked (and that we could get to - location and opening hours). We have occassionally been caught out and have bought meat from the supermarket and we really notice the difference now. The butchers was slightly more expensive but the chicken breasts are bigger and the bacon doesn't shrink which makes up for it.

I spent £38 at the butchers on saturday, which should do us for quite a while; (I'm not sure of most individual prices, sorry)

Stuffed rolled pork belly (sunday lunch for 3)

Lamb leg fillet (sunday lunch for 3) - £6.99

4 chicken fillets (1 fillet does 2 people) - £5.93

2lb mince (will do 8 meals) - £5.06

3 pork chops

8 rashers smoked bacon

4 sausages

3 lamb koftas

Round of cheddar cheese - £3.75

I really do think it's cheaper (not value ranges, obviously) than the supermarket overall. I only go once a month or so and fill up the freezer, it's great having it all there. The butcher is so lovely too, he knows me by name now and is always happy to have a chat, much nicer than Tesco! Last time I was there, they had run out of mince, he just took a big hunk of beef and minced it for me and when I said I was making a beef stif fry, he sliced it into thin slices.

I agree with this btw, I'm on my 4th butcher and he was worth the shopping around. He sells Scottish lamb and I'm his only Scottish customer so he loves to tell me all about it every time I buy some. ?

Mrs M, do you go to the one in Rainhill? I've used him a couple of times - the best was when I did Nigella's gammon in coke, it was gorgeous ?

There is an independent butcher near me (walking distance yay) which seems to sell a good range of meat and what I've had is very nice. But they do have a bit of an attitude problem - when I asked where their chickens came from they said "other chickens" and when I pressed they said "yeah they are well kept". So not free range then. So I guess I will continue to buy free range chicken from the supermarket instead.

I do indeedy, I just wish it wasn't a 5 mile drive or 2 buses to get there! ? He really is superb and you should go there more. Where do you go most of the time?

I know I should use him more, but I suppose out of laziness/convenience I get supermarket meat. However, since watching Jamie Oliver et al, I only buy the free range/extra special/organic meat. I suppose I should make a little outing out of it - I'm going to try the farm shop LTP uses as well in Warrington.

<Gives self a virtual kick up the backside and a good talking to> ? Pop in for a cuppa next time you're here ?

You can park in Somerfield's car park so it's not too bad. I park there, go to the fruit and veg shop (which is fab too, it's next to Nat West and Blue Mango), to the buthcers and then get bits in Somerfield. I've not been in the big Tesco for a couple on months.

I will do, I'll let you know the next time I come up. ? The farm shop in Warrington sounds good too! There is a farm shop (although doesn't sell meat) on the road into St Helens, near that god-awful grapes pub.

I love our local butcher- it's such a friendly experience going in there. I find the meat more expensive but more cost-effective as it will do more meals. Because it's not pumped full of water you don't need to use as much in dishes. I'll happily pay £11 for a large FR chicken as I know it'll do 3 good meals plus a huge pan of soup.

I agree with everone else regarding finding a good butcher. We have a farm that sells their own meat etc in their own butchers less than 2 miles away, but their meat tends to be pretty dire, god knows how.

We buy our lamb, pork and chicken straight from farmer friends, I could do the same with beef but have no-where to put it. I buy all other meat from a butcher about 10 miles away, fab sausage, hogs pudding etc, but like many we had to try about 4 more butchers before we hit gold.

"Other chickens" ? At least they didn't say "eggs". Gits.

Re price, my butcher has a board outside with their prices compared to Waitrose, and they're significantly cheaper on most items, and that's for free range, happy meat. It's also staffed almost entirely by women, which I quite like ?

(Although speaking of lady butchers, at Moen in Clapham there is a Scandinavian woman who is a total and utter babe, honestly, she is stunning. It's become much easier to get loml to go to the butcher since she started worknig there and I know Jesus has had the same experience with her gf ?)

My local butchers is really good. You can really taste the difference with all meats but its very expensive so I only tend to go there every now and again. I can only get there on a Saturday too so it depends if we're here or not.

There's another butchers in town that I want to try. Its always packed and seems quite reasonable. They also deliver so once I'm organised I'm going to start getting a meat pack from them every couple of weeks.

I tend to go to my local butchers every other month and fill the freezer. There is only me and H at home so we tend to spend around £20-30 for a month and it last us for a good couple of months. My butchers does 4 decent sized chicken legs for £1.50 this gives me and H two meals. We occassionally treat ourselves to a good cut of sirloin steak and for a very rare treat we buy t-bone steaks. Our butchers is value for money and very happy to help with anything that you want. All their produce is locally farmed as well.

I think the only way to decide whether they're any good is to try them out as some are definitely worth the money and some are not. We have two close to us, one sells very expensive and in our opinion quite tasteless meat. We tried the other and now buy all our meat from there and we can really tell the difference. He recently went on holiday so closed the shop for a couple of weeks. We misjudged our shop so had to buy a few bits from the supermarket and I was surprised at how different it was. It's not like the supermarket meat was horrible, it just wasn't as good as what we'd got used to. I think the extra money is worth it, especially for anything like mince or sausages. I love that if he doesn't have any mince ready he just picks up a lump of steak and minces it while I'm waiting.

We knew we were onto a good thing with him though as he is always busy, knows all his customers by name and gives (very good) cut and cooking advice.

Like others have said you need to try them out. We have a butchers in our village and he's okay. Really nice Cumberland sausage and good bacon, stewing steak and mince, but not much variation. You can't just pop in for a bit of lamb for a curry for instance, as he only has lamb chops and that's it.

The butchers in the nearby village is much better though, huge variation of cuts and nice selection of vegetables as well.

And best of all he does rabbits. We've just started buying rabbit instead of chicken. It tastes delicious and is about 2GBP for a whole rabbit, which easily serves 6 in a casserole. The butcher has a deal with a local landowner and goes shooting once in a while to stock up the freezer. Free range chicken is so expensive, so I'd rather buy rabbit, which I know is 'free range' and save money too.

WeveryoneelseS! Also avoid the ones with big glaring 'Value' signs in the window! TBH I judge them by popping in and acting stupid, the one just up from where I work is fab, I popped in one lunchtime wanting 'some meat' for tea, didn't fancy pork or chicken as we'd had chicken the night before, wnat something easy to cook too cos it was going to be late when I got home, so something quick. He sold me some fab minute steaks which were much cheaper than the supermarket to boot. He also told me how to cook them. They have a fab variety and will offer suggestions for alternatives if they don't have what I want. They also sell bags of dog bones for the local charity!

The other one I use in my village is similar, will help you decide what's for tea and guide you to the right choice, not the most expensive. They both have lists in the fridge telling me where the meat is from this week too! I find the meat is better quality, often cheaper and shrinks less as well as tasting amazing.

When I get the chance I also visit the farmers markets and shops, they taste even better than the butchers - oh no I'm hungry now!!!!

Wow, thanks everyone, some great tips. I will definitely try the local one first (that's hoping we can find somewhere to live around here) and try the clueless-about-meat trick.

Minerva you made me chuckle, as did you Sophie - sexy woman butcher indeed ?

I will be a veg box ordering, butcher-shopping domestic goddess soon?