Butcher Or Supermarket???

Where do you find the best place to shop for Meat specials?
Would love to know :)

Edited by shelleybean

I prefer our local butcher, his prices are a little higher than the supermarket and probably places like Mad Butcher however the meat is alot better and I don't neccesarily buy as much. For instance his mince doesn't have a drop of fat in it yet with supermarket mince I often end up draining 1/4cup at least!

We go to the Mad Butcher... but usually after a supermarket shop, so if there's stuff on special at the supermarket we'll get it there.

Absolutely find a couple of families to chip in with you for a homekill beast.

We go halves with a family every year. Another friend of ours raises the beef cattle, and we all put in our order when she gets them. It has cost us as much as $800 for a whole side, and as little as $600. Depends on the size. It works out approx $5 per kg - and that's including your porterhouse and fillet steak! The mince is to die for and we are always asked to take the mince patties to BBQ's (we make them up with onions, egg, gluten-free flour, and plum sauce - YUM). You get a list from the butcher so you can choose your cuts - we go for a lot of mince and roasts, snitzel, and casseroling steak. We do it every May and it's now Feb and we still have a lot left... that's the cheapest and nicest way to have a supply of beef anyway. Someone ALWAYS knows someone who has homekill beef!

Also if you are lucky enough to be able to have some little lambs from the freezing works, it will cost a bit to raise them (milk powder is quite expensive), it's probably only beneficial if you have a bit of sheep-safe fenced land, by the time they are 14-16 months is a good time to do a homekill, we just sent 3 off to the local homekill place and it cost us $45 cash per 'sheep'. We worked out it probably cost us close to $80 for a whole sheep by the time we had raised them. You can buy lambs/one-tooth (yearlings) from the freezing works or sale yards for approx $100, but then you have to pay the processing charge on top of that. IMHO??? For lamb you are best to buy from Mad Butcher as lamb can be quite fatty and at least you can see what you are buying. But considering a leg of lamb can be $30+ at the supermarket, and a whole sheep costs $45 to process, you do the maths. (remembering the raising costs of course).

Beef don't cost as much to raise as sheep, and are less hassle, IF the person raising the beef has irrigation. Most people raise beef on lifestyle blocks because by the time they have raised 3 or 4, the cost of selling off the beef to you and I more than off-sets their own killing costs and irrigation costs, and quite often those people make a profit.

Chicken is another story altogether! If you are into casseroling chooks then the good old battery hens don't go amiss, but I wouldn't roast them... they are fatty old tarts, and quite frankly I wouldn't go there! I buy Rangitikei Free-Range Corn-Fed chooks from the local vege store, funnily enough Tegel has their name on the bag too... but if you aren't fussy about free-range (which we are!) then supermarkets like Pak N Save often have chooks for $3.69-$8.99.

Sorry for the long post but I type a million words per min LOL!

It does pay to have a deep freeze if you are planning on homekill - we only recently killed our lambs so it's chocka, and we have half a beast coming in May! But by the time I cut the fat off the chops and throw 6-8 in the crockpot for a meal for two (you don't get much meat on a chop really!), I am now beginning to see hope for some freezer space ready for May!

I write down the supermarket specials and go to the mad butcher before my supermarket shop... if he has what I need cheaper I get it there otherwise from the supermarket...

Mad Butcher here, and if there's anything on sale or that seems cheap at Countdown I'll grab it. We go to MB every 3 weeks...

is there a mad butcher in wellington area.. ??

I don't like the quality of the meat from the mad butcher, however I go through about two kgs of chicken breasts a week, so I just wait till the supermarket has them on special then buy in bulk.

The only thing with killing a beast, is that you need to eat red meat, I dont tend to like either cow or pig .. although SD does like a good piece of bacon

I can't help but comment on some of maebeebaby's post (not as a dig at you, but just to correct some misinformation).

Firstly, it is ILLEGAL to "chip in on a homekill beast". Homekill meat can only be legally eaten by household members (or non-paying guests) of someone who has been involved in the day-to-day care of the animal for 30 days prior to slaughter (or maybe its 28 days, I forget). But either way, if you haven't been involved in caring for the animal, it is illegal for the person who has to give, sell or trade you the meat. Only meat that has been inspected in a MAF approved abbatoir can be consumed in this way. Homekill butchers do not meet this requirement.

Now, I know plenty of people do this, but I also know that the law is there for good reason (to protect the public against zoonoses, and foodbourne diseases), and it is not appropriate to advocate this practice on a public forum.

And secondly, just some stuff about the farming side of it - irrigation may be necessary for cattle in north canterbury, but I've never been to an irrigated NI beef cattle farm, and I've been to plenty of beef cattle farms! One cattle beast eats roughly the equivalent of 6 sheep, so I don't know how you think they are cheaper to raise? And the best way to eat lambs is as soon as they are in suitable condition. A good spring-born lamb will be killed in November to be shipped to England in time for Christmas. Our hand-reared lambs will be heading for the freezer next week. Much tastier than hoggets, IMO.

As for legal meat - I've discovered our small rural supermarket has great deals on meat. It seems to be that the supermarket chain uses it as an outlet for getting rid of surplus product cheaply without flooding their bigger markets. We always have great deals on meat (usually at least a 60% markdown), and often on random other things too. Last year it was easter eggs

We use the Mad Butcher. My dad was a butcher for 40 years so I value his opinion on all things meat and he rates the Mad Butcher.