It's pretty common to unwrap a package of meat and realize that gross, nasty, inedible parts are tucked away and hidden behind a label.
When you buy meat at the supermarket, you never know what you are getting. Let's start with the biggest thing – quality. There are a number of ways to save money by shopping at the butcher counter rather than going to a supermarket. Chances are also good that you'll pay anywhere from a few cents per pound to several dollars per pound over supermarket prices for some cuts. In some parts of the country, you might be looking at a long drive just to get to a butcher, and then you aren't guaranteed that you'll walk in and grab what you want.Ī butcher shop can also be intimidating when you are unsure of what you are looking for or if you aren't sure about what questions to ask. Probably the biggest con is finding a butcher that you like and trust. There are a few cons that are worth bringing up about buying local. Your local butcher has spent lots of time building relationships with farmers to ensure quality and consistency. It's simply not possible for supermarkets to know this stuff because they are buying in bulk – usually from a central office somewhere – and distributing it to the stores. The main difference between butcher meat and supermarket meat is that your butcher will know where their meat came from, when it was slaughtered, how it was slaughtered, and they will know exactly what the quality is. This hides older meat and makes it seem like you are buying fresh, even when that meat might have been hanging around in a freezer, then stuffed in a truck for several weeks before it finally hits your shelf. Labeling requirements in the US are not robust, and there are many things that processors can put on the label that don't give you very much information about what you are buying.įor instance, it is fairly common for processors to gas beef prior to packaging to give it a bright red color. The biggest cons of buying supermarket meat are that you don't know much about the way the animal was raised, how it was slaughtered, or when it was processed. It's convenient, fast, and typically affordable. When you go to the grocery store, you just grab what you want and go.
Shopping at the local butcher can be intimidating, particularly if you aren't really sure about what you're wanting to buy. Most Americans live closer to a grocery store than a butcher shop.
#Butcher blocks meat pro
The biggest pro for supermarket meat is the convenience. It will just take more work on your part to identify a good cut – but it's doable. You can get excellent quality, affordable meat products at the supermarket. Pros and Cons of Supermarket Meatīefore we start to sound like we are just trashing the supermarket meat counter, let's set a few things straight. While it is true that you'll pay a little more for certain items at the butcher counter, there are significant trade-offs that go far beyond the cost of the meat you buy. We hear it a lot – people who say "I've always thought about going local, but thought I couldn't afford it." One thing we hear all the time at the meat counter at Whitefeather Farms is how surprised people are by the affordable prices and superior quality they find. In fact, there is a common misconception that shopping at your local butcher means you'll be paying higher prices for practically the same thing you get at the big box store. They don't have the volume to compete with the big-brand processors and often rely on relationships they have spent years – sometimes decades – fostering to keep their businesses afloat. The people that are truly hurting are the small, local butchers. Because of the large and diverse nature of the business, these companies are able to defray cost increases with modest price increases across the board. Large-scale industrial factory farms and meat processing facilities are still producing, they're just making more profit now than they used to. What many people don't realize is that they are paying a premium price for a product that is seldom premium. Consumers are purchasing lower-quality cuts, smaller quantities, and are constantly searching for any way to save even just a few pennies per pound. The higher cost is forcing many people to make different decisions about the meat they buy. There are many reasons driving costs up – everything from increasingly strict regulations to differences in consumers' preferences have been blamed as causes for the sudden jump in prices over the last several years. It's no secret that prices for fresh meat are going up all across the nation.
0 kommentar(er)
