Is your butcher independent

That's what I thought. ;) Yup, there's a few independent shops around here, several butchers, some barbers, some hairdressers and others that I can't remember. Oh and there's a market. :)

I'm going to have to come and visit. You are making it sound like a charming olde worlde market town!

Yes, I'm not really going to sue anyone!. I'm pleased that Beduff still has an independent!

Men often are better at shopping for meat Nanna. I agree that butchers tend to be better quality than supermarkets.

i'm not entirely sure..it was doing well as a business. i think it might have been the son didn't want to take it over. i miss that place tho.he always threw in extra for the dog too.you'd never get that elsewhere.

Why did they close. Over here it is often because we love to see these places but we don't buy enough from them. The supermarkets move in and then all that we can buy are uniform cuts of meat sourced from heaven knows where and stored... well for as long as they like!

Would starting your own abattoir be viable - with an organic certification? We still have few farm slaughter houses left, but take your animal to any place here and you'll get that animal back, not mixed with others.

1 of the local abbatoirs just sold for 1 million dollars, including a house on the property. In order to get a loan for that kind of money to build one, one would have to do a survey to see if another in the area would be used enough to be a viable money producing business to return the investment. And I don't think so. And I don't have that kind of money laying around either. And I don't think I want to be in that business anyway. I like raising my animals, not killing them. And these are only Provincially Plants, there are only 2 Federal Plants in the whole country and they've been trying to get antother Fed plant up and running for 7yrs without success. You see, we are having trouble marketing our lamb because of the lack of Federal Kill Plants. In order for the meat to be able to cross Provincial borders it has to be killed at a Federal Plant. And in order to access the chain store market, since they store their products at big warehouses in 1 province and wait for the stores to order it, it has to have been killed at a Fed. Plant. See the dilemma. So, there are many local groups, farmers markets and such that have sprung up to get the product to the local customers, but you have to be willing to spend the whole day at a booth you have rented, with product on hand to sell, without knowing what volume of sales you may have to repay you for your lost time and costs. And to have meat on hand, that requires bringing your own refrigeration or freezing facility with you each time. And I'm not carting a freezer around in the back of my truck.

Than you have missed a treat. The picture below if of my Mother's local butcher. Mine seems camera shy!

Pleased to meat you.

I am convinced that cheap meat is rarely good meat. The supermarkets import a lot, maintain minimal welfare standards and purchase from intensively reared stock. Of course you can't always guarantee that a butcher doesn't do the same. But in my experience they tend to source local and deliver quality as they can't afford to have their customers go elsewhere too often.

Of course, you can always ask where the meat has been sourced when using a butcher rather than a supermarket. At least you´ll get an answer to your questions. In the supermarket it´s unlikely the staff would even know.

I am pleased to hear that Pumpkin. We do much the same. Supermarket meat is a last resort with us now - apart from Lidl's free range chicken which is good and well priced. I am a great enthusiast for farm shops. Although some do take the wotsit at times with their pricing!

I am amazed that you don't have a village butcher Gabs. Truly! Perhaps there are farm shops about with butcheries. XXXX

That really surprises me LoLo. I'd have thought that somewhere like where you live would have a butchers. I guess that everyone goes to where Tamara lives instead. What a shame. XXXX

LOL. Well at least if you see your meat being slaughtered you know how fresh it is!

That's a very good approach to have. I wish more people were like that and then maybe you would have a local butcher.

That is very true. Some wholesalers sell direct to the public. I don't know "Alternative Meats"; I shall have to have a look. Round here we get given pheasant and rabbit sometimes which makes a pleasant change. North America seems to have mostly surrendered to the vast conglomerates - let's hope that we can fend off the day.

That's good. Sounds like you have the best of everything there.

I didn't meant say "sue" that's for sure! LOL. It ought to bug you because it means that you get less choice and no say in the quality of your meat. It also means that farmers can ONLY sell to corporations so their standards are set by what the market will bear and not animal quality.

I guess that the meat market is a wholesaler selling direct rather than through a supermarket. I hope that you can find one, I passionately believe that butchers have a vested interest in selling us the best meat and it isn't always a stupid price either.

Mostly, I just buy a few slices of sandwich meat at the deli, also nearby.

But if you do, are they the people that you go to.

He does indeed. The best beef should be hung for at least 21 days but all to often it has about a week and frankly that's not long enough to tenderise the meat properly. Good luck, I'm sure that you'll find someone. If you ask, I bet the butcher will be only to pleased to help you out.

21 days? Wow! Our slaughterhouses only hang it for 10 -14 days. Maybe because it takes up alot of space in the walk-in for so long. Hmmmm. I'll keep that in mind. And I know in 2003, during the bse crisis, they were turning away business, because since the farmers couldn't get a decent price for their beef at the market, they were killing cows to eat them instead of shipping them to market, so as not to waste the meat nor give it away for practically nothing.

Whilst I am sure that there are butchers shops in the US Hatley, they do not seem to be too common. I find that sad as the result is that plastic wrapped meat from who knows where that you get in the supermarkets. Over here the supermarkets are now starting to be able to tell you where your meat came from, there is a gentle backlash against processed food here and big business is slowly starting to understand that people care where their food comes from.

oh lord typo alerts but not bad, also press a button in the meat aisle and wait. darn hate those, I thought I had proof read but still made errors. yuck.

I agree with you Sweetie. Who knows how supermarkets store their meat and for how long.

Absolutely. Have you noticed how in a plastic tray there's always a big one and a small one?! Never two the same size.

You also get trays with any number of pieces except the number you want! The odd sizes drives me nuts too. I know they can't make chops and what have you uniform but like you say there's usually one big and one tiny one rather than two roughly the same size.