My local grocery store has an adequate selection of meat and poultry. The fish is always terrible looking. We have a local market that has two butchers, and a couple of fish mongers. Their fare is a little more expensive, but there is a better variety and the food looks way better. For years I got into the habit of shopping for all my food at the grocery stores but lately I have been more discriminating. Is the meat and fish at your grocery store up to grade? Do you ever head to the butcher or fish monger for more variety of better cuts of meat?
Yeah I can relate to this For many years we did the weekly shopping at the supermarket (grocery store) and we would buy everything there including fruit and vegetables and meat. When money became a little bit tight we started looking elsewhere and discovered that the fruit and veggie shop was way cheaper for in-season produce. We also found a wholesale butcher whose prices were significantly cheaper than the supermarket and whose produce tasted better as well. Not only that next door to the butcher is a factory outlet (Golden Circle) and although they don’t have a range to compare to a grocery store we are still able to get a lot of stuff there for a fraction of the price we normally pay. We may not get the same brands but that’s not important when trying to save some money. As of now we have halved our weekly grocery\food expenditure and we eat food that is much better for us. It certainly pays to shop around that’s for sure.
I am mostly vegetarian, but I do eat fish every couple of weeks. I posted another thread here about my fresh fish supplier closing down and leaving town. Since he has left, I have not been able to find the same quality of fish that he used to supply me with. I bought some allegedly fresh salmon at the supermarket deli, but it was definitely not fresh and I ended up throwing it away for fear that I might get poisoned from it. I now know that a lot of the fish in supermarkets come from fish farms and are fed unnatural foods so that the fish to grow large and meaty. It's disgusting.
Well I don't buy meat and fish products on stores, I buy them directly form butchers/fishermen, why? Well because you'll know that they're fresh, some of them (the fish) are still alive when you purchase them and it couldn't get any fresher than that. Although the downside on buying directly from butchers/fishermen is that you have to do some processing first since they're still fresh and you will need to clean them thoroughly. Local stores offer them frozen, but who knows how long they've been there.
I would say our grocery store carries an average to above average quality and our butcher also does the same so aside from maybe a few small moments as an exception, I'd say it is equally safe to buy from either for the most part. The only time I would opt for either one over the other is maybe for specific instances where the item I'm looking for may already be a little below par in one place but that doesn't happen often as both have already a good system in place to keep their products as fresh as possible.
I only go to our local butchers for special occasions, otherwise I stick to our discount grocery stores for meats, since they are too expensive at the chain stores and specialty butchers. However when I lived closer to the West Side Market in Cleveland, which is an open market with multiple butchers selling meats, they did have the best prices on many cuts. I could get a whole bag of 8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts for like $20. They were just the right size for cooking and I would have paid far more if I had bought that many pounds of fresh chicken breast in separate foam packs at our other grocery stores. However currently the only butchers near me actually charge more than the grocery stores in most cases. Currently I just stick with the smaller locally owned discount grocery stores for fresh meats since their packs of meat are usually a buck or two less in most cases.
I do not have a trusted butcher shop so I just buy fresh meats and fish at a local grocery store nearby. I completely trust the quality of their products and I also check my purchases to see if they are fresh and have high standards. There are times I buy fish at local wet markets because they are cheaper and I am also sure that they are fresh since the market is near a port. What I don't buy in wet markets are meats, especially pork and chicken, because they commonly have notorious cases of selling low quality meats here in the area.
I purchase all of our meat from the grocery store. In my area, the only other options would be to purchase it from a local butcher in the farmers market, which is out of my price range, or to purchase an entire cow or pig from a local farm and have it butchered, which is a great expense to spend outright. The grocery stores have some decent selections of meat. When a certain cut of meat is on sale, I look at all or the majority of the packages to find the best looking ones to purchase.
Luckily for me, my local supermarket/grocery store has decent meat that smells and looks very fresh. However, it is quite pricey. The local butcheries sell the same or even better quality meat at a cheaper price, but even knowing this, I'm still too lazy to stop shopping for meat at my supermarket. I suppose because I'd have to travel there, and I currently don't have a car, it's not as easy to do. But once I have a car and live in a roomier place where I can put in a freezer, I'll make special trips to my local butcheries and farmers' market to get all my meat and fresh produce from them, instead of at the supermarket.
My local grocery store has an on-site butcher, who is quite good. I know him well, and I don't hesitate to ask for what I want. On the other hand, there is a nice meat shop that I tend to use for select meat purchases. They also create their own homemade sausages, which are quite good. We like to buy the homemade sausage occasionally for grilling. They have reasonable prices and good quality.
My dad always buys meat and chicken in the wet market or butcher shop because according to him, the meat in the malls are not fresh, so he prefers to buy in the butcher shop, because the meat there are fresh. He also sometimes gets to reserve some blood if he needs it to cook a local dish, so he prefers to shop in the butcher shop.
I haven't been to a butcher shop in years. There used to be one close to where I used to live..so I would go there from time to time. As I recall they had beautfiul cuts of meat but they were quite high priced. I just think if you can find a good shop where the prices are reasonable you will get better cuts of meats from the butcher shop,,,although the grocery stores usually have in house butchers.
I usually just get my meat and poultry at my grocery store. It might have less variety and the prices can be higher, however I find that they are usually assured quality products whereas I wouldn't be so sure about the ones you buy at butcher shops.
I think it depends on the area you live in. A lot of places don't have local butcher shops and the only place to buy meat is the grocery store. However, if you like in urban or suburban areas a lot of times the do have butcher shops. I always prefer going to a deli or butcher shop as i find their products are a lot fresher.
I like to shop at a certain grocery store for everything as they have an in store butcher, so you know you're getting the best there. That being said though I do also visit another bothers store that's a bit more out of town because they sell all their off cuts of meat really cheaply for pet food and I prefer to feed that to my animals than store bought food which is full of chemicals and preservatives.
