Eating 'responsibly-sourced' meat - Who does it? How?

[grumbledoak]

omniflow said:

Not really sure why you need a weekly delivery of meat.

I am definitely a meat eater - roast beef is my absolute favorite meal - but I only buy steak or roasting beef about once every 2 or 3 weeks. A large free range chicken from Waitrose will do 3 meals for 2 people, with many many options for what to make from the leftovers. Pasta with a tomato based sauce covers another meal, then some batch cooking from the freezer covers 2 more meals. Then skinless & boneless free range chicken thighs (again, from Waitrose) can be used to make loads of different dishes - my current favorite is a Thai style stir-fry - 1 pack of chicken thighs makes dinner for 2 for 2 nights.

The only meats I buy from the supermarket are Chicken, Bacon and Sausages. Everything else I will pick up from the butcher on my way home on a Friday evening. I work in London, and the Ginger Pig is open until 6:30 PM on Fridays. As previously stated, I don't do this every week, but when I do, I put the effort in to make sure I'm buying a top quality piece of meat that is going to be appreciated by everyone that eats it.

Surely if you are buying meat from at least two different places you could consider a delivery from just one? Even more so as Waitrose isn't cheap and the Ginger Pig is pretty expensive - you can save money as well as time without compromising on quality.

[klmhcp]

Brads67 said:

I eat responsibly sourced meat.

I take my rifle / lurchers out and track it , kill it, butcher it, and cook it myself.

Job done.

Hunting with dogs eh?

[oddman]

klmhcp said:

Hunting with dogs eh?

Not a problem with rabbits they are legal quarry.

This time of year is game season so that's about as responsibly sourced as you can get. Healthy too.

I'm on a DIY syndicate shoot and we look after the birds ourselves. Their welfare is our top priority. I'll rarely eat chicken before February

[Murph7355]

Fortunate to live next to a working farm so my pork and lamb come from next door. Beef from a farm that neighbours it. Can't be beat.

So biggest advice? Move out of London

There are various mail order firms that stock decent enough stuff, but it's expensive for what you get. I've had people recommend:

https://www.donaldrussell.com/ - beef was why they were recommended

https://www.cheshiresmokehouse.co.uk/index - bacon/sausages recommended on here. Nice, but not worth the money mail order IMO.

[klmhcp]

oddman said:

Not a problem with rabbits they are legal quarry.

This time of year is game season so that's about as responsibly sourced as you can get. Healthy too.

I'm on a DIY syndicate shoot and we look after the birds ourselves. Their welfare is our top priority. I'll rarely eat chicken before February

I'm fairly sure brad is referring to larger game. 'Tracking' 'killing' 'butchering' - doesn't sound like a rabbit to me.

[Brads67]

klmhcp said:

Hunting with dogs eh?

Yup.

Though you will notice I said rifle as well. I stalk and use lurchers for rabbits.

Spotted a buck last night knocked down with a car. Couple were still there. Fiited in the Mx5 boot, which was surprising.

Responsibly in my fridge as we speak.

[C70R]

omniflow said:

Not really sure why you need a weekly delivery of meat.

I am definitely a meat eater - roast beef is my absolute favorite meal - but I only buy steak or roasting beef about once every 2 or 3 weeks. A large free range chicken from Waitrose will do 3 meals for 2 people, with many many options for what to make from the leftovers. Pasta with a tomato based sauce covers another meal, then some batch cooking from the freezer covers 2 more meals. Then skinless & boneless free range chicken thighs (again, from Waitrose) can be used to make loads of different dishes - my current favorite is a Thai style stir-fry - 1 pack of chicken thighs makes dinner for 2 for 2 nights.

The only meats I buy from the supermarket are Chicken, Bacon and Sausages. Everything else I will pick up from the butcher on my way home on a Friday evening. I work in London, and the Ginger Pig is open until 6:30 PM on Fridays. As previously stated, I don't do this every week, but when I do, I put the effort in to make sure I'm buying a top quality piece of meat that is going to be appreciated by everyone that eats it.

You might have just inadvertently solved my problem. It appears that Ginger Pig in Waterloo is open until 8pm Mon-Fri, which will mean I can pop in on my way home from my office.

I'll report back when I've test-driven. Thank you!

[Mobile Chicane]

If OP is moving to the boonies, ask around for game shoots in the area.

We do rather well out of this since the local shoot has more birds than they can realistically process. Get pally with the gamekeeper and have free meat in season.

[hairyben]

Out on the london borders have a look & ask around, a lot of biz still arent that interweb' savvy, but my local farm shops open 7 days, the chicken and the eggs in particular are remarkably better than anything we've ever had out a supermarket and I believe its the case that the better looked after stuff tends to be tastier.

[21TonyK]

Nanook said:

omniflow said:

A large free range chicken from Waitrose will do 3 meals for 2 people, with many many options for what to make from the leftovers.

I'm 5'10 and ten and a bit stone.

There's no chance I could eek 6 meals with leftovers from one large chicken! Are you sure these aren't turkeys you're buying?!

Depends what you do with it.

I'd take the legs off, bone them and marinate for chicken tikka. Take the breasts off, remove the fillets and part of the breast (not sure what its called, the separate muscle on the bottom!) that would do a good stir fry. This leaves the 2 breasts which could be turned into anything, even a couple of parmos and something else.

This leaves the wings for a chefs snack and a carcass for stock.

[C70R]

Nanook said:

omniflow said:

A large free range chicken from Waitrose will do 3 meals for 2 people, with many many options for what to make from the leftovers.

I'm 5'10 and ten and a bit stone.

There's no chance I could eek 6 meals with leftovers from one large chicken! Are you sure these aren't turkeys you're buying?!

Agreed. I eat a relatively high-protein diet, and a chicken tends to do MrsC and I for 1.5 meals (i.e. one predominantly chicken, one with it as an ingredient) at most.

[omniflow]

C70R said:

Agreed. I eat a relatively high-protein diet, and a chicken tends to do MrsC and I for 1.5 meals (i.e. one predominantly chicken, one with it as an ingredient) at most.

This is part of the point I was trying to make - you profess to be an animal lover, but you eat a relatively high-protein diet. Definitely only buy responsibly-sourced meat, but at the same time, buy less of it.

I recently made a chicken curry - one whole chicken, one pack of chicken thighs, one pack of green lentils, one pack of yellow split peas and three packs of mushrooms. This made 10 double portions of curry for the freezer.

On the other hand, I might buy a 2.5 kg Cote de Boeuf, and that will only do one big meal for two, plus sandwiches / cold for 2 more meals - however, I only do this once every 6 - 8 weeks.

[LordGrover]

C70R said:

MrsC raised a salient point on a long drive over the weekend - we're both big animal lovers, and shouldn't with all good conscience enjoy eating intensively-farmed meat.

Not saying it suits everyone, but as self professed animal lovers have you considered omitting animal products altogether?

[anonymous-user]

LordGrover said:

Not saying it suits everyone, but as self professed animal lovers have you considered omitting animal products altogether?

You can buy a lot of alternatives, is it not too hard to switch. I love meat myself, I have butchered a deer and killed Pheasants, chicken and fish so have no issue eating them. I think once you have killed and skinned a few animals it makes you appreciate meat better.

[fttm]

Have half an Elk and Moose deposited in my freezer in the last week, bag of 6lb free range chickens arriving next Tues from the local Hutterite colony

[ZedLeg]

thelittleegg said:

The Spruce goose said:

You can buy a lot of alternatives, is it not too hard to switch. I love meat myself, I have butchered a deer and killed Pheasants, chicken and fish so have no issue eating them. I think once you have killed and skinned a few animals it makes you appreciate meat better.

Y'know, I was raised in suburban London and moved into central london as I got older. I've never truly experienced countryside life, or the the life and death of animals, which seems quite important. I feel that I should experience catching and killing the meat that I eat. I also fear it would actually push me over the edge into vegetarianism

It was what made me vegetarian for years, I grew up hunting and fishing then got really squeamish about killing animals for years. I've only recently started eating meat again as my missus wouldn't give it up .

[C70R]

To be honest, I'm selfish. I just like meat too much to give it up. I have a hugely varied diet (particularly in protein terms), but it's difficult to get away from the fact that I enjoy a wide variety of meat and it's an easy way to make healthy, nutritious, enjoyable meals.
Most of the meals I eat and enjoy can't be easily recreated without meat (although I love tofu in a stir-fry), so I'm trying to make my peace with the idea that the animals I eat have a reasonable standard of living.

[Turn7]

If god hadn't wanted us to eat Pigs for example,he wouldn't have made them Taste of bacon....