Where do you get the bulk of your meat?

roburado

New member
These days, it seems no one really has a local butcher anymore. How about you?

I tend to get meat from the local grocery chains, an occasional Whole Foods purchase, or Costco. I'm searching for better options--not that I'm not getting good stuff.

I'm going to try to look into specialty meat purveyors at Detroit's Eastern Market, I think, but that will require getting up early on a Saturday, which I am not fond of. Probably going to try some of the Strube stuff that BP is selling. I'm wondering where i'm going to find the best quality stuff around here.

Where do you go for your meat? How happy are you with it? Are you looking for something better?
 
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sparky

New member
brisket and pork butts from butcher. baby back ribs, chicken, tri-tip, steaks and roast from costco.
 

Chili Head

New member
I get all my briskets and butts from SAMs. I usually get my ribs there as well but I'm searching for better alternatives for those. the sausages ( heinkels ) I get from a local grocery.


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Rip

New member
Costco. Pretty happy, but like anywhere else, you have to sort through to get the best.
 

TentHunter

Moderator
I have gotten away from grocery stores somewhat for meat. I am just getting overall better prices and MUCH higher quality from a couple of different butchers in our area. And what's best is the meat is cut the way I want.

This brings up a related topic and that is meat prices. Gonna start a new thread...
 

Thom Emery

New member
Sams for catering
Costco Beef when it is for the family
Staters Bros I used to use but no more
T and H in San Marcos is a nice resource for contest meats
 

HoDeDo

New member
We have an RD here that carriers Natural beef (like Naturewell) under thier superior angus moniker. They also typically have IBP Choice packers or CABs by National. You can build your own cases there, so kind of hard not to go with them. Sizes vary, the really nice sized cuts are usually the plain old USDA choice briskets. Big thick flats, and nicely marbled points.

Sam's has all Choice or better beef, "angus", and these days typically has prime also. Most of thier beef lately has been Excel... which seems to be pumped so full of stuff, that it tightens as soon as it cools after cooking. I've found you have to let these things age out at least 35 days to be safe to use in a competition, for eating at home, they do ok. When they get a run of national beef, it tends to be much better than the Excel. Not sure all the reasons why....

Good pork can be had at most places in town. Sams and RD are the most consistent. Same with ribs. Best selection is RD, but Sam's is usually safe. My favorite ribs are from Seaboard Farms (locally owned).... and their Prairie Fresh line of product is top notch. A few places in town those are available.

We also have lots of butchers in town, Bichelmeyer's, McGonagall's, Snow's, Meis' Meats.... etc. Down in Argentine area there are also several Carnicerias, if you want to source meat from someplace other than the usual suspects. For special cuts, Bichelmeyer's is usually where I go. All you left coasters probably pick up tri-tip at the grocery store... we have to hit a butcher to get it, just not a cut seen around here much.

Hen House Markets (local grocery chain) carries fresh chicken, so we usually get it there... Whole foods is our second stop for chicken.

We also have costco here.... but they carry things packaged slightly different: For briskets they only carry flats, no packers. For Butts, (other than the independance location) they carry all boneless, and ribs are cry-o-vac'd in pairs, instead of 3's Chicken is tyson, and "natural"... but bulk. So we do most meat shopping at sam's if we have to choose between sams' and costco.
 

roburado

New member
How does one get a Restaurant Depot membership? I'm just a regular dude without a restaurant or a non-profit organization.
 

squirtthecat

New member
How does one get a Restaurant Depot membership? I'm just a regular dude without a restaurant or a non-profit organization.

KCBS members can get day passes to get in. That's the whole reason my buddy and I joined the KCBS.. Well worth it if you make enough trips in to stock up on meat.
 

warpath

New member
These days, it seems no one really has a local butcher anymore. How about you?

I tend to get meat from the local grocery chains, an occasional Whole Foods purchase, or Costco. I'm searching for better options--not that I'm not getting good stuff.

I'm going to try to look into specialty meat purveyors at Detroit's Eastern Market, I think, but that will require getting up early on a Saturday, which I am not fond of. Probably going to try some of the Strube stuff that BP is selling. I'm wondering where i'm going to find the best quality stuff around here.

Where do you go for your meat? How happy are you with it? Are you looking for something better?

Roburado, there used to be a butcher in B'ham.. but I have been gone so long I can't remember who or where..

Eastern Market sounds like a good idea..

If you get downriver Ray's Prime meats in Trenton was good..
I have been gone from MI for over 10 years so some things have tohave changed..

good Luck
Dave
 

SmokeAndSpice

New member
For St. Louis-cut ribs, bone-in butts and picnics I usually just pick them up when they're on sale at the regional grocery chain (Schnuck's). We have a butcher shop of sorts in town that carries things the grocer doesn't, like choice and prime beef as well as things like skirt steak, hanger steak, and full brisket (Schnuck's usually just has the flat portion). Then there's the shop run by the local university's meat science department-- they have good boneless pork roasts and sausages, and occasionally lamb.
 
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