Three butcher hacks to cut your food bill

NATIONAL Butchers Week starts tomorrow, so for tips on choosing the best cuts, visit your local meat master – chop chop!

You can ask the experts for the best choices for your budget.

Butcher’s Week starts tomorrowCredit: Getty

Robert Unwin, a butcher in Kendal, Cumbria, gives his meaty adviceCredit: supplied

Robert Unwin, a butcher in Kendal, Cumbria, says: “We are happy to give advice. It’s a big part of our job.”

Here are his recommendations for saving money.

GO SLOW: It’s no secret that the cuts that cost less often require longer cooking.

Pork shoulder, beef shin and chicken thighs are cheaper than less fatty meats such as pork loin, steak or chicken breast.

Robert says, “These fattier cuts have more flavor and you can pop them in your slow cooker and make them for pennies.”

He also recommends lamb breast – “the belly of the lamb” – which can be cooked low and slow and then cooked over high heat to crisp up.

OFFALY NICE: Liver, kidneys, tongue and heart used to be the mainstays of economical cooking.

And these tough economic times could herald their return.
Robert says: “Eating offal is the perfect choice for an affordable life.

It’s the cheapest way to get meaty protein.”

His goal? “Lamb is usually cheaper than beef.

“A lamb heart has a very mild taste. Ask your butcher to cut it into pieces, slice it thinly, against the grain, and then you have delicious meat for stir-frying.

ASK FOR EXTRAS: “The right butcher will give you advice and help you find a good deal,” says Robert, who was crowned Countryside Alliance Butcher of the Year last year.

It came two years after he opened his first store, Roast Mutton, in Kendal.

Ask a butcher to roast a chicken for you, give you ground beef with a higher fat content for less money, or even throw in some free bones to make a nutritious stock.

It can be used as a base for soups, stews or risottos – or eaten on its own.