Credit Crunch

Are you struggling with food bills during this economic downturn? Maybe you want to take the advice given by the ‘This is money’ website. Instead of buying more expensive cuts of meat you can buy pigs trotters and offal. Awful you think? Well isn’t eating the bottom of a pig or legs of lambs? Maybe it is time you re-thought your whole attitude regarding meat eating. For me, eating  offal is just a s disgusting as eating the wings of a murdered chicken or the minced up rear end of a cow, or any other thing that used to be alive and is now dead because of your choices. Read on, this is such a good article to expose how stupid we all are. Wouldn’t you rather have a Mediterranean Pasta dish that a pig’s cheek? Come on, it’s time we did things differently.

Butcher your bills: Save money on meat

Tom Kelly, Daily Mail
22 September 2008

They may be unfamiliar but, as we tighten our belts, beef skirt, pork hock and pigs trotters could soon be back on the shopping list.

Researchers have found that the cuts of meat our grandparents regularly ate are ignored by today’s under-35s.

But as the credit crunch squeezes and consumers try to reduce their bills without compromising on taste, the young might be wise to give cheaper meats a try, said Waitrose.

The supermarket, which has reintroduced many traditional cuts, says its younger customers frequently ignore mutton, brisket, chuck and pig cheek and liver.

Instead, they choose expensive white meat such as chicken breast, or cuts from the back of cattle such as loin and fillet - which comes from the part of the animal that does little or no work - and so is the most tender part.

Cheaper cuts often come from tougher, muscled areas and require slow cooking in stews and casseroles to soften them up.

For instance, a leg of lamb costs £7.49 per kilo. But a shoulder costs just £4.89. Feather steak, a cut from near the shoulder blade, costs £7.99 per kilo, £10 cheaper than rump.

Butchers say the cheaper meats provide much better value for money - and if properly prepared provide a tasty, tender meal.

However, the under-35s might have to rethink their cooking methods. Many rarely make dishes such as stews - and are more likely to grill meat on the barbecue, the survey found.

Two-thirds never boil meat or poultry bones to make stock and only half make their own gravy. Just one in ten had cooked with mutton or brisket and 3% used feather steak. More than half said they wouldn’t contemplate buying offal.