What's going on with stewing beef prices?

rjbell

rjbell

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What is going on with chuck and chin steak prices in the supermarket?
Firstly its a mission even finding it anymore that is not diced for you at a premium. Then when you do find some its almost the same price as prime cuts.

I'm sure it was half the price of something like a rump or rib joint. I found some in Morrison's it was £9 a kilo and rib joints about £11 a kilo.

I bought brisket in the end for £6 a kilo.

Im sure someone will say use a butcher not a supermarket but I'm lazy OK! :)
 
In a vaguely related way... the other day my wife & I were shopping for sarnie meat stuff when she commented that in our yoof Corned Beef (which came in tins) was the cheapest crap you could buy, now its more expensive than sliced hams

What's going on !!!

I just hope no-one changes the flavour of Lurpak or the World as we know it may end ;)

Dave
 
Hi Robert, I think it is "celebrity chef syndrome", a rather common disorder nowadays, when TV chefs push a cheaper cut of meat (usually one best suited to slow cooking), the general public decide that they should rush out and buy it, and then the prices go through the roof. We used to buy two lamb shanks for about £4 years ago, now they are at the high price end.
I tend to use braising steak (if reduced), feather steak and ox cheeks for slow cooking, but even they are going up in price.
 
Yeah it's probably some truth in both your explanations.

Blinking annoying though.
 
BBR said:
May be its supply and demand, 'stewing steak' is probably used by manufacturers to make burgers etc.
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Good god no, lips and are**oles make burgers. It's probably more likely that sales of stewing steak fell off and supermarkets stopped stocking it. Some like Morrisons have better butchers so you're more likely to find what you want there. Trying to find Scottish lamb in Scotland is another difficult thing, New Zealand lamb everywhere and you can't drive 5 miles without seeing sheep in a field but no meat in the shops.
 
DG Phototraining said:
In a vaguely related way... the other day my wife & I were shopping for sarnie meat stuff when she commented that in our yoof Corned Beef (which came in tins) was the cheapest crap you could buy, now its more expensive than sliced hams

What's going on !!!

I just hope no-one changes the flavour of Lurpak or the World as we know it may end ;)

Dave
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In our youth, sliced ham used to mean sliced ham, not some reconstructed cr@p you often see in the supermarket these days
 
Steep said:
Good god no, lips and are**oles make burgers. It's probably more likely that sales of stewing steak fell off and supermarkets stopped stocking it. Some like Morrisons have better butchers so you're more likely to find what you want there. Trying to find Scottish lamb in Scotland is another difficult thing, New Zealand lamb everywhere and you can't drive 5 miles without seeing sheep in a field but no meat in the shops.
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Our local butcher sells lamb from the Pentlands, about a mile up the road...

To OP - use a butcher :D
 
Have you tried your local farm shop? Mine does their own meat and their stewing steak prices and such like are pretty reasonable. They're often cheaper than the supermarket and much better quality.
 
srichards said:
Have you tried your local farm shop? Mine does their own meat and their stewing steak prices and such like are pretty reasonable. They're often cheaper than the supermarket and much better quality.
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To a degree, my local farm shop is barely any cheaper although the meat is local and probably slightly better, although the beef i got there was no different to a normal supermarket one when i had it.

Think stewing steak is around £8/9 a kilo, but like others have said, ox cheek is a good alternative.
 
To me local farmers markets should be cheaper, but they are not, most times are more expensive and they are cutting out the middle man.

Trevor
 
trevormc said:
To me local farmers markets should be cheaper, but they are not, most times are more expensive and they are cutting out the middle man.

Trevor
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True, although our local veg shop is normally better for prices, at worst they are the same but the produce is often local and much better.
 
Steep said:
Good god no, lips and are**oles make burgers. It's probably more likely that sales of stewing steak fell off and supermarkets stopped stocking it. Some like Morrisons have better butchers so you're more likely to find what you want there. Trying to find Scottish lamb in Scotland is another difficult thing, New Zealand lamb everywhere and you can't drive 5 miles without seeing sheep in a field but no meat in the shops.
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I know for a fact that decent burgers served by major chains are not made from lips and r soles.
 
BBR said:
I know for a fact that decent burgers served by major chains are not made from lips and r soles.
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Having worked at a large producer, I can add that those used by the largest pub & family restaurant chains aren't either. :-)
 
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Steep said:
Good god no, lips and are**oles make burgers.
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I was always under the impression that's where hot dogs come from,
that and the sweepings off the floor :D
 
rjbell said:
What is going on with chuck and chin steak prices in the supermarket?
Firstly its a mission even finding it anymore that is not diced for you at a premium. Then when you do find some its almost the same price as prime cuts.

I'm sure it was half the price of something like a rump or rib joint. I found some in Morrison's it was £9 a kilo and rib joints about £11 a kilo.

I bought brisket in the end for £6 a kilo.

Im sure someone will say use a butcher not a supermarket but I'm lazy OK! :)
Click to expand...

How far away is Martin Players in Whitchurch?

Otherwise there are quite a few decent farm shops in the vale.

EDIT also a few in Cardiff indoor market, or Riverside market on Sundays.
 
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andy700 said:
We used to buy two lamb shanks for about £4 years ago, now they are at the high price end.
Click to expand...

I remember them being 50p as they were offcuts!

Then came belly pork (used to be £2/kg).

Lamb/Beef/Ox cheek is next - its becoming a bit more common in restaurants but not yet hit the TV
 
Markets do create some perverse behaviours. o_O

The opposite to cheap cuts having got expensive though?

I was talking to a dairy farmer a couple of years ago, and asked him what happens to his male calves. Burgers! A meat that is charged at a premium in most of the world (Veal) can't get a foothold in the British subconscious (bizarrely), so they can only sell it at the very cheapest beef price.

Bizarre because we choose Lamb over Mutton, Veal is the equivalent comparison over Beef, but the bad press from the 80's has hung over it. The usual 'cute' driver isn't even at play, lambs have a greater Aah factor than calves :confused:
 
Phil V said:
Markets do create some perverse behaviours. o_O

The opposite to cheap cuts having got expensive though?

I was talking to a dairy farmer a couple of years ago, and asked him what happens to his male calves. Burgers! A meat that is charged at a premium in most of the world (Veal) can't get a foothold in the British subconscious (bizarrely), so they can only sell it at the very cheapest beef price.

Bizarre because we choose Lamb over Mutton, Veal is the equivalent comparison over Beef, but the bad press from the 80's has hung over it. The usual 'cute' driver isn't even at play, lambs have a greater Aah factor than calves :confused:
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I've always found this funny. Other meats have different name to the animal. Pork pig, beef cow. But lamb is lamb doesn't even try to hide it but veal is a big no no.
 
Phil V said:
Markets do create some perverse behaviours. o_O

The opposite to cheap cuts having got expensive though?

I was talking to a dairy farmer a couple of years ago, and asked him what happens to his male calves. Burgers! A meat that is charged at a premium in most of the world (Veal) can't get a foothold in the British subconscious (bizarrely), so they can only sell it at the very cheapest beef price.

Bizarre because we choose Lamb over Mutton, Veal is the equivalent comparison over Beef, but the bad press from the 80's has hung over it. The usual 'cute' driver isn't even at play, lambs have a greater Aah factor than calves :confused:
Click to expand...

There is the "cute" driver though.
Even spring lamb isn't generally slaughtered before 8 weeks, whilst the average age for lamb slaughter can be anywhere between 3 month to 12 months (to still be classed as lamb it must be less than 12 months).
The young 'uns don't look cutesy for that long.
Veal calves are generally slaughtered around 5-8 months and still look very cute.
I agree that the way veal calves used to be reared has had a lasting negative impact on peoples' impression of the industry....one that even "ethically" raised veal doesn't seem to be able to get past.
Incidentally, mutton is very underrated IMO. When cooked low temp for a long time, it's an incredibly tasty meat.
 
rjbell said:
I've always found this funny. Other meats have different name to the animal. Pork pig, beef cow. But lamb is lamb doesn't even try to hide it but veal is a big no no.
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Blame the Normans! Beef is from boeuf, pork from porc, mutton from mouton.
 
Nod said:
Blame the Normans! Beef is from boeuf, pork from porc, mutton from mouton.
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Why not take it back further and blame the damned Etruscans? Boeuf originates from the Latin Bov "Ox". (Hence Bovine, and for that matter Ovine and Porcine too)
 
Because they took it to France/Gaul and then the Normans brought it over here.
 
Exactly, so why blame the middle man? :D
 
Because they're the ones who brought it over here. :P
 
& it's usually the middleman that that makes the most profit. :D
 
Something Phil alluded to a few post up, is how foods in general can be cheap for years, then become expensive. (& vice versa)

Oysters used to be a cheap/poor mans food in my g/parents day.
Chicken used to be expensive when my Dad was a kid.

Over/under supply, production costs & fashion dictate prices, as with any other commodity.
 
OldCarlos said:
Something Phil alluded to a few post up, is how foods in general can be cheap for years, then become expensive. (& vice versa)

Oysters used to be a cheap/poor mans food in my g/parents day.
Chicken used to be expensive when my Dad was a kid.

Over/under supply, production costs & fashion dictate prices, as with any other commodity.
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Salmon too always seemed to be expensive but not now. Monkfish in the 70s was worthless by al accounts.
 
cambsno said:
Salmon too always seemed to be expensive but not now. Monkfish in the 70s was worthless by al accounts.
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Aye, salmon farming has made such a difference.

Re monkfish, I think it was the `scampi in the basket` that started to make it popular. :)
 
I can remember my Grandfather saying many many years ago that when he was a young man that Bass down here in Cornwall was so plentiful an unwanted it was fed to the pigs, and the proper name is Bass, the term Sea-bass only came into being after the tv chefs got their hands on it, now look at it," over fished and over priced".
 
Supply and demand - we are approaching barbecue season and all the cheaper cuts (clod, chuck, feather, etc) are purchased by the burger companies, reducing availability and pushing prices up. This is what happens at supermarkets.

Your local butcher should be much more reasonable for those cuts as summer and the warmer weather arrives (with a bit of luck!!).
 
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Mikechappers said:
I can remember my Grandfather saying many many years ago that when he was a young man that Bass down here in Cornwall was so plentiful an unwanted it was fed to the pigs, and the proper name is Bass, the term Sea-bass only came into being after the tv chefs got their hands on it, now look at it," over fished and over priced".
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Surely the name sea bass is to differentiate between the marine and the freshwater varieties?
 
cambsno said:
Monkfish in the 70s was worthless by al accounts.
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I can remember when it started to hit the "shelves" No one would buy it because it was so damned ugly!

I quite like dog fish, plus it was very cheap a few years ago, then it was labelled Rock Salmon, or just "Rock" as it's called now.
Its now at least the same price as Cod, if not more expensive.
What's in a name Eh?
 
Indeed, bass ranges from;

Double bass (mmm, nice. :Jazz: )
to
Bass solo ( :gag: )
 
And the much more common Bass Tard.
 
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