But when I buy
500g of lean mince, I don't want to tipping 100g of it away.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Wed 23 Mar 2011, 20:22, 2 replies, latest was 14 years ago)

True, but I bet the local butcher is at least 20% dearer than the local supermarket.
I use them 99% of the time if I cam but when it come to affordability they need to try harder. (well, where I live anyway)
(Kip, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 8:02, Reply)

You actually be quite surprised how competitive a lot of butchers are
And if you buy supermarket mince and drain off "100g of fat", that makes it a fifth more expensive really, anyway.

But that's probably not all fat. It is where the meat was cured quickly by injecting it with salt water, rather than soaking it in salt or sitting it in salt (dry cure).

You usually find this with the cheapest cuts. If you fry it, add a pinch of salt and find it is suddenly swimming with water, it's because the heat and salt have sucked all the added water out of it.

You don't get this with decent meat, therefore less wastage.

So is "cheap" meat really a false economy?
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 14:07, Reply)

I'll go along with that
The quality is usually much higher, and the price difference is tiny, if not cheaper.
(dchurch bah, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 14:32, Reply)

Also,
the mince you buy at the butchers has been minced in a small machine and falls apart in the pan nicely, whereas supermarket stuff is extruded from a big machine and as such just sits in the pan as a solid block unless you break it up with your wooden spoon.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 15:09, Reply)

If you throw away 100 grams fat, that would make your mince only 20% fat.
That is really quite lean, but you should still pour some of that fat away. I seem to remember the extra lean is leaner than that anyway. much less than 20% and your mince will taste of nothing.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 9:59, Reply)

Asda's lean mince
is only 12%, and their extra lean (or whatever they call it) is only 'typically less than 5% fat'.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 15:07, Reply)

"Fat" is too expensive for them.
Don't get me wrong, I eat cheap and shitty food daily -- but if you're buying from a supermarket you're not buying the quality of produce you get from a butcher, for example.
They do buy in bulk to get cheaper but they also have transport and storage costst, and pay to make their products look better.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 24 Mar 2011, 18:41, Reply)