Big box meat companies

[dodge man]

What, you guys don't have old Ford Rangers with chest freezers driven by sketchy guys knocking on your door selling 'high quality meat'?

Not since we moved in the country but when we’re in town we did.

 

[rontaki]

I'

Used meat is a family joke. When I was little we didn't have much money and my mom would take all us boys to the "Used Bread Store", which was a bakery outlet for one of the big bakeries, I think it was Orowheat, and they sold day old bread at a pretty good discount. Anyway, my mom called it the used bread store and all us boys thought it was funny. When I was starting a family I would go to the section in the store that sold frozen meat that was past its pull date and I called it used meat. My brothers did the same. So now you know about used meat. Nothing gross about it, just humor.
Eric

I've been in the habit of calling food from discount stores "used" for a long time. Now I call the Grocery Outlet store "Groc (Gross) Out". Mom used to take us to the Orowheat outlet also. Them was the daze...

 

[Handloader109]

What is "used meat"? Hope it's not what I'm thinking it is.


Nearest Sam's club is ~2.5 hr from here, so needless to say it's not something we belong to. How does their meat compare to Walmart's (which is generally pretty low grade)?

I can't stand any beef from Walmart. But we buy a lot from Sams. Not nearly the same. Way better. We do have a couple of local butchers and we buy a few nice steaks from them as we can.

 

[Oaktree]

There is also a subscription thing locally, with fresh fruit and veggies; you place a monthly order or whatever, and then at the date, you meet them at the fairgrounds to pick up. Dont know the name, or how its ran, or even how payment works;

CSA? We used to see that around here maybe 10-20 years ago but not so much now. Could be business model doesn't work very well long-term, especially in an area with a short growing season?

 

[Oaktree]

I can't stand any beef from Walmart. But we buy a lot from Sams. Not nearly the same. Way better.

One thing I miss about living near a city is more/better retail choices, Sam's club being one of them. There's a similar chain called BJ's which is a little closer, but doesn't have anywhere near the selection. Never even seen a Cosco, let alone been in one.

 

[Torvy]

Costco started in the NW. Sam's, of course, in Arkansas.

That may explain why you don't see Costco in the NE as much.

I see Costco as a snobby version of Sam's. If you couldn't see the brand names, it would be hard to tell them apart. We joined Costco for 1 year to compare. Not worth the extra fee bucks if you have both nearby. Some people really like Costco store brands. I like that I can go to Sam's earlier in the morning.

Sams is 45 minutes for me. 2+ hours to Costco.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

USDA has really loosened up on their inspection requirements. We have always had an inspected slaughterhouse here because one locally owned big box supermarket chain only stocks local beef. The number of butchers doing small lot package sales has really ballooned in the last decade or so. I have no idea what life is like in Boston. I live in a county the size of Connecticut with only 225,000 population, so we're kind of rural.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The local butchers here are good for what they do. I just wish they had more variety, especially with sausages. One thing I miss about where we lived in WI. I need a German butcher.

Around here, specialty meats are handled by a smokehouse, not the butcher. There is vigorous debate about who processes the best sausage, ham, and bacon. We have one outfit that does the best hard elk sausage I have ever tasted. It would make a wurtsmeister weep for joy.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

What, you guys don't have old Ford Rangers with chest freezers driven by sketchy guys knocking on your door selling 'high quality meat'?

We have small ranchers with freezer trucks at the local farmer's market. The sell good quality, but prices are high.