I’m a little weird. I do most of my shopping at the local Giant. However, I can’t tolerate the tasteless frankenbreast chickens. So I buy my boney, very small chicken breasts from the Lansdale Meat Market. Seriously, they are local, never frozen and obviously non-steroidal as it takes three to feed two.
Beef? Whole Foods carries grass-fed beef. It tastes like . . . .beef?
You need to come to Lancaster County for a meat buying trip! Several vendors at the Lancaster Central Market will have great quality meat and poultry. The most expensive vendors there are still half the price (if I remember correctly - no promises) of Whole Foods.
I buy Costco beef and pork. Way better than the wretched Acme or Giant stuff
I buy unaged (except for steaks, which they now offer aged, awful otherwise) pastured beef and poultry online from whiteoakpastures.com. It’s not aged at all and I started using them when I had to eat only unaged low histamine all the time as much as possible. Prices seem low, but due to lack of hanging, one is paying for the water weight as well. Everything I’ve used from them so far has been delicious, though not always beautifully butchered.
They send meat in a cooler with dry ice, if needed depending on temps.
It depends on the meat. For most of my meat I go to the Country Butcher in Kennett Square. Their beef is prime from local farms and they’ll cut steaks to order if I don’t see what I want. They have an outstanding and impressive selection of house-made sausage. Their lamb is local (from Lancaster, I believe), and everything in the case always looks incredibly fresh. Sure, it’s pricier than the supermarkets in the area, but well worth it. Interestingly enough though, poultry is something I usually get at the Giant. And now that I’m thinking about it, I do buy lamb chops for grilling at Costco, and I do like them.
Or got to Reading Terminal, and let the Lancaster County come to you.
I like Country Butcher. Not cheap, but good meat indeed. Giant or Acme meat is junk.
There are several meat and poultry vendors from the Lancaster area at the Booth’s Corner Farmers Market. For some reason, though, I never think of shopping there.
Ditto - most of my meat comes from Costco, except for specialty items. The quality is much higher than what I can find in local supermarkets. I would love to buy larger quantities directly from farmers, but I lack freezer space.
Where does one go and what day of the week? We get some local meats l the coop buying club and urban farm but they are spendy and frozen.
I love Esposito’s at the 9th st market and some vendors at RTM but cant always get there. For cheap and volume I go to Cousin’s at 6th and Berks of the big chains I find Shop Rite as good as the rest but not really impressed with any of them. pathmark and acme i really don’t like.
On Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, come to the Central Market in downtown Lancaster. There, at least four or five vendors will have what you’re looking for.
Stoltzfus Meats in Intercourse is open six days a week and will have really great pork and smoked meats. And for poultry, try Sensenig Poultry on Route 501 north of Lititz. They too are open most days. Danda Farm in Manheim raises organic beef and sells it six days a week at their farm, but it is frozen.
Finally, it’s not in Lancaster County, but the best deals on local meat that I know about are at the York Eastern Market on Memory Lane in York. (of course) It’s only open on Fridays but if you can make it, the prices are low and the quality often really high.
For the holidays BJ’s wholesale club has really nice cryovaced striploin roasts that would grade (very high choice / low prime) for $8.99 lb. Its a branded product, possibly Naturewell from National Beef. Avg roast would yield 5 - 6 nice thick boneless strips.
We buy a lot of meat from Costco. But be forewarned a lot of their meat is recently showing up as blade tenderized. Not great if you want to eat it med rare or rare. Just more crap making our food more dangerous. I have no good words for Costco at this moment
I’m a med rare gal, so that’s why I opt for WF beef. Not only is it in tact, they have actual butchers who will cut to order. I’m in a household of two, so Costco isn’t really a good option for me.
I believe only their cut steaks are needled. If you can deal with the whole sub primals you should be ok.
You’re correct Tom. In fact the subprimals are a really good buy if you don’t mind putting in some time and effort to clean and break down. A lot of the meat I buy is not sold as subprimals. I’m not a really big steak eater. I’ll take a nice braised meat dish over a steak most days
Exactly. Wouldn’t buy that on a dare.
Yes, I have noticed this - why??? One of my local stores has been carrying flap meat in big cryovacs lately and that hasn’t been messed with much, but I can’t use flap meat for everything. Annoying.
