OK, I’m done with buying meat/fish from the grocery store. Had a mushy fish experience with a piece of obviously very old (and pricey) fish I purchased there. And boyfriend and I have been gagging our way through some of the toughest NY strips we’ve ever sawed into, which were sadly bought in bulk from the grocery (or maybe even Costco) and then frozen.
I figure: I’ve wasted too much money on fish/meat that was sub-par and therefore thrown out (or given to the dog), so why not pay more for Whole Foods-type meat/fish that’s worthy of leftovers?
So here are my options: Whole Foods, Bristol Farms, and a local butcher that I’ve never tried before.
Should try the butcher first, being that it’s independent/local? (never mind, I’m sure the answer to this is yes) How about Whole Foods/Bristol Farms: worth the price tag?
Signed, The Girl Who Always Buys Meat At The Grocery Store
p.s. I’m in SoCal, South Bay
That’s about the reason I started shopping more at WF: I got tired of paying good money for beef at Safeway that was tasteless or gristly or both. True, WF is more expensive, but I just buy and eat less beef. They have sales, anyway, and at those times I stock up on $7 a pound sirloin. Safeway isn’t that much cheaper, and they’re a total loss if you end up tossing your fish or meat.
And the fish at WF is way, way better, too, with a bigger selection of types. I get tired of the ho-hum salmon/red snapper/tilapia routine at Safeway.
Then you’ll start noticing that WF’s produce is ten times better, they have fresher nuts, wonderful imported cheeses, etc., etc. I try to only shop there every third trip, because if I buy everything there all the time, I’ll find they live up to their nickname of “Whole Paycheck”. Oh, well, when your home-cooked meals taste that much better, you’ll end up going out less and hopefully make up the difference there.
Your local butcher would be the best choice. Go often enough to establish a relationship so you can feel comfortable asking questions and seeking advice on certain cuts.
If the local guy falls on his face and isn’t providing good product & services - then he won’t be in business very long.
On a side note, I’ve been very happy with the quality of the steaks (strip, t-bones, ribeyes) I’ve purchased at Sam’s Club. Not as cheap a price as some of the specials ran by the local grocers, but the quality has been very consistent - of course YMMV.
Chicken - I almost always just go with whichever local grocer has the best special running.
Fresh Seafood - Grocers, only if they have a very busy seafood counter. Can you go to a local dockside seafood market? Again, if you have one go often enough to establish a relationship - it will pay dividends as they want your repeat business.
:smack: Well, I’m obviously not a beach cities native- I hadn’t thought of this! I’m a mile from the ocean and have not checked out any local fishmongers. This needs repeating: :smack: :smack:…but this will be a later investigation as our freezer is full of tuna/dorado that my boyfriend caught recently on a fishing trip (at least we’re golden in that area right now!).
Basically said, I need to get away from this whole “I must buy everything at ralph’s” mindset.
Another option is to track down good ethnic markets. In California, we have “Ranch 99” Chinese supermarkets, and the quality of the fish there is superb, the selection enormous, and the prices cheap. They also sell topnotch pork.
Myself, I have to tone down the habit I have of traveling all over the place to hit the best, cheapest places for each foodstuff. In my own hometown, there’s one place that sells great Berkshire pork, a mushroom producer, an egg ranch, and a small source of organic honey. Foodie as I am, I sometimes drive myself crazy trying to hit all the different good places!
If you are near a Costco they have really really good meat at good prices. Fish not so much. I have given up on Von’s for meat the selection is bad and the meat is generally not that great.
I have an inkling that these terrible NY strips came from Costco. They’re thicker than those I usually see at Ralph’s, and there were about 5 of them in our freezer, making me think they came from the Costco bulk pack. Not that that means everything at Costco is bad just because I had one bad experiece, but it makes me rethink spending $40 on a bulk pack of meat that happens to all suck. I wonder what would happen if I took an open tray of poor-quality meat to the returns desk at Costco…
I go to Earth Fare, which is a smaller version of Whole Foods, to get all of my meat and seafood. They always have fresh seafood, whereas my local grocery store has only previously frozen. Their beef is also great, according to my husband, and the only chicken I will buy is their Smart Bird air chilled chicken. It’s a little more $$, but definitely worth it, given the superior quality. I even buy too much on purpose so I’ll have leftovers!
Really? I suppose I should have read the OP better. I have good luck with just such steaks at Costco. They have good marbling much better than anything you can get a the local super market. They are pretty much the same as the cuts from whole foods but at about 1/2 the price.
I don’t shop at WF but I would imagine HEB’s Central Market is about as upscale market you can find anywhere. Their seafood is wonderful and worth the investment.
On the other hand, their steaks are triple the already elevated price I pay at Sam’s and the quality is in the same ballpark. I’ll choose Sam’s over the standard HEB, Kroger, Randalls or Fiesta fare any day. Theirs may be half the Sam’s price, but I don’t like the high % of gristle
It’s weird. Years ago, I bought a flat of NY steaks with exactly the same result xanthous describes. They were tough and stringy and a big waste of money, so I didn’t buy steak there again for years.
Then, a couple of months ago, I watched Alton Brown show how to buy, trim, slice, and freeze a tenderloin of beef. He quite pointedly bought it at “a big warehouse store”. I bought a beef tenderloin at Costco just to try it out, and it was extremely good, every steak of it. I also highly recommend Costco’s lamb - that has always been topnotch. It’s from New Zealand, or at least that which comes from our local Costco.
For fish, I’ve heard that frozen is the best because it’s processed and flash frozen in the belly of factory ships while at sea. The “fresh” type has been slowly deteriorating while it sits on that crushed ice.
For beef, there are those mail-order places like Omaha Steaks. I have no experience with any of them.
Yes, I’ve heard the same about fish. Hopefully if I can find an awesome seaside place, I can buy it unfrozen nd it really will be fresh!
My experience with Omaha is that yes, the steaks are good, but DAMN they’re small!
So you’re talking about buying the big hunk and then cutting your own steaks from it? If so, my question is: what is the benefit over buying them already cut? Is it that you get to determine the size of steaks you cut? If I wanted to do this, do they sell the hunks of beef that become things like NY strips/ribeyes?(that sounds like a really stoopid question!)
I usually don’t buy meat at Trader Joe’s, but when I have it’s been good. I don’t buy farm-raised salmon – except at Trader Joe’s. They have some Norwegian farm-raised salmon that’s pretty darned good. I just bake it with some salt and squeeze lemon on top. (I’ve no idea what the tiny piece of kale is for. They call it ‘Norwegian Farm-Raised Salmon Fillet With Kale’, but it’s too small for anything.) And I like their preseasoned leg of lamb. Thaw it and pop it in the oven for an hour.
I tend to buy meat at the closest supermarket because it’s easy. But if I want a prime rib I’ll go to CostCo.
Not a dumb question at all. Yes, Costco sells a whole beef tenderloin, as long as your arm. You have to peel it of silverskin and trim it of gnarly meat at the side which is tucked up against the spine, and then slice it into 1.5" filet mignons. The benefit is that it is cheaper per pound than buying it already trimmed and sliced. A $50 whole beef tenderloin becomes five dinners’ worth of steaks for two people, one small 1.5 pound filet roast, and a pound of scraps and trimmings which are yummy enough to become stir-fry or fajitas.
I never specifically looked for a New York strip chunk, but Costco may stock them as well. Anyone seen this at a Costco?
I usually buy all of my meat from a local butcher, although reading about the tenderloin from Costco has got me thinking about finally trying my hand at beef wellington.
I used to get my fish at Whole Foods until they sold me shrimp that had been frozen, thawed, frozen again and sold to me. It was the mealiest, funkiest shit this side of the lint trap on George Clinton’s washing machine. I know it was probably a one-time thing, but I’ll never buy fish from those guys again.
Luckily, I’ve found a fishmonger here in Chicago who sells fantastic sushi-quality fish.
We do this with Costco Ribeye. We’ve been eating Costco Ribeye steaks for years, LOVE 'EM! But for the past few months my husband has been buying a whole hunk to cut down into individual steaks, then we halve those because a half a steak is the perfect amount for each of us. I wrap them up then freeze most of them. They last for weeks. They’re expensive at the outset (about $100.00) but we eat a lot of steak and if we’re going to eat steak, Ribeye is the only kind we want to eat, and buying Costco Ribeye this way is a great value for us.
I like Trader Joe’s frozen fish. I’ve had good experiences getting meat and poultry from them, too (of course, I only buy kosher, so I don’t know what the regular meat and poultry are like).
