Moving on from Veg boxes....what about meat ?

[Moby-Dick]

I've noticed that the chaps who organise my Veg box delivery , also do meat.

The idea of this appeals to me , as I've yet to find a meat that I dont like , so would never have any 'dont like it' problems...

http://www.riverfordmeatbox.co.uk/

I'd probably look at getting a small box once a month and freezing quite a lot.


That would work out at a tenner a week , combined with the ncie fresh veg I get for them, would mean that I'd only really be hitting supermarkets for sundries , which I can either get at a local market or my corner shop / Costco ( if I want bulk... )

It would also stop the temptations of take aways , so better for my wallet ( and possibly waistline !)


has anyone ever tried a meat box ? ( clingy I wonder get worried if you say no )

[dave87]

I haven't ever tried the whole meat/veg box thing, but I must admit there is a certain satisfaction in either picking your own meat, or going to the butchers and see him slice it up from a nice big piece for you.

It really depends if you trust the company to provide you with good cuts of meat, rather than the bits they couldn't sell elsewhere.

[Moby-Dick]

Interesting point , but I've not had cause for complaint about the veg , so I'd keep fingers crossed for the meat.

I'd love to drive down to the little farm shop butchers I've been to a few times , and get my months meat supply , but This helps with budgeting , and seems to supply a good range of products , which enforces me to be a little dynamic with the cooking

[arbitor]

Looks like a splendid idea, if you can eat it all. And as dave said as long as its decent product then i would do it in a shot.

if i didn't live in a town center that is

[stytagm]

Sounds good, our Veg peeps will supply some meat with their veg boxes I think, but not a whole box full.

The only thing that worries me is that our Veg box sits outside our front door for most of the day until we get home from work, fine with a carrot, less fine with a steak! And with summer coming I don't think we could risk it.

[Moby-Dick]

thats true - although I do have a shaded location - they also mention that the boxes are especially well insulated.

I'm going to try and speak to my local riverford rep about it and see what their plan is.

[menthel]

I have not tried a meat box, but we do order bits and bobs of meat and fish from abel and cole. It always comes in a big polystyrene box with those freezer blocks in. It stays nice and cold until we get home at night.

[kalniel]

It's getting closer to the point where I'll actually eat meat from something like this. I don't care about organic, much more important to me are things like non-intesive farming, local produce, local abattoir etc.

[Moby-Dick]

those are my reasons as well Kalniel

I doubt id pass a pepsi challenge between organic free range and regular free range , but the organic guys have their home delivery setups done much better

[kalniel]

Very true

After 15 years of being veggie I can almost smell the bacon

But not quite yet - I'd need to have a look at the farms they choose. However this is definitely a step in the right direction.

[Zak33]

It's getting closer to the point where I'll actually eat meat from something like this. I don't care about organic, much more important to me are things like non-intesive farming, local produce, local abattoir etc.

now THATS the proper attitude.

I'm going to follow Raymond Blanc on this (he's a hero of mine).
Vegetables are best organic, but meat just needs to be well raised, well fed and well butchered, not necessarily organic.

Moby..mate if I were you, I'd skip the Meat Box plan, stick with your vegetables, and once per month make the effort to drive to a good butchers. Buy one months stuff and you're done. Good butchers offer to bad stuff in freezer bags,so and you'll be ok.

http://www.parrott-bros.co.uk/index.html

My local. There is NOTHING I like better than going there. Nice greeting, nice meet, the cows in the stalls next to the shop. Just be warned...drive slowly. The shorter of the two brothers doesn't like me fish tailing into the farm drive when I'm in a hurry

Dire website...good produce. 5 x 1lb bags of mince for £7. And this mince even comes with a receipt that tells you the reg number of the cow that's in it, from it's ear tag.

Awesome chicken supremes (breast, with bone attached to plump it up in cooking) Only thing is the sausages aren't as good as your local bloke.

[Funkstar]

http://www.thestorecompany.co.uk/

this place is pretty close to me. They have a place in Edinburgh too.

We get one of their 3 or 4lb roasting joints from work for Christmas every year. Great stuff.

There is a butchers just round the ocrner from where we used to stay. It's really good, his steaks are to die for.

[Clingy]

It's getting closer to the point where I'll actually eat meat from something like this. I don't care about organic, much more important to me are things like non-intesive farming, local produce, local abattoir etc.

Agreed, although I'd probably not go the whole hog (so to speak). I think Chickens should be more of a concern nowadays. I'll only get them (for my boy) from local farms where I know they have been reared properly. More and more people I know will not touch a supermarket chicken of any sort.

[Moby-Dick]

Yep - and besides happy chickens are tasty chickens ! I always check for hock burns when I get any chicken.

There was a program a while a go that was suggesting newer standards for the barn chickens where they had bit more space , better litter and toys to keep them amused ( footballs etc )

It was a nice halfway house between barn and free range , but I can't remember the name of the initiative.

[Spud1]

I've tried a similar thing to a meat box before..last year in Switzerland.

I couldn't find the meat I wanted anywhere locally..specifically proper thick back bacon and english bangers!

Eventually I found a place called 'overtherainbow' which was basically an english butchers (based near Zurich I think) who offered a meat-box service. Basically every two weeks a parcel would arrive for me with a load of sausages (bangers, cumberland, pork+apple), rashers of bacon, and a nice cut of silverside.

Cost me 70ChF (about £35) a pack, which wasn't too expensive, and was always delicious It came wrapped in layers and layers of insulating material to keep it cold, and I had it delivered to my work address so I could stick it in the firdge straight away.

I hadn't ever thougt about a similar service here in england..as I can get english meat anywhere..but now you mentioned it I might give it a try. I'm planning on trying a months trial without using a supermarket for anything next month anyway, so this might help out with that


Sadly overtherainbow seems have to gone now..the url used to be www.overtherainbow.ch but now theres just a holding page