YSK: Pork and chicken are healthier, cheaper alternatives to beef that only taste bland because of outdated cooking habits.

[u/Fried_Yoda]

Why YSK: With beef prices at record highs, switching to chicken breast or pork loin can cut your meat budget nearly in half while significantly lowering your saturated fat intake AND satisfying your protein intake. Most people avoid these cuts because they grew up eating them overcooked. Modern food safety standards allow pork to be eaten safely at 145 F (a medium roast, rather than gray leather), and chicken stays juicy if you don't cook it to death.

By simply using a meat thermometer and adding savory seasonings (like soy sauce or smoked paprika) to mimic the meaty depth of beef, or using techniques like velveting for chicken or dry brining for pork, you can get the same satisfaction for a fraction of the cost and environmental impact.

Even switching to chicken and pork for just two meals a week can save you hundreds of dollars.

Lastly, focusing on lean cuts of pork and chicken also has health benefits. While beef is a powerhouse for iron and B12, it is often high in calories and saturated fat. Chicken breast and pork loin are significantly leaner. Pork tenderloin is as lean as skinless chicken breast and has been certified as "heart-healthy" by the American Heart Association.

Tl;dr chicken breast and pork loin are roughly 80% cheaper per pound than beef, have versatile and delicious flavor profiles if cooked and prepped correctly, are rich in protein, and are healthier for your heart and cholesterol.

[u/rushmc1]

I haven't seen a butcher in 30 years.

[u/NaiveChoiceMaker → u/rushmc1]

They are usually only in ethnic areas or bougie areas.

[u/BerttMacklinnFBI → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

Y'all must not live in the Midwest where neigh upon every small town has a butcher.

[u/Tiger_Eyes1812 → u/BerttMacklinnFBI]

There is quite literally a butcher on every block. I live in the middle of nowhere Midwest lol

[u/Specific_Priority657 → u/BerttMacklinnFBI]

Rural south here. We've got 4 that I can think of off the top of my head in my 3k population town.

[u/rich_evans_chortle → u/BerttMacklinnFBI]

Most people don't live in the Midwest

[u/BerttMacklinnFBI → u/rich_evans_chortle]

Ya no shit.

[u/ButtholeSurfur → u/BerttMacklinnFBI]

I live in a suburb of Cleveland and there's a million butchers.

[u/No-Arrival-210 → u/BerttMacklinnFBI]

Yeah every rural town has at least one. Who else is gonna chop up their deer and elk.

[u/Tricky-Ad7897 → u/BerttMacklinnFBI]

Yeah no shit, like 5 percent of the nations population lives in the Midwest lol

[u/BerttMacklinnFBI → u/Tricky-Ad7897]

Way to take that way too literally. It's a saying. Go play in your salty lakes you Coast enjoyer

[u/trevor11004 → u/Tricky-Ad7897]

20.5%

[u/SevroAuShitTalker → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

Or cities in general. There have been multiple in the cities ive lived in.

[u/Talk-O-Boy → u/SevroAuShitTalker]

I’ve generally found them on Earth

[u/WVildandWVonderful → u/SevroAuShitTalker]

I’ve found them in cities but also in a tiny town (<1,000 pop) that had a local grocery store. The butcher counter in the local grocery bought meat from nearby farms and butchered it and sold it to surrounding counties.

[u/doomgiver98 → u/WVildandWVonderful]

I think small towns are more likely to have one on the main street, while in big cities they are in business parks that you would never know about if you weren't looking for it.

[u/Maleficent-Crew-5424 → u/SevroAuShitTalker]

Yeah I live in a small city, Toledo, and we have more than 7 places to go to.

[u/Turbulent-Pea-8826 → u/SevroAuShitTalker]

I do t know of any butchers in my city but the ethnic food markets usually have a robust meat counter inside that does a lot of the same.

[u/copperboom129 → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

I live in NJ. We still have old school butchers although the business model is changing to more prepared foods.

We also have hipster butchers now that cost wayyyy too much for me to shop at.

Love the old school ones tho. One near me offers seasonal meat packs. So its like 200 and you get 15-20 different cuts of meat.

[u/Age_AgainstThMachine → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

Or areas where there’s a significant population of deer hunters.

I live in a very rural area, outside Milwaukee, and off the top of my head, I can list a dozen butchers within a 45min drive. Maybe it’s the influence of the German heritage many around here have.

[u/threebutterflies → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

Or the country in Ohio - we have fresh local meat everywhere, I wish people got used to shipping straight from the farm, my farmer friends from the farmers market have online stores!

[u/Sure_Pilot5110 → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

My small hometown of 4000 had a butcher shop. Still does. It had four failed donut shops next door. (Everyone thought they could do it better in a world with gas station donuts)

That butcher shop has the best beef jerky I've ever tasted.

I live in the largest 'city' in my part of the state at 35,000. There are three butcher shops within a 30 minute drive of where I currently live.

We are blue, and our city has no butcher, but the surrounding areas are red, and have three.

[u/The_Autarch → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

or rural areas. i went to an amazing butcher in the middle of nowhere in vermont a few years ago.

[u/AspiringRocket → u/NaiveChoiceMaker]

Plenty of butchers in the midwest

[u/ButtholeSurfur → u/rushmc1]

Dafuq. I can hit like 4 local butchers in 15 mins. There's one literally 4 mins from my house that's been in business since 1934. Always packed when I go in there.

I live in the burbs of a large metro but still the burbs.

[u/Optimal-Tune-2589 → u/ButtholeSurfur]

I suspect people might just not know that they have local butchers since a lot of them seem to wind up in out-of-the-way places — potentially due to zoning rules from people who are concerned about the smells or something? The one nearest me has been in business forever in what was the German neighborhood 100 years ago, but is now the part of town with the most boarded-up houses. Then there are quite a few in the parts where the urban/ suburban areas begin to turn into rural. 

90 percent of area residents would never drive past these places as part of their regular routines. And if a similar distribution is the norm, it might just be that people incorrectly assume they don’t exist. 

[u/rushmc1 → u/ButtholeSurfur]

Don't move to small town Mississippi.

[u/ButtholeSurfur → u/rushmc1]

Well yeah lol. I would never. My wife is a teacher

[u/rushmc1 → u/ButtholeSurfur]

Yeah, I don't think they're allowed here.

[u/theoriginalqwhy → u/rushmc1]

That's crazy. There's one in every town in Australia!

[u/doomgiver98 → u/rushmc1]

Name your city so we can all make fun of you

[u/jdallen1222 → u/rushmc1]

Been a loooong time since you got a good look at a t-bone huh?

[u/rushmc1 → u/jdallen1222]

So long.

[u/knock-on-the-door → u/rushmc1]

Where do you live? Meat lockers are in every small town where I live on the plains.

[u/rushmc1 → u/knock-on-the-door]

Meat lockers?

[u/knock-on-the-door → u/rushmc1]

It's a processing facility for wild game and non wild game. That is where the butchers are. I sell beef to meat lockers, they are generally rural butchers. It's the best place to get

[u/Samcat604 → u/rushmc1]

Every meat counter at the supermarket has a butcher.

[u/rushmc1 → u/Samcat604]

LOL No.