5 Types Of Meat That Butchers Won't Buy At The Grocery Store

Looking for some ground beef or a bone-in pork chop? You might want to avoid the supermarket. Here's why.

If you’re a meat eater shopping for dinner ingredients, heading to the butcher counter or refrigerated aisle at the grocery store is often the most convenient and affordable way to stock up on proteins. But according to professional butchers, the meat quality available in a grocery store or supermarket often falls below the standard that you’ll find at butcher shops that specialize in well-sourced animal products.

“The main difference between a butcher shop and a grocery store is the attention to detail that a butcher shop provides, beginning with prioritizing sourcing quality over the price,” said Mike Saperstein, co-owner of Sunshine Provisions in South Florida.

As Saperstein suggests, buying meat from specialty butchers can be a pricey endeavor. However, James Peisker, co-founder of Porter Road, reminds us the higher price tags exist because “small butcher shops all over the country do a lot of extra work to seek out farms that take care of the land and the animals, which makes a better-for-you and better-tasting product.”

Specialty butchers also have the skill set to cut meat more precisely than their grocery store counterparts. “The skilled tradespeople have worked hard to know and understand the different cuts,” Peisker said. “That knowledge and quality should be worth paying a little extra and supporting.”

When we spoke with professional butchers, they generally acknowledged that most American shoppers will buy meat at the grocery store at some point, and that they can generally get satisfactory products that way. But for the following five meat cuts and meat-related items, butchers urge you to steer clear of the supermarket and visit a butcher shop instead.