Will Grocery Stores Grind Meat For You? -

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Will Grocery Stores Grind Meat For You? Yes, some grocery stores will grind meat for you. At your request of course.

Most grocery stores have an in-house butcher or butchers that help cut the meat and prep it for customers to purchase. Some grocery stores even go as far as raising their own livestock for consumption.

Therefore, on your next trip to the grocery store if you need ground meat and you want to get it done while you’re there you can just make enquiries if they offer those services.

Top 5 Grocery stores that will grind meat for you

Looking for a grocery store that can grind meat for you? Look no further, below are 5 grocery stores that will grind meat for you at your request.

Whole Foods

Whole food is a chain of retail stores that operates out of Texas, that deals in food and farm produce, they boast of being the top marketers in 100% organic foods, all this means is that there are no added preservatives in the food they sell, and all the crops are cultivated without the help of chemicals.

Most of the stores have butchers that process the meat and all you have to do is to locate the closest one near you and put in your request.

HEB Grocery Co

This is a privately owned chain of retail stores that has over 300 branches across the United States, although it may not be available in all locations, wherever you are and you find one of these stores, you are guaranteed your custom blend of ground meat whenever you walk into one of these stores. For a price of course, in case that was not clear. No one is giving you meat for free.

The Kroger

Although this is a chain of supermarkets, they have a grocery store section and their grocery stores provide premium meat grinding services for the small business owner and regular customers too of course.

If there’s a Kroger store near you, you can get your custom grind of meat, whatever you need ground meat for, they got you.

Cost Co

An American multi corporation that deals with organic foods, if you need unadulterated meat without preservatives, fresh off the farm, the Cost co. is the way to go.

They provide you with an assortment of meat at a regulated price, if you’re on a budget and need ground meat, Cost co. got you.

Walmart

Amongst the stores mentioned, this should be the most popular because these days, it almost seems like there is a Walmart in every city you’re in, although they mainly trade in articles of clothing and Accessories— at Walmart grocery store if you need your meat grounded, their in-house butcher will get it done for you at a cost.

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Grocery stores grinding meat – Things to take note of

If they do offer grinding meat, here are two things to look out for—

Custom blend

If the grocery store you frequent offers meat grinding services, you can always ask for a custom blend of meat.

Let’s say you need a blend of pork and tenderloins, at your request the in-house butcher at the grocery store can grind them both for you, depending on the percentage or ratio to which you want them. There are several advantages of getting a custom blend at the grocery store—

Advantages

You get a fresh batch of meat that has been ground at your desired ratio and consistency.
You get to choose the parts of the meat you want to grind, if you want to grind chicken with rabbit. That’s completely up to you, as long as they have the meat available.
You choose the fat content. It’s no secret that the right amount of fat in meat is the difference between a juicy cutlet and a dry piece of meat.
You can get it home delivered, some grocery stores offer home delivery services at an extra cost. Although this service is usually offered by grocery stores that strictly deal in meat and farm produce.

Disadvantages

There’s usually a line at most grocery stores that offer custom blend meat grinding services, you typically need to be there on time to place your order. Therefore, if you’re in a hurry, I suggest you get the pre-ground meat and be on your way.
It is super expensive getting a custom grind, I don’t know the details on why it’s pricey but it usually is.

Pre-ground meat

There are pre-ground meat which you find in the meat section at the grocery store, and although they may have been ground in the store, due to packaging and branding factors, some things are added to the meat to give them a longer shelf life.

I’m not saying it’s terrible, depending on the grocery store, pre-ground meat is just as good as the custom blend. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of getting grocery store per-ground meat—

Advantages

It saves you time, if you’re in a hurry or you came to the grocery store on a quick errand from your restaurant or a barbecue you’re hosting, then the best move would be to go for the pre-ground meat and be out as fast as you can.
Cheaper, getting the pre-ground cut is usually cheaper than when you request for a custom blend of meat.
Longevity, when the meat is packaged, there are ingredients added to give it a long shelf life, it can last in your fridge for up to 14 days.

Disadvantages

Usually, the preservatives added to the meat to prolong the shelf life affects the taste of the meat when it’s cooked.
Different parts, although you get more of the pre-ground meat, it is usually a blend of several “cheap” parts of the meat, including the connective tissues. This will affect the overall texture of the meat, and may make it chewy.

How to grind your own meat?

Grinding meat isn’t as difficult as most people make it to be, with the right tools and/or devices, you can grind your own meat in the comfort of your home. You can either use a meat grinder if you own one, or use a blender— which should be easily accessible.

Here is a brief step by step guide to grind your meat in the comfort of your home.

Meat prep— This is the most vital part of the grinding because it’s the…. meat? You first get all the kinds of meat you want to grind, and cut off as much of the skin, surface fat and connective tissues as you can. Cut the meat into bits that can fit into your blender or the tube of your meat grinder, the third and final step of the meat prep is to thoroughly wash it and refrigerate so it firms up a bit.
Blade and Gears— If you’re using a blender, pop the blade into the fridge for a bit so it cools and does not thaw the meat as you blend, if you’re using a meat grinder, do that same for the gears.
Grind time— Grind in small batches, if you don’t want to ruin the blade or gears of the device you’re using, don’t put too much of the meat at the same time. Take your time, and as you blend keep the meat you’ve not ground in the fridge. When you’re done, use the meat as you need, you’ve earned it.

Here is a perfect meat grinder for your kitchen countertop -— Weston Pro Series #8 Meat Grinder.

5 Reasons to grind your own meat

You can’t deny that there are merits to grinding your own meat in the comfort of your home at your own pace.

Here are five reasons you should consider grinding your meat yourself instead of at your local grocery store.

Texture

When you grind your meat yourself, you decide what you want to use, and that helps determine the texture of the meat.

If you like your patties chewy, you can get it done at your discretion without judgment from anyone, if you like it super tender that it almost melts in your mouth, it’s on you, with the right tweaks you can get it done. The texture of your ground meat is yours to choose.

Hygiene

In the comfort of your home, you can wash the meat you want to use as much as you want to ensure it’s properly cleaned, at the butchers there may be a lot of other customers and that will make them rush the cleaning process because they’re done in large batches.

Also, the grinding tools may not be properly cleaned, containing meat grounded from the previous day or even weeks. In your house, you clean all your devices as you see fit.

Cheaper

It is cheaper grinding the meat in your house by yourself if you have the right tools, you don’t have to pay anyone to do it.

All you gotta do is go to your butcher and get the cut of meat you want to use, go home and get to grinding.

If you have a rapport with your local butcher, he can always give you the best cuts of meat daily at a discounted rate.

Saves time

Instead of taking a long trip down to the grocery store and then waiting in line to place your “ground meat” order.

All you have to do is look in your fridge if you’re jonesing for a burger, get the meat you have, wash them, cut into bits and get to grinding. You can be done in less than an hour with the right commitment.

Richer

When you grind your meat yourself, you get to decide the amount of quality meat you want to grind, and also the kind of seasoning you want to use.

The overall quality of the end product is miles richer than what you get at the grocery store, well, it depends on you knowing what you’re doing. It takes a level of skill, if you aren’t quite there yet, keep at it, you’ll be a pro with practice.

FAQS

Why is supermarket meat so red?

The meat in grocery stores that is “red” is probably red meat, meat cuts like Beef are known as red meat while Chicken is White meat.

Although some grocery stores use preservatives that help enhance the colour to make it more appealing to look at to attract more customers.

If you need fresh meat without added preservatives, you should visit your local butcher and form a bond with him. Trust me.

Do grocery stores cut meat?

The butchers at grocery stores will cut meat for you to any size you want per your request, they will debone a chicken or any poultry bird at all. They also make sausages if you need them, all you gotta do is place an order ahead of time.

Will Whole Foods deliver meat to you?

No, they won’t deliver meat to you. However, there are services that you can look up that will run menial errands for you whenever you want for a small fee.

If you need meat from Whole Foods then you should probably leave your house and head to one of their stores.

What can I ask a Butcher to do?

A butcher offers a variety of services, at your local butcher you can get fresh cuts of a variety of meat, from Poultry to Pork, Butchers also sell Sausages, Bacon, Salami, etc.

Some butchers also sell the meat cooked, whether it’s roast beef, a rotisserie chicken or a brisket. Depending on the butcher you can get it.