Mail-order meat ...

At home we buy our meat from a wholesale butcher and do much of the cutting/packing ourselves. 

During one stage of his varied career, Nick worked at a meatworks, so is in charge of selecting the best cuts - and is usually given the slicing/dicing missions as well.  I pack meal-size portions into plastic bags and sometimes freeze steak and home-made marinade together.  We save a lot of money this way.

On our previous trips to Yowah, I created menu plans and we purchased meat from the wholesale butcher, paying a little extra to have it cryovaced (for longer keeping).  There was no way we could bring ten week's worth of meat and/or groceries with us this trip and given how rushed we were in the lead-up to departure, we actually brought very little away with us.  It's an interesting experience to live as the locals do.

We arrived at Yowah a bit over four weeks ago.  On the way in we stopped at the Cunnamulla butcher and bought a few items, carefully chosen as there wasn't a huge amount of fridge-room available.  I made a phone order nearly two weeks later, which arrived as part of my "Handy shopping".  (I should note that the butcher did spell both my names correctly)!

In between times, we've bought meat from the caravan park shop who buy pre-packed/cryovaced selections from Angliss Meats in Toowoomba (more than 800km away).  It was interesting to see that FoodWorks at Thargomindah also stock Angliss Meats.  (There is no butcher in Thargomindah).

I ordered more meat from Cunnamulla yesterday afternoon.  It arrived by mail this morning, in two small foam boxes that were taped together. 

I wasn't exactly sure what I'd ordered, beyond asking for an $80 pack.  By way of explanation, Warrego Butchery does not have a website or FaceBook page.  The pack contents are displayed on the counter wall but there are no copies available.  Each time I've rung, the connection has been quite crackly so yesterday I gave my order quickly and decided the surprise package would be good for us!

What did we get for $80?  4 large thin-cut pork chops, 6 thinly-cut lamb loin chops, 12-13 sausages, 500g of mince, about 1.5kg of rump steak and probably a similar quantity of chicken breast fillet. 

We are heading into Cunnamulla next week, so plan to call into the butcher for some in-person shopping.  We'll try to remember to copy down the meat pack options for future reference!