Wednesday 19 December 2012

I'm Baffled.


I am particularly fond of roast lamb. At the weekends we often roast a gigot, and during the week a whole poitrine d'agneau might be rolled and stuffed, or used to create either a tagine or an Irish stew. There is little of the lamb that I don't enjoy.

Last week I bought two frozen legs of lamb. They both weighed 1.9kgs, and they each cost me €15.50. However, had I bought the same sized 'fresh' legs, they would have cost around €28; almost TWICE the price.

The difference is that the frozen ones travel 20,000 Kms, all the way from New Zealand; and the fresh ones come from a  €5 trip down the road. 

Strange, you might say; especially as New Zealand has no subsidies, whereas the inefficient European farmer wouldn't get out of bed unless a hefty subsidy was involved.

OK, I have to agree that the fresh product is possibly more tender than the frozen, but cooking technique should be able to cope with that, and, frankly, it shouldn't affect the price. 

I shall continue to buy my frozen NZ gigot, mostly as a protest. Our taxes pay for EU agricultural subsidies, and the finished product is always sold at a serious premium; meaning that we, the idiot buyers (if indeed we do buy), pay extra TWICE. 

If subsidies are involved, shouldn't the end price reflect that? 

Viva NZ frozen Lamb!



26 comments:

  1. Viva New Zealand lamb indeed! It is very good, I can vouch for that as the animals are grown right here in Tararua. 100% free range, minimal intervention. And you get this top quality meat cheaper than we do!

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    1. I buy these NZ frozen 'gigots' quite often, and they've always been excellent.

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  2. Meat prices are crazy - the Sunday roast is fast becoming a thing of the past - you have to pay a fortune to get a decent sized joint. When we reared our own lambs I used to have a freezer full - it used to cost about £9 per lamb for slaughter - if I costed it out by supermarket prices then my home-reared lamb would be worth more than the crown jewels.

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    1. Didn't they used to say that if your bought an entire Mini as 'spare parts', it would cost several millions!

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  3. That picture makes my mouth water Cro.
    I don't mind where it comes from truth be told, as I now just assume that somewhere along the line I am paying more than I should.....for the meat, for the gas to cook it, for the water used to wash up etc., I focus on the good...the look and the taste!

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  4. Oh there you go again, applying common sense and logic to European politics when all you have to remember is that the politician's, farmer's and corporations pockets must be filled somehow.

    The Japanese used subsidies correctly to break into the Western markets with cheap cars transported 10,000 parsecs and look who owns Land-Rover, Bentley, Aston Martin, Jaguar and so forth now! Oh, hang on - that's India and China. Hmm. Let me think about this.

    p.s. serves you all right if you're fleeced for eating sheep...

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  5. Lamb is my favourite. I've never really understood why it is so expensive given that sheep look like they're a low maintenance farm animal that often just rough pasture. Perhaps a farmer will correct me on that one! x

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  6. Most of the time we buy NZ leg of lamb and have found it to be most excellent. While I think the best in the world is Welsh, I just can't afford it most of the time. From time to time, however, we will fresh British lamb on a special offer -- the last time legs were going for 9 pounds! I'm hoping to find a good deal somewhere for this Sunday!

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  7. It doesn't often appear on the shelves here in Angola but when it does, the lamb is from NZ. And it is always delicious! If every shelf of every supermarket in the world has NZ lamb, just how many sheep are there in NZ?

    Interestingly, I can buy Cadbury's chocolate cheaper here than in UK. Also whisky. Cigarettes are 60 pence a packet of 20. A litre of diesel is 40 pence. Yet vehicle parts are three times as expensive as in Europe. American car parts are four or five times as expensive here as they are in the States. Stocking my shop I notice that it is cheaper for me to buy beef imported from Brazil and chicken from the Lebanon. Tinned peanuts come from China (although they grow in profusion here). Rice comes from Vietnam and milk from the EU. I can even buy Kerrygold butter cheaper than in Europe.

    If Global Warming is man made, then it's protagonists have missed the point. The manipulation of trade tariffs, subsidies and import-export regimes have resulted in millions of ships, ´planes, trucks and trains travelling all around the world to, figuratively, deliver sand to the Arabs and snow to the Eskimos.

    Still, I don't suppose sheep farmer's in NZ are complaining and, I have to confess, when I do lay my hands on a leg of NZ lamb, neither am I!

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    1. A litre of diesel for 40 pence!!! People would die of shock, here, if it was that cheap.

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  8. Lamb is my favourite meat but is only bought on special occasions as it is so expensive. I've never been able to understand why British/French lamb is so much dearer compared to NZ, it's just crazy. (That photo is making me drool, do you roast the potatoes with the meat wrapped in foil?)

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    1. I'm sorry to admit that it's a stock photo; I forgot to photograph the one we just ate. Mine looked exactly the same (except for the foil).

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  9. Cro,

    It is the price of whisky and cigarettes that's killing me!

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  10. I was never all that fond of lamb. I don't mind the taste but have never liked the smell of it cooking.

    Yes, it does seem crazy that something shipped from miles away is so much cheaper than something just down the road.

    Tom/Hippo, no wonder why you keep smoking! when i stopped in 1989, the last pack of fags i bought were a tad over 85 p, and i winced at the price. Now, the price here per pack is what i often paid for a carton.

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  11. I know an Irish farmer who bought sheep in July for fifty Euros each in the summer. His neighbour told him this week they are now worth ten Euros. There are some very poor European farmers out there. People always go for cheap prices rather than quality. That's why China is booming and there are 25 million unemployed in Europe. I personally blame the Euro - it's worthless.

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  12. Yum....I'll just pack a bag and be there in about.....?

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  13. This post has now made me want to finally try roast lamb...

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  14. Shades of my childhood. There was mar-jar-ine (exaggerated pronunciation) on our table because my father didn't support farm subsidies. However, we children had milk and he had cream for his coffee.

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  15. No doubt by now your Aussie living family will have mentioned that lamb is most Australians favorite but for some reason has become so expensive you almost need a mortgage to buy it.I always buy a couple of legs when they are on special and we just love it done in the webber.In our household we also love cutlets crumbed at home.lamb used to be poor mans food ,now it is just for the middle income and up,those on low wages would not be able to even consider it,strange too how when we were kids Chicken was for Christmas now it is an every day food item.

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  16. This is exactly what I was (am) about to post on. It is years since I had a roast of lamb (until this week). As Carole said about Australia it used to be the poor mans food.

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  17. I bought some frozen New Zealand lamb. It cooked beautifully (and was less than half the price of Welsh lamb)

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  18. I think I'd still rather buy local and pay a bit more for it...it is nice knowing I can visit the farm, the money stays local and the amount of fuel wasted shipping food around the planet is just mind boggling...we should probably eat less of it too! (she says after placing half a Highland steer in her freezer; it came from three miles down the road though!)

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    1. I should say that this is not a subsidized farm however! We ended up paying after processing $2.75 a pound. Lamb is more dear here as well because there aren't too many sheep farmers and I'm too attached to mine to eat them (they make great wool too)!

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  19. It makes too much sense to suggest that farmers subsidized by taxpayers should sell their products to those taxpayers for a decent price. Kinda like expecting "trickle-down" economics to work. (That lamb looks scrumptioous.)

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  20. Looks delicious. I always buy the frozen too. If you know how to prepare, you won't know the difference.

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