Where to buy decent food that doesn't cost an arm in Dublin?

buccaneer89

I am wondering where do people buy their food, especially fruits, vegetables and meat, that are good quality and doesn't cost an arm, a leg and your kidneys?

I feel that what you can buy in normal supermarkets is pure garbage, fruits and vegetables in Lidl, Tesco & co taste like nothing and meat when cooked drops 10 liters of injected water.

As an example I remember that peppers used to have a strong flavour but nowadays they don't have a taste at all.

I have mixed results buying in chinese, indian, polish and romanian shops.

For example potatoes in polish and romanian shops especially the white ones are a good deal.

For meat I still haven't found a place that sells good meat at an affordable place. Butchers tend to charge you 6~10€ for a kilo of mince...

Is there something like a cooperative of meat where you can go and buy big pieces of meat skipping people on the distribution chain? Like almost going to the farmer and paying him for 5 kilos of beef.
I know there is one fruit and vegetable market where I have been and food seemed of good quality there when I bought. But it was more oriented towards big quantities. 10kg of onions, 20kg of potatoes.

Dial Hard

buccaneer89 wrote: »

I feel that what you can buy in normal supermarkets is pure garbage, fruits and vegetables in Lidl, Tesco & co taste like nothing and meat when cooked drops 10 liters of injected water.

I don't shop in Tesco but I can't say that has been my experience of the fresh food in Lidl and Aldi. Buy local & seasonal as much as possible and you'll notice a big difference in the taste. There's no point in buying strawberries in the middle of winter that have been picked unripe and flown halfway across the world and then wondering why they don't taste of anything.

Food storage can have a large effect on taste too. Much like cheese, fruit or veg straight from the fridge tastes of nothing. Only store stuff that actually needs to go in there in the fridge and let it come up to room temperature before you eat it, particularly if it's something you're going to enjoy raw. I've posted this here loads of times but it really is dead handy. I have it stuck on the fridge door.



Again, I haven't had any issue with meat releasing a lot of water when cooking. I have heard that the Tesco Value range can be bad for this alright, but imo meat is one of those items where you really do get what you pay for, especially in terms of things like chicken fillets, pre-cut breast pieces, etc. Conversely, though, cuts like thighs can be really good value but cost buttons simply because there's virtually no market for them here. Irish people are obsessed with chicken breast meat. Some supermarket meat is excellent, a lot of it is rubbish. Shop around a few butchers til you find one you like, prices can vary wildly. And lastly, if you know anyone who shoots, ask them about buying game when it's in season. Just make sure they're going to dress it for you first!