Cost of living driving demand for homekill, local butchers

Aaron Pohatu. Photo / Alexa Cook

By Alexa Cook of RNZ

As red meat prices soar, people are looking to their local butcher to get more bang for their buck, buying less or heading out hunting.

Cheaper cuts like mince and sausages can now cost more than $20 a kilogram in the supermarket, with the price of beef steak rising nearly 25% in a year.

One Havelock North butchery owner says he’s seeing a lot more new faces through the door, as people turn back to the local butchers and old-school thrifty recipes to avoid supermarket prices.

Ben Andrews from The Classic Butcher told RNZ the cost of living hadn’t put people off meat entirely, but it had made people think twice about what they were buying.

“I think it’s a case of people buying a bit less, but they’re buying better quality and getting more bang for their buck, not just going for volume,” he said.

“If they are getting steak, it’s maybe once a week as opposed to three times a week.”

And he’d noticed some old-school, thrifty habits making a comeback.

“Through the winter we’ve sold a lot of bones for people making their own stocks,” he said.

“Compared to pre-made stocks at the supermarket, for half the price you can buy the bones and make your own stock – you get twice as much and it’s healthier.”

He said shanks, gravy beef and shin on the bone were all more affordable, and could be just as tender and tasty if slow-cooked.

If in doubt about what to buy and how to cook it, Andrews urged people to talk to their local butcher.

“We wear an apron and are covered in blood and stuff, but we want to help people have the best meals they can have,” he said.

‘They’re definitely going for cheaper cuts’

In the rural town of Waipawa in Central Hawke’s Bay, butchery owner Annabel Tapley-Smith, too, had seen customers’ choices changing over the past six months.

“They’re definitely going for those cheaper cuts, the mince or casserole steaks, and we’re getting customers that may have not shopped with us before,” she said.

People were noticing butcheries provided higher quality for comparable prices to what they were finding in supermarkets.

“And they’re coming back because of the quality,” she said.

Annabel Tapley-Smith. Photo / Alexa Cook

The biggest difference, though, had been in sales of the butchery’s ready-made meals.

“Single-income households, the elderly, or people on a really tight budget are actually buying those ready meals because you can get a good serving with all the vegetables in it, for $15.”

Production out of their kitchen this winter had tripled, she said.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing; the small business had to let one staff member go and were tightening up on spending wherever they could.

“A couple of our butchers finish early or they may start a bit later ... everyone is dropping an hour or picking up an hour here – we’re having to be really mindful of how we are operating,” she said.

Tapley-Smith said they were in a unique position as the butchery’s meat was supplied by her and her husband’s farm, Patangata Station, so the higher meat prices were actually beneficial for that side of their business.

Waipawa Butchery's ready made meals. Photo / Alexa Cook

Cost of living is ‘out the gate’

Hawke’s Bay homekill butcher Aaron Pohatu has 20 years’ experience in the industry, and six years ago he opened up his own homekill meat processing business from his backyard in Clive.

Demand for his skills had skyrocketed recently.

“It’s grown massively, I’m definitely busier than ever,” he told RNZ.

“Cost of living is out the gate. Meat is the most expensive I’ve ever seen it. The price of meat in supermarket ... everyone now knows this is just horrendous.”

He said with people feeling the pinch of the economy, they were more inclined to go hunting, eat the meat they could shoot and bring it to him for processing.

The abundance of deer in the nearby Ruahine, Kaweka Ranges and neighbouring farmland was also keeping him busy.

Aaron Pohatu. Photo / Alexa Cook

He said for those who could get their hands on wild or farmed meat it’s a much cheaper option.

It costs about $30 to $40 for him to bone out a deer, around $8 a kg to make sausages and $5 a kg for mince.

He was also a keen hunter himself, and said in tough times like this, giving away meat to those who needed it was a good feeling.

“Family and friends around me, they all get it, but there’s also people I know who are struggling and I’ll go, ‘Here, have this’.

“It always comes back in some other form, I give it away and then next thing someone is dropping off something they have and I don’t – like crayfish and fish,” he said.

Aaron Pohatu making sausages. Photo / Alexa Cook

it was all about talking to locals.

“There are people on farms that are shooting deer, let them know that you’re really keen to get your hands on a venison and try some of this stuff,” he said.

‘We have to suck it up’ - Mad Butcher

While community butchers were seeing an uptick thanks to high meat prices, it was proving a challenge for large retailer, the Mad Butcher.

Owner Michael Morton explained margins were being squeezed as meat prices were constantly increasing, sometimes by 80 cents to $1 a kilogram a week.

“Red meat prices are at an all-time high and going up every week, so it’s hard to keep on top of from a retail point of view,” he said.

“You can’t keep changing your prices on a weekly basis so sometimes we have to suck it up.”

It was becoming tougher to offer customers specials, “because the cost prices are so high you wouldn’t consider it to be special”.

Like other butchers, they were also seeing an increase in people through the door - but people were spending less.

Homekill steak. Photo / Alexa Cook

“They’re buying less red meat than previously, and buying more pork and chicken because it’s based on price,” he said.

Morton said the red meat increases were being influenced by export markets and land-use changes.

“It’s all driven by supply and demand – a lot of our meat goes overseas, and there’s been a lot of dairy and forestry conversions so there’s a lot less stock on the ground and a lot less meat to go around,” he said.

He hoped meat prices would start improving through spring and summer, as farmers sold more animals.

“Summer is always the best time... more barbeques and more meat eating ... and the stock is more plentiful,” he said.

-RNZ