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Comment by justin66 | Hacker News Reader

You can always just go to a butcher.

In order to do so, one has to have a local butcher who is still in operation.

For many, any such local butchers were driven out of business years ago by the lower cost options in the supermarkets produced by the bulk producers, so the option to "just go to a butcher" is no longer available, at any cost.

I’ve never lived in a city or suburb that doesn’t have one locally. Is it a small town thing?

It's available. Just be prepared for Boars Head price shock. Hell, the butcher probably carries Boars Head.

Butchers are found throughout much of the US, in at least in urban/suburban areas. If your only local food option is WalMart or Dollar Store, you might have a long trip before you, though with a chest freezer, and an icebox and dry ice for the trip itself, meat tends to freeze and preserve well.

I recently ate hot dogs from a local butcher.

Oh my God -- so much better.

Definitely go to a local butcher. You have no idea how much better it is. Comparatively, even the seemingly high quality supermarket Hot dogs taste like water plastic with salt, compared to the delicious meaty spongy texture sausage sticks that are local butcher hot dogs. It's seriously a whole lot better.

18 months ago when I moved cross country to the Atlanta area I was delighted and excited to find out that my house was 10 min from a real butcher! OMG, what I always wanted. Then I talked to the counter man (no butcher on site), bought the meats, and then asked some questions about the curing process, and discovered that the reason the meats tasted like Boar's Head is that butcher shop chain (3 stores) explicitly taste competed against Boar's Head. To the point of being "nitrate-free", oops celery is in the label.

No point paying the premium (I would have paid double for authentic charcuterie), and then I tried to buy a goose during the Holidays and nope, can't do that. Haven't been back.

Keep looking around. In my small town in the middle of nowhere, we have two legit butchers that draw from regional small farms. In any large city I have to assume there are options available. That stated - if there is any way you can participate in a CSA / connect directly with the rancher, I find that the meat is not only superior quality but the prices often are as well. Case in point - my partner recently bought ground beef at Walmart that was $3/pound higher than what I buy from a long-time family friend who raises his beef in an absolutely splendid grass-covered mountain paradise.

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