Meat and the Supermarket
 

My local supermarket only sells "lean" and "very lean" ground beef. They proudly display the low amount of fat in all of their ground beef. The butcher is also trimming every possible little bit of fat from all of the meat.

Is this a universal problem? Has anyone tried complaining about wanting more fat in their meat?

The 80/20 ground beef is not only cheaper here, but really adds flavor on the grill. In some supermarkets you can talk to the meat person and get them to make a special cut for you. That means shopping when they are at work (9-5 I think) and catching them not busy. Most are more then willing to accomidate though because it is good customer relations and means you'll be back to shop there again.

You may want to try to build a rapport with your butcher so that when you make your trip to the store, he will know you and grant your request. It is generally not a problem when a butcher is asked to make special cuts.

It seems to be a fairly universal phenomenon as the country is filled with fat-phobic people. Most of the supermarkets in my area also boast of how closely trimmed their cuts of meat are, although I can still get regular fatty hamburger if I want it.
You can try complaining or just asking if you can get a cut of meat that hasn't been trimmed. Most supermarkets want the customer to be happy and if the customer wants their beef untrimmed, they'll usually provide it for you as long as they do the trimming there.
OTOH, I asked about getting a pork roast that way at one supermarket and was told that they don't trim the meat there and that it comes to them that way already, so I was out of luck in that case (was hoping for some pork fat to make cracklings out of).
You can always ask. The worst that will happen is that you'll get some strange looks and the best is that you'll get your meat the way you like it. :)

grind your own
 

Heya

A trick I learned from Alton Brown: buy a nice chuck roast, cut it into cubes and pulse it up 5-8 times in a food processor. Then you can keep all of the fat that comes on the meat -- though I can't say what % that amounts to, it makes a really tasty burger.

moth

Look for a cheaper grocery store
 

Hard if there is only one, but I have several to pick from. And the cheaper the store, overall, the higher the fat content in their ground beef. My local Food Lion also has the best house-brand pork rinds.

Ah, yes ...
 

I've noticed this too here in Australia. The supermarkets are (after many many years) getting right into the low fat rut with incredible enthusiasm - and now I can't buy my chicken breasts with their skin on!!! (Where do all those stripped skins go, I wonder? Is there a big room full of fatty chicken breast skins???)

Anyway, lean meat just gives me all the more excuse to have a bit more of that heavy cream in my coffee - addng fat isn't a real problem. ;)

Try a butcher at a meat market maybe? Our meat market here is way cheaper than the grocery store and tons better. You can get anything you like any way.

Looking for fat in all the wrong places...
 

I too hated the lean tasteless meat I got from my usual grocery store & started looking for someplace new.

I was lucky enough to find 2 places. The first actually bills itself as a farmer's market but also has a fantastic meat market. The other is a pager store! Yes, it sells pagers, cell phones & last week had wonderful, well-marbled porterhouse steaks for $1.50/lb.!

It pays to keep your eyes & ears open when you're looking for some good meat!

Ha ha ha :p

You should all come here. Ground meat is about 50/50 fat meat (if you're lucky) - it could have more fat!