The Meat Manual Main book
Every cut, and what it is worth
The whole animal, primal by primal. What each cut costs, what it eats like, what to ask the man behind the glass for, and the right heat for every one of them.
Photo of Margret
images/margret-hero.jpg
Seven children. One butcher's wage. Nobody went hungry.
I married a butcher and I fed nine people on what he brought home. Meat every week, and never the expensive end of it. Five books here: how to buy it, how to break it down, and how to cook it so that nothing goes in the bin.
- Know what a cut is worth before you pay for it
- Break down the big pieces yourself
- Feed a family all week on very little
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$47 once · instant download · yours to keep
Order the set
$47 once. No subscription. Yours the minute you pay.
Five books, in your inbox as soon as the payment clears. Read them on a phone while you are standing at the meat counter, or print the pages you use and keep them in the drawer by the stove. Thirty days to change your mind, and you keep the books either way.
The five book set
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The Complete Kitchen Set
Everything I know about buying meat, cutting it up and making it last, written down in the order you would actually use it.
What you get for $47:
- The main book The Meat Manual Every cut on the animal, what it should cost you, what to ask for at the counter and how to cook it. $29
- The Supermarket Cheat Sheet ... what to put in the basket, what to walk past, and how to read what is printed on the label $19
- The Home Butcher's Guide ... buying the big piece and breaking it down yourself, portioned and wrapped for the freezer $19
- Margret's $50 Week Meal Plan ... seven dinners for a family, the shopping list written out, nothing left over but stock $19
- Margret's Sunday Dinners ... the roast, and the three dinners that come out of it before Wednesday $19
- Total value
$105$47
You pay today $47
30Day
Refund
Refund
Cook one thing out of it. If it is no use to you, say so.
Thirty days. Write and tell me it was not what you wanted and the money goes back. No form and no reasons. Keep the books, I am not chasing you for them.
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Every recipe in this book fed at least four people for less than most of you spend on a coffee. I know, because I kept the books.
Sixty years of housekeeping written in the back of a notebook. What went in the pot, what it cost and who it fed. That is where all five of these come from, and that is why I can say it plainly.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Secure checkout ... yours to keep
Not for becoming a butcher.
For buying like one on what you already spend.What you get
Five books. They were written to sit together.
One teaches you the animal, one teaches you the shop, one teaches you the knife, and two put dinner on the table with what the first three got you.
The Supermarket Cheat Sheet
How to buy without getting fooled
Standing in front of the case. What goes in the basket, what to walk past, how to read a date and a label, and what is worth buying in each month of the year.
The Home Butcher's Guide
Buy the big piece, cut it yourself
Taking a whole loin or a shoulder apart on your own table. Portioning, trimming, wrapping and freezing so it comes out in twelve months as good as it went in.
Margret's $50 Week Meal Plan
Seven dinners, one shopping list
A full week for a family, written out in order, with the list to take to the shop. Everything gets used, and what is left goes in the stockpot on Sunday night.
Margret's Sunday Dinners
One roast, four dinners
The roast done properly, and then the order to take it apart in so that by Wednesday nobody at the table has noticed they are still eating Sunday.
Books one to threeHow to buy it and how to cut it. The counter, the case and the knife.
Books four and fiveHow to eat off it all week. The plan, the list and the roast.
Every later editionWhatever I add goes to your inbox at no charge.
On the checkoutAn hour of me talking, if you want it. One time offer, nine dollars.
What is inside
Nine chapters in the main book. Every method in numbered steps.
The channel, put in order. Everything I have shown one piece at a time, written out properly, with the parts that never fit in a video.
5Books
9Chapters
1Shopping list
7Mouths fed
The Whole Animal
Primal by primal, front to back. Where every cut you have heard of comes from, and the twenty you have not.
What It Is Worth
What each cut should cost against the others, so you know when a label is taking you for a fool.
At The Counter
What to say to the man behind the glass, what he keeps in the back, and when to go in.
The Cheap End
Shin, neck, belly, hock and shoulder. The parts that were given away, and what turns them tender.
Salt, Fat And Time
What happens in the day before the meat sees any heat, and why most people skip it.
The Pot And The Oven
Low and slow on an ordinary stove, and what to do with the cuts that fight back.
The Knife
Taking a big piece apart at your own table. Where to cut, where not to, and how to keep the edge.
The Freezer
Buying big and buying once. Wrapping, labelling, and getting it out again as good as it went in.
Nothing Wasted
Stock, dripping, bones, rind and trim. The end of the week, cooked, and usually the best meal of it.
Get all five books
Thirty day money back guarantee. Keep the books either way.
How it is written
The ratio at the top. Then the steps, numbered.
I do not cook by the cup and I would rather you did not either. Every recipe opens with the ratio, so you can scale it to what is in the house and to how many are sitting down. Then the steps in the order you do them, numbered, with nothing left out and nothing dressed up.
It is the same format as The Butcher's Special, if you have that one. My grandson took it from me.
A page out of the meal plan
Shin and barley, for seven
Ratio
1 part meat · 3 parts barley · 6 parts water
- Brown the shin hard in the dripping. Do not crowd the pan or it will steam and you will have grey meat and no flavour.
- Lift it out. Put the onion, carrot and any old celery in the same fat and leave it until it goes soft and sweet.
- Meat back in. Barley in. Water to cover by two fingers.
- Lid on, lowest heat you have, two and a half hours. It does not need you.
- Salt at the end and not before, or the barley stays hard.
Sample page. Layout and wording as it appears in the book.
The method
The saving is not a coupon. It is how you buy and how you cook.
There are three habits underneath all five books. Learn the three and you could work most of the rest out yourself, which is exactly what my mother expected of me.
Buy the cut that needs time
Not the cut that needs nothing. The expensive ones are expensive because they are quick. Time is the one ingredient that has never gone up in price.
Buy it whole and cut it yourself
You are paying a man to do ten minutes of work with a knife. Do the ten minutes. The book shows you where the cuts fall.
Nothing goes in the bin
Not until it has been stock. Bones, peel, crusts, rinds, the green tops off the leeks. Water and a low heat, and it costs you nothing at all.
Photo of Margret
images/margret-about.jpg
Who wrote it
I am eighty six and I still cook every day.
My name is Margret Miller. I married a butcher and I raised seven children on what he brought home, which was a butcher's wage and whatever was left on the board at the end of a Saturday.
Wasting food was not untidy. It was wrong. And there was nothing brave about it, it was simply what a sensible person did.
He taught me the animal because I asked. I could tell you what a shoulder should cost before he had his coat off, and I have never once paid what they wanted for a fillet.
My grandson Frank put me on his channel to talk about the cheap cuts, and people started writing to ask how it was all done. So I have written it down. Five books, in the order you would actually use them.
I am not a chef and I have never worked in a restaurant. What I know is how to feed people well when there is not much, and I do not understand why anybody would want to do it any other way.
Buy what is in season. Cook what you have. Waste nothing.
Questions
Before you order
How do I get the books?
By email, straight after you order, and on the page as soon as you have paid. They open on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and you can print any page you want to keep by the stove.
Is there a printed copy?
No. Printing and posting five books would put the price up several times over for no good reason. Print the pages you use and leave the rest on the phone.
Do I need special equipment?
A heavy pot with a lid, a pan, a sharp knife and an oven. The butchering book asks for one boning knife and a board, and nothing else.
What is the audiobook?
An hour of me talking about the years when all this was worked out. It is offered once, on the checkout, for nine dollars. It is not needed to use the books and you are not missing anything if you skip it.
Is this the same as the videos?
A video is one cut or one dish. This is the whole of it in order, with the numbers written down and the parts I never had time to say on camera.
What if it is not for me?
You have thirty days. Say so and the money goes back, no reason needed, and you keep the books. See the refund policy.
Buy what is in season. Cook what you have. Waste nothing.
That is the whole of it. The five books are the how.
Instant download. Thirty days to change your mind.