High steaks: best supermarket meat

2nd December 2020 | Eativity editors
High steaks: best supermarket meat

While you’re always better off buying meat from your local butcher if you’re after the best quality, many people find the convenience and cut prices of the supermarket meat aisle quicker and cheaper. The big supermarket chains compete fiercely with each other in an attempt to offer the most competitive prices, but despite this endless push to win the consumer dollar through “low price always” and “down down” deals, costs rarely differ that much. However, the quality of the meat on offer can vary between chains.

To find out which chain is winning in the supermarket meat wars when it comes to satisfied customers, consumer review and comparison website Canstar Blue’s annual meat awards survey consumers to find out what meat products they’re buying and how they rate it.

Canstar surveyed 3088 Australians to find out which, if any, supermarket meat products they’d bought and eaten in the preceding four weeks. Survey respondents were then invited to identify and score their purchased products on a scale of 0 to 10 for overall satisfaction, while feedback was also recorded on freshness, taste and value for money.

best supermarket meat
61% of those surveyed buy meat regularly from supermarkets.

Some survey findings from this year’s awards

1. Nearly two-thirds of people surveyed said they buy meat in their regular grocery shop.
2. 48% have tried meat from multiple supermarkets
3. 1 in 5 have been disappointed with the quality of the meat they purchased.

Winners for 2020

This year’s customer satisfaction survey saw 21 different supermarket meat categories reviewed and rated, covering beef, chicken, lamb, pork and seafood.

Beef

ALDI was rated overall champion of supermarket beef for the third year in a row. ALDI also rated highest for beef sausages, steak and mince for the third year in a row. Coles scored the top rating in beef burgers, while Woolworths won for the best beef roast.

Best supermarket meat: chicken
The chook category was the only one that ALDI didn’t win overall.

Chicken

Coles won Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customer Award for chicken in 2020, plucking ALDI from the top spot. ALDI and Coles tied for the best chicken breast, while Woolworths and Coles tied for best chicken wings. ALDI rated best for chicken thighs and chicken roast, while Coles took out the top spot in the chicken drumsticks stakes.

Lamb

ALDI and Woolworths were joint winners of Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customer Award for lamb in 2020. Woolies scored top ratings for lamb cutlets and lamb mince, while ALDI won best lamb chops and lamb roast.

Best supermarket meat: pork
The average Australian eats 44 sausages a year.

Pork

ALDI was rated best pork for the third year running in 2020, and also scored highest for pork chops and pork roast. Coles was ranked number one for pork sausages, while Woolies won top marks for its pork mince.

Fish & seafood

ALDI was deemed the best catch for fish, an inaugural category for 2020. Making it 12 awards out of 21, ALDI also picked up the title for best seafood.

Australians are the sixth largest per capita consumers of beef in the world
Australians are the sixth largest per capita consumers of beef in the world.

Finding good quality meat on a budget

“The quality and price of meat products in-store play a significant role in where many Aussies choose to do their supermarket shopping,” says Head of Canstar Blue, Megan Doyle. “But it’s also an area where consumers will cut back if they need to save money, so they’ll want to know that they’re getting the best they can for what they can afford.

“The purpose of our research was to determine which supermarket consumers should consider going to if the quality of the meat on offer is one of the main motivations for where they shop. ALDI’s dominance in these ratings is clear.”