lol . I am currently in Philly. But I will make a trip to NYC regularly to the Fulton in the Bronx. Its not all that expensive you just have to get up balls ass early and argue with Asian guys for fish. Other wise go to China town in any city and buy the eels live, just use a nail punch to the eye to peg it down then run your knife along the spine to filet it. I work @ Morimoto's in Philly but I am on occasion at he restaurant in NYC. Job is ok, lot of hours, but it does have its perks. Like buying direct from distributors for meat and veg and such lol great perks when you are trying to eat super clean. Between work, and grad school I am busy as fuck. true I am getting old 30 this Saturday... but I am not dead yet.
Yeah man chicken is still the gold standard, I have a huge supply of it on hand, but I eat a lot of fish. largely due to working in the restaurant I work at, so yeah. But I also eat a lot of game, that shits free basically minus the cost of the brass. Perk of begin slightly redneckish lol and working in the restaurant biz lol.
But yeah try china town and the Fulton Fish market in NYC animal, see all the little Asian guys with red bags with fish, shit is cheaper then you think. BTW go for conger ell they are huge and cheap per pound so yeah and tasty if grilled keep skin on its high in good fats and tasty as all fuck, and full of essential vit & mineral. Trust me I understand the budget mate, but you are right I am fairly established. The key to cheap is to not shop at the super market try farmers markets, fish markets ect ect go direct to suppliers, they will sell to you. Other thing is buy whole " primal" cuts and cut your portions steaks chops ect ect directly from the whole cut, bag and freeze that shit. There are some good cheap e-books on whole animal butchery. And make friends with a hunter, some times they have a shit load of meat from a given animal.
For example in New York and Pa, hog hunting is year round no limit, as the feral ones are wreaking havoc on farm lands, most times a farmer will let you hunt them for free, other wise they pay to have them killed and removed from their property. A heavy week end and you can have a few hogs, @ 180-200lbs a pop that's a good amount of meat, organic and well fed from a variety of sources.Offal is another great source of cheap high value food, tongue, heart, liver cheap tasty and great sources of protein and vitamins and minerals. But I digress.
