Managing the Meat Counter

Every Instacart order is different. But orders with items from the meat or seafood counters, especially if you aren’t familiar with all of the options available, can be tricky.

Here are a few tips and tricks that Shoppers have found valuable.

Making Replacements

If you need to replace a product without the customer’s input or approval try to pay attention to the details of the customer’s original request.

Consider the following when replacing a product for your customer:

• Labels (organic, grass-fed, etc.)
• Cut or use
• Weight and quantity
• Price

Try to stay as consistent to the original item requested as possible, and limit changes to these major categories.

Fresh vs. Frozen

Outside of items explicitly listed as farm raised, much of the seafood you see in the grocery store is previously frozen. For example, the fishmonger buys shrimp in large quantities and then defrosts them as needed to sell at the fish counter. This means that if you need to make a replacement, getting frozen shrimp is perfectly OK — just ask your customer if they’ll have time to defrost the shrimp before they need to serve it.

Any freezer burn? Best to avoid if possible. Freezer burn indicates that the seafood have either partially thawed before being refrozen, or have been poorly handled during their freeze, both of which are bad for texture and flavor.

Ask the butcher or fishmonger for help

If the item is not on display, ask the butcher if they can cut what you need. If they can’t cut what your customer asked for ask for suggested alternatives.

The butcher is an expert — they are extremely knowledgeable and can often make suggestions about replacements if needed. You can event let the customer know the replacement was recommended by the butcher.

We hope these tips and tricks help you as you maneuver your way through the meat department!