I buy occasionally when I get some sort of sandwich craving :-) As a single person, I rarely cook a roast beef, ham or a turkey (or even a turkey breast). But it depends entirely on the purveyor. It has to come from a better deli counter. Nothing that comes presliced or prepackaged. I'm not convinced those sort of of deli meats are even real meat!

Occasionally also and only nitrates free, which has a very short life. A neighbor recently introduced me to nitrate free packaged ham from Sams. Very good, ck if out.

Martha, my experience was much like yours. The only deli meat I buy is head cheese, but very infrequently. On the other hand, my grandchildren will not eat a turkey sandwich from a leftover bird. They will only eat that slimy stuff from the deli.

I grew up on the East Coast and there were at least 4 Delis in my little town of 5,000. There was a wonderful German deli about a 1/4 of a mile from my house....and as my mother would say "in a pinch, we can always have deli for dinner".
They had sliced black forest ham and another kind of ham that was called boiled ham and turkey and roast beef and Knock and Knack and Brat wursts and pickled pigs feet and braunschweiger and head cheese and the best potato salad....

And then there was the Italian deli across the street from the German one...with the mortadella and the capiocola and the hanging rounds of scamorza and the huge wheel of Parmigiano reggiano....and 2 Jewish delis, with the corned beef and pastrami and the barrels of dill pickles...
When I came to the mid west and found all this "lunch meat" which was pretty much preformed ham and baloney and some preformed turkey....I was horrified!

I don't like deli meat, either. It's really not very good. If I want a really good turkey sandwich, I'll buy a turkey breast and roast it.

I do buy prosciutto to eat with melon and figs. I don't count that as deli meat.

I prefer to roast, and slice, my own beef, ham, and corned beef. Haven't tried turkey yet. I've never seen turkey breast that isn't bone in. But it's not something I have looked for often.

I mean, it's pretty good. I only like Boars Head Everoast Chicken. Otherwise, I like cutting it straight from the roasted ham!

I like deli sandwiches if they're not overly salty, but only the top quality kind that is real sliced meat. Applegate Farms and Diestel are good (but still salty).

We don't eat sandwiches very often at home but I occasionally treat myself to an illicit craving for Boar's Head olive loaf. I only buy 3 slices. We also sometimes indulge in Mother Goose liverwurst. When we go out for lunch, I do love a good Ruben and a good tuna melt, both on marbled rye. But that's about it.

Lindac, it sounds like you lived in Deli Heaven! My grandparents lived in a multi-ethnic neighborhood in PA with good selections, and unusual stuff like pickled pigs' feet. They pronounced scamorza "scamootz.' and called pizza "pitz."

I lived in Italy for a few months and found their salamis, etc, way too salty and fatty for my taste. And could not eat the tough fatty pancetta they used in carbonara in Rome. (Those are the only complaints I have about the food there.)

These days I too eat Boars Head meats sometimes. Expensive but better than the alternatives.

And capiocola "Gabbagool"....yep...New Jersey Deli heaven!!

Very seldom do i buy deli meat. Most types add in too much salt and excipients. On occasion i pick up Applegate. I'm really not someone who eats sandwiches much, though. And yes. Applegate is also too salty, but I trust it more.

Growing up, the slices of ham were more likely to come from a Saturday ham, and Sundays were more left overs. If we had company, it was Saturday.

I have a deli meat slicer, and I smoke turkey breast myself for sandwiches. I do buy Genoa salami and do not make my own sausage. I'm okay with buying smoked ham at the market and then slicing it myself - I do not want to cook a whole ham as DB won't eat it. I do buy sliced cheese for my sandwiches. My deli slicer will slice cheese also, but the instruction say not to do it, although I anyway from time to time. I have a different machine (with a serrated blade) that I use for slicing bread and vegetables because this motor on this one gets in the way of the food after it is sliced. It doesn't matter for meat because that can fold over on itself. The markets here, especially Bristol Farms, have good deli sections, and so I generally do not go to a delicatessen, except for Sorrento market in Culver City and Bay City Italian deli in Santa Monica, but parking is such a pain in Santa Monica that I do not make a special effort to go there - especially during beach season. It's near Santa Monica Seafood Market, and I will go there occasionally, but Bristol Farms also has a great fish selection - plus I buy fish at farmers' markets.

The only deli meat I do buy sliced is Mortadella, and I feel fortunate to be able to find it, as not all stores have it. It is essential for when I make Muffuletta sandwiches.

When I lived in San Francisco, there were corner delis everywhere, and so I did shop at those, as well as the corner groceries, some of which had the best fruit and vegetables. It was a lot easier buying food in SF, and I did not even have a car when I lived there.

Annie - I always turn a shade of green after reading your posts.

dandyrandylou, is that green from an upset stomach over some of the things I grow/cook/eat, or green because I'm so fortunate as to be able to grow a lot of my own food? I do hope it's the latter, LOL.

Annie

Oh, and we have no real deli here, the closest is about 50 miles away. Here we have grocery store counters at Walmart and Meijer, and that's what passes for a deli...

Oh, us too, Annie -- real delis are far and few between here -- even in the city!