Monday, May 2, 2011

Grass Fed Beef


I am an omnivore. I have tried to be vegetarian and vegan. I even was a raw vegan for a while. It didn't work for me. When I began eating meat with vegetables I felt so good for the first time. I felt stable and grounded and it was fantastic.

One of the things I learned while studying to become a health coach is that no one diet works for everyone and I work with people to figure out what diet works for them. Some of my clients have been vegan, vegetarian, or paleo. The important thing is that they feel good.

As a meat eater I try to buy organic meat whenever possible. When I go to Costco I get the organic ground beef instead of the conventional and I look for the organic chickens for making my chicken stock. My eggs are always organic and free range.

With such a large family it can be costly to make these purchases and there are times when I just can't do it. I've been trying to get my husband to agree to making the big purchase of a half of a cow so we will have access to healthy, grass fed beef with no hormones or steroids.

The problem has been that we need to buy a freezer to store it and it is a large expense all at once so I have been slow to convince him.


Well no more my friends! My aunt gave us some of her beef that she gets from a local farm in Indiana. She has been to the farm and says it is immaculate and the farmer shares in her philosophy on pasture feeding and humane treatment of the animals.

I have to tell you that this beef was DELICIOUS! It tasted infinitely better than any beef I have purchased at any store, organic or not. My husband agreed. He started asking questions about it to figure out how we could do it.

The way it works is you purchase it in a large quantity i.e. a half a cow. It goes to the butcher and they package it up into various steaks, chops, roasts, and ground beef. The best part is that it ends up costing just under $3 a pound! How can we go wrong?

I think this is a great way to source healthy meat at an affordable price. You might not have access to an aunt that knows a farmer so check out Local Harvest. You can search farms in your area and it's a great resource for farmers markets and CSAs.

If buying such a large amount of meat is the issue, see if you can split it up with family or neighbors. My aunts splits it with her daughter and we might be splitting it with my mom. My husband also thought about getting a group of friends together to split it up. The options are endless.

1 comment:

  1. we did this one year ~ we got a 7th of a cow! :o)

    since we don't eat a lot of beef it was the perfect amount for our fridge freezer and our small family ~ it lasted way longer than we thought it would. and it does taste SO MUCH BETTER! AND, keeps local money right there with a farmer. perfect partnership!
    thanks michelle, great post!

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