Question for those of you who buy meat in bulk

[Pernillep]

So, I have been researching getting beef, pork and chickens from a farm and was surprised to learn it is actually much more expensive than getting meat at the store. As an example chickens are running $13-18 per chicken, Beef 4.50 a pound ( i don't remember if it was before or after processing cost).

I don't know what i was expecting but my mom got half a cow and half a pig when I was growing up and it was so much cheaper than the store.

Price really is only half the reason for going this route the other would be because it is better quality, local and humane. But it would be nice if it wasn't so expensive.

So, for those of you who buy meat in bulk what are you paying per pound processed cost? and where are you located?

[newbymom05]

I'm in Texas, so you'd think it'd be cheap, but it's not. I get grass-fed, no hormones/no antibiotic fed beef from 3.70-15.50, depending on the cut. I don't get sides because we tend to get the cheaper cuts anyway, but if I did, it'd be around 4.25. While those prices are way higher than I could get at Kroger, they're half the price I'd pay at Whole Foods. Oh, and chicken--that's reaaally expensive IMHO, only about $1 less a lb than WF, but it tastes so much better that I get it. The downside is it's whole chicken, but since the whole chicken is almost $4 a lb, I can't imagine what I'd pay for boneless/skinless.

So my prices are similar, and they seem high to me, but I shopped around and those prices were the lowest I could find.

[Amys1st]

I am in the midwest in the Chicago area. Local farm raised chickens are about that for cost. USually they are free range, organic, hand rubbed by virgins etc. We splurge once in a while because the price is out of our range sometimes.

Pork- is not very expensive now in the stores or at the butcher but I have seen buying a side of pork still a bit cheaper.

Beef- we paid the farmer who raised it $1.94 a lb of the hanging weight. The weight was 381 lbs. (is that right Em?? or was it $1.99??)
It was a bit over $218 to have it butchered. So in the end it was about $3a lb or even $3.50 when you consider what you dont take home. I paid just under 1K for the half in the end when you also consider freezing costs all year plus the gas to go get it.

I have already told the farmer put me on next years order even though I still have about 350 lbs of meat to eat in the freezer to eat still.

A friend of mine said it best- its some expensive ground beef, but extremely low cost incredible tasting steaks. IF you eat a lot of hamburger meat, this might not be the best bet for you. But if you're a true meat eater, you will be doing healthier eating, plus better tasting beef. Also, the ground meat is from your calf only, not from several plus its meat, not spinal cord or anything else is you get my drift. Ours was raised not too far from our home, so its local food as well. But my DH likes the fact only a few hands touched our food and we got it made to order the way we want.

While the calf is hanging, the butcher calls you and you go thru what you want. Some people even keep the fat for cooking. A friend of mine gets dog bones made up. I might do that next time and my neighbors all can have them. I get the roasts made up to the weight I want, the hamburger patties made up in the weight I want- we have 1/4 lb ones and 1/3 lb ones. We also have meat ground up into 1 lb packages. You can get a tendorlion or filets made up or even tbones too. Rib eye steaks or roasts (DH wants steaks to enjoy again and again) but everyone has it done up different. You also get some unusual cuts like the beef liver, soup bones (makes literally the best stock), beef tongue (still have last years if I am not mistaken), beef heart...

[glorified_rice]

I am in MN and can get grass-fed certified organic local beef for around $5.50/lb when I buy in semi-large quantities. That includes processing, etc... and includes different cuts. We buy our chickens from a local farm and they are very affordable. I'm thinking that they were around $10 to $13 but I'm sort of guessing. Ground turkey from them is about $1.40/lb. We also buy local grass-fed bison (ground) for $3.50/lb. The steaks are a bit more.

[Alyantavid]

We raise our own, but I'd look around. I know here, buying it in large quantities runs anywhere from $2-6 a pound, cut and wrapped.

Find a few butcher shops and see if they know anyone looking for a buyer. Our butcher is amazing and always knows who's looking for what and who's trying to sell.

[Pernillep]

Originally Posted by Amys1st

I am in the midwest in the Chicago area. .

That is where I am too. Where do you get it from?
We are definitely beef eaters and eat steak more than ground beef so it may be worth it for us.

I think we are going to look into it for next year. If I start saving now maybe it won't be that big of a hit

[HollyBearsMom]

Good question! We don't buy meat in bulk but we do buy the occasional 1/2 of a deer from a good friend who hunts (for meat, not sport) as well as had our share of cows and pigs from a family member who farms. We never asked the price per pound or calculated either since we kept telling our selves "fresh= yummy!!" I always assumed it was more expensive the way organic is more expensive...

[velochic]

We get ours from a friend, and they charge us only market price on the day the cow it taken to the butcher... so, we pay "on the hoof" price to the owner of the animal. The processing is $20 + 40 cents per pound "hanging weight" (after the head, hooves, entrails, skin, etc. have been removed). For us, this turns out to be about $2 per pound total cost of the meat. Grass fed, non-certified organic. We're in the midwest too. I doubt a commercial cattle farmer would charge us so little.

We get non-certified organic chickens for $8 per (they end up being around 4lbs. or so). It's been more than a year since we bought a whole hog and I can't remember what we paid for it. It was from a commercial farmer, so I remember the price being a bit high, IMO.

[sarasprings]

I'm in upstate NY and its 5.50/lb (including shipping) for us in a CSA. It's nice because we get 10lbs a month.

[jentilla]

We are getting a 1/2 in June to split with my inlaws and it will be $3.50 lb. Now we also buy his chicken, eggs, and some pork, but I didn't look at the breakdown..bad me! It's really just important for me to get local(12 miles) from my house meat and support a local farmer. It's all grassfed and he is the sweetest guy ever!

[time4another]

My CSA charges $7 per pound. We get 25 LB per month of various cuts of beef, chicken and pork (they also have a lamb option). We always get at least a few really nice cuts thrown in with some ground beef etc...they also have the best hot dogs (when they have them) that I have ever tasted...

not only that they are free range, organic, grass fed, sustainable and LOCAL we can go visit our animals practically any time we wish...they are very humanely raised too. We our CSA!

Heather

[crunchy_mama]

I buy chickens every year for the year at a time. It seems to run about $2 lb for whole chicken- but that is because I buy 52+, pick it up and bag it myself. This year I plan to volunteer to do some of the butchering work as well because then I get more of a discount.

I bought my first bulk beef purchase last year and it was $4.5 lb for grassfed beef ground. I currently have a deposit down on 1/4 a cow and in the end it will be about $3 lb- this is not grassfed- but it is cow owned by a small family farm- no hormones, antibiotics etc. I have bought 1/2 a hog before but it has been too long to remember the prices. That didn't work out for us as dh doesn't like pork too well. If I do it again I will be getting it all into sausage except the loin.

Usually dh hunts and we eat venison and chicken, but this year wasn't a good hunting year- thus the beef.

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by Pernillep

So, I have been researching getting beef, pork and chickens from a farm and was surprised to learn it is actually much more expensive than getting meat at the store. As an example chickens are running $13-18 per chicken, Beef 4.50 a pound ( i don't remember if it was before or after processing cost).

I don't know what i was expecting but my mom got half a cow and half a pig when I was growing up and it was so much cheaper than the store.

Price really is only half the reason for going this route the other would be because it is better quality, local and humane. But it would be nice if it wasn't so expensive.

So, for those of you who buy meat in bulk what are you paying per pound processed cost? and where are you located?

We paid $2.30 a pound for a mixed quarter of beef (we basically went in on a side with our inlaws). That got us 52 pounds of ground beef and 119 pounds of mixed roasts, steaks, and organ meats (liver, heart, tongue) for just under $400. The $2.30 was $1.70 a pound for the beef and $.60 a pound for processing. Lean hamburger runs about $2.30-2.99 a pound in our area. T-bones run $6.99-7.99 a pound.

It's so awesome to eat a good t-bone and know that we paid hamburger prices for it.

I think we got such a good price because my FIL helped the owner of the cow put on a new roof.

[jdejong]

We just got 1/4 cow, grass-fed from a local farm, (a mixed quarter) and paid about $2.40/lb. I was pretty pleased with that price!

[cristeen]

Don't forget that you can get grain-fed CAFO beef for a lot less than you can grass-fed organic beef. So most of the time, yes, what you buy at the grocery store is gonna be cheaper than what you buy from the farmer, since the average small farmer is more interested in the health of his cattle, and will therefore avoid CAFO.

I can go to Safeway or Luckys and get chicken for $1/lb most likely. Pork for under $2, and beef about the same. But if I go to the butcher I use and buy that same pound of ground beef but it's local, organic and grass-fed, I'm gonna pay $6. A rack of pork ribs is gonna cost me about $5/lb, and a chicken is gonna set me back about $4/lb. If I want a steak, I'm looking at at LEAST $20/lb. The tongue is usually the cheapest cut at around $3/lb, but they don't have many, since each cow only comes with 1.

My point being that you need to compare apples to apples, and if that meat is grass fed or organic (or both), then comparing them to the price of regular grocery store meat is not accurate. The prices you were quoted seem pretty nice to me, if you consider what I'm paying.

But, if what you're looking for is grocery store quality meat in a larger quantity, you're probably not going to find it from a local farmer. Try talking to a local butcher instead about buying a side, they can get you a CAFO side if you ask.

[Chicky2]

Another option is to find a source for chicken or goat or pig or pretty much anything but a whole cow 'on the hoof', and butcher it yourself. Sometimes a farmer will let you dispatch the animal and bleed it out right there, and you can take it home and butcher it. For city folk, that way you don't have to worry about neighbors hearing weird sounds or anything. Prices are MUCH cheaper this way.

[Usually Curious]

Homeschoolers love beef tongue and heart for dissecting. Just saying.

[painefaria]

We just split a Half with our best friends. It was $660 and we got 8 boxes of mixed meats. 4 boxes of bulk hamburger and already formed patties and three boxes of steaks, roasts etc. we asked for some soup bones that I ended passing on to some mothering moms and freecycle because I couldn't cook/store all that we got. It was worth it because we were buying from him anyway and a roast was $32.00. I am not sure how many lbs we got but it was definately more cost effective. Now onto chicken :