Grass fed and pastured meat...how do you make it work financially?

[mamakah]

I really want to switch to grassfed and pastured organic meats. I'm concerned about the huge price jump. I think that if anything is worth spending money on, its what you put in your body, but it really is a matter of "can we even afford to do this?"
How do you make it work?

[Alyantavid]

My situation probably won't help you, but we raise our own. And it's actually extremely cheap for us to do that.

If I were you, I'd look around alot to find a good deal. And don't be stuck on the organic label, lots of animals are raised that way without the certification.

[MamaMelis]

We had to intentionally cut back how many days a week we ate meat. It's simply too expensive, and we buy it right from the farmer!

[Hedgehog Mtn]

We did as the pp. We cannot afford to purchase good meat so we made a lot of sacrifices to raise our own (time, effort etc) we also process it here and save processing costs. If I were you I would see if you can find someone like us and see if they have an extra animal to sell you or half then have it processed how you want it.

For example we have 13 pigs right now. One is next years boar, 3 are next years breeding sows 2 are for our own freezer and the rest are to sell as either piglets now or ready for freezer in a couple months. This covers our feeding costs for our own meat.

We do the same with sheep, beef and goats (the goats are sold for milk not meat).

See if you can find a family doing the same thing in your area.....if you can't do say a whole steer maybe there is someone you know who would split one with you.

[russsk]

We don't really consider it an option. If we can't afford humanely raised, pastured meat, then we can't afford meat. We buy lamb and beef in bulk twice a year from one farmer and chicken on an as-needed basis from another. We pay about $5-6/lb for red meat (all kinds of cuts) and about $3-4/lb for a whole chicken. I would cut back on the amount of meat you're eating if you can't swing the price jump and eat meat as often. Either eat meat fewer times per week, or find recipes to stretch a smaller amount.

[seashells]

Originally Posted by russsk

We don't really consider it an option. If we can't afford humanely raised, pastured meat, then we can't afford meat. We buy lamb and beef in bulk twice a year from one farmer and chicken on an as-needed basis from another. We pay about $5-6/lb for red meat (all kinds of cuts) and about $3-4/lb for a whole chicken. I would cut back on the amount of meat you're eating if you can't swing the price jump and eat meat as often. Either eat meat fewer times per week, or find recipes to stretch a smaller amount.

I feel the same way. We get about 2 cuts of meat per week. I also make bone broth, so I get a third meat meal in a week sometimes.

I think the quality of the meat is much higher, so I think it feeds the body better and we don't need so much.

Michael Pollen's mantra is: Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

We only eat this kind of meat. On the other hand, we haven't switched 100% to raw local milk yet. However, I buy a gallon every other week. It's a start. You might also consider making a partial switch. I think even a partial switch is better than nothing.

Another thought is - is there anything else you can cut out that can help increase your meat budget? Could be processed snacks or drinks; they are expensive and not good for anybody.

[stormborn]

Buying in bulk really cuts the cost. We pay 4.99/lb for a 1/4 cow; bought in the store some cuts run 16.99.

[kiara7]

It can get pricey. After watching Food Inc I realized that it's just that the store meat is too cheap.
We eat meat everyday (no flames, pls, lol). One example, before when I made spaghetti - it was meat, onions and sauce. Now, it's meat (less than before), onions, celery, squash, tomatoes, peppers, sauce. Less meat, same amount of food and a bunch of local veggies.

[mamakah]

Thank you everyone! I am currently working 1-2 dinners with meat in a week. Mostly poultry. I like the idea of incorporating the stock into other dishes that are meat free. Thanks!

[cristeen]

We eat meat every day. We make it work by cutting back in other areas. I also buy the cheaper cuts and make them stretch.

I'd love to buy a 1/2 cow and realize that savings, but right now my freezer space is devoted to donated breastmilk.

[Laggie]

I found a local store that sells organic meat way cheaper than the grocery stores - they wholesale to the grocery stores but also sell to the public at low prices. It's still not cheap, but it's affordable for us.

I also make a lot of casseroles, which stretches the meat further - two chicken breasts can make 4-6 meals instead of only being enough for two people for supper.

[noobmom]

Instead of buying certified organic, grassfed beef by the cut from say, Whole Foods, we buy a side of beef from a local farmer/rancher. These are people I know personally, so I believe them when they tell me it's grassfed and antibiotic free. In fact, I think it's a bit more reliable. So, I save by buying bulk and I save because the farmers charge a little less without the "official" certification. But the probably the biggest savings comes from using all the different cuts. When I bought meat by the grocery (not grassfed, but regular grocery store meat), I tended to buy only the most expensive cuts--porterhouse/T-bone/strip steaks, flank steaks, sirloin). I especially didn't trust the ground meat from grocery stores so I never bought that. Now that I have a source of meat I trust, we use more of the cheaper cuts. I have 100 lbs of ground meat in my freezer so we use it a lot!

[Llyra]

We struggle with this, since my own particular medical needs mean that I don't do well on a vegetarian diet. Quality organic cheeses are our other dilemma. And buying it locally doesn't save me any money-- grassfed local meat is rather trendy in this area lately, and the prices are even higher than the grassfed and organic meats I can get at places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

My approach has been to buy as much of the "good" meat and cheese as I can, and then fill in with the conventional stuff when I can't manage the good stuff. And when I do cook meat, I use less of it, and use it more for flavoring and accent than as the focus of the meal. This means we eat LOTS more vegetables, which we can raise ourselves. Also, there are plenty of options for affordable organic local veggies around here.

[gentlemango]

It's a sacrifice. Even $4/lb for bulk meat is A LOT more expensive than the meals we ate when we were v*gan. I had to revamp our budget and combine our medical part w/ our food part because this has improved our health so it came out of one and went into the other.

But, it's still hard. We shouldn't afford it but I feel that we don't have a choice. We keep our house under 60 degrees? I guess that's where it comes from. Sacrifice in other areas.

[mamadelbosque]

We raise our own & hunt mostly (hunt deer, raise chickens & goats), and otherwise buy in bulk - whole lambs, large amounts of pork etc.

[Magelet]

We stretch, and use it in ways that stretch it.

I don't consider buying even whole foods grassfed meat an option, pastured is all I'll do.

We buy 1-2 cuts of meat a week, only. There are two of us. A chicken serves 3-4 meals as meat (lots of veggies with our roast chicken and gravy night 1, and then little peices the next few nights, in pasta or rice salad or lentil salad, or something else), and more as stock (in soup, in sauce, in rice and beans, in other things). 2 lbs of chuck steak might cost us 12 dollars, but can be made into a stew that lasts 3 dinners and 2-4 lunches when lots of stock and potatoes and other veggies. Some weeks, we splurge, and have 1 pound of ground meat for dinner in hamburgers. (meatloaf is 1 pound but serves 2 dinners).

If we could buy a whole side of cow or a whole sheep or something for 4-5 dollars a pound, I'd be thrilled, but a. I don't think those prices can be found here, and b. I have nowhere to put it. my above fridge freezer is full, and that's all the freezer space I have.

We eat LOTS of veggies, a fair bit of grains and veggies, and lots of dairy as well as meat. 6-7 out of 7 dinners have some dairy or meat or egg protein, which is stretched by the protein sparing effects of broth. If it doesn't have meat, we will usually have a little grass-fed unhomogenized dairy or pastured eggs, and there's almost always dairy in our morning oatmeal (unless we have eggs).

I wish we could afford more meat, but I'm happy to have good healthy sustainable food on our table.

[krankedyann]

I go to the farmer directly and buy a whole cow at one time, dividing it among families. The last one I did wound up being $4.40 a pound for all of it. Heckuva price.

[dogmom327]

I stalk Craig's List for families who have a cow or two on pasture but need to offload 1/4 or 1/2 they can't fit in their freezer or are selling for extra money. It works out to be much cheaper than buying from an established farm. I just ask lots of questions and I've never been burned (fingers crossed!).

[Dandelionkid]

We only buy whole chickens and ground beef from the organic farmer because they are only 3.25/lb and we don't buy any other meat normally. We eat meat about 4x/week. We also invest in good quality eggs.

[Delicateflower]

Originally Posted by russsk

We don't really consider it an option. If we can't afford humanely raised, pastured meat, then we can't afford meat.

This is my POV, too. I couldn't actually tell you what factory farmed meat costs, because I won't buy it. Yes, we eat meat much less often than if our meat were cheaper, but I truly believe that 2-3 times a week is plenty of meat in a balanced diet.