Buying Meat in Bulk

[ConsCathMamma]

So, we live near Lancaster county, and we have some friends who found an Amish farmer they want to order meat from. He has beef, pork, and chicken. Still waiting to hear back from them on the price/lb, cuts available, etc... But, when I talk to them, I want to get an idea of what to order. We are thinking of buying a deep freeze. (Actually, we will have to buy one, just contemplating size and efficiency).

So, how much do you order for how many people that takes up how much space?

How does yours come? (I would prefer a variety of steaks, roasts, ground, but some people grind it all, though, that doesn't seem like a particularly Amish thing to do).

200 lbs sounds like a lot (and I know it is a lot), but when I see that a roast is 2-4 pounds, steaks can be a few pounds, over a pound everytime I make a ground beef dish, it adds up. However, I can't really visualize how much I can fit into x cubic feet, yk? Also, how long it would take me to use it. I am thinking a quarter would be plenty with some chicken and pork (though, I have a more local source for chickens, so, we'll see how much savings there is).

Anyway, I am rambling. Please just share your wisdom in this area. I am all ears.

[Tcarwyn]

This is what it looks like for us. We get 1/4 of beef, which ends up being around 100 pounds or so. This fills a little more then 1/2 of our upright freezer if I pack it in well. We get mixed cuts, some ground, steaks, roasts. It lasts us about 10 months ( two adults, two kids) we are big beef eaters!

It always makes me feel so posperus to have a whole freezer full of grasfed beef Its empty now, we can pick up our next order in January! cant wait

Tanya

[J-Max]

We raise our own, along with several for other people, so I hope I can answer some of your questions.

Most of our animals average about 1200 live weight which should be about 800 lbs hanging weight. You will end up with around 600-650 lbs of packages of meat from a whole beef or 150-160 lbs of meat from a quarter.

It is custom cut to our/your specifications buy our awesome local butcher. He will cut what ever cuts of meat you want and package them however you like. So you have to find out who is cutting your meat and what they do.

We eat about 1 whole beef/year, but we are big meat eaters (we also eat 1/2 a pig and a whole lamb every year). We have a large upright that only has meat in it and a whole beef fills 3/4 of it. We get our meat at different times throught the year - all of it would not fit in it at once.