Buying a side of beef

[quelindo]

I have an opportunity to buy a side of beef (I'd only do it if I could split it with a few other people, though!) from a reputable source (no hormones, no antibiotics, etc.). But I'm new to this and relatively new to eating meat, actually, so I have no idea what cuts to request!

We do a lot of tacos and curries and stews. I haven't cooked any steaks -- I'm not totally opposed to it, but I have bad memories from my childhood of chewing stringy steak forEVER, so I am a bit leary of them.

Any suggestions?

[RootBeerFloat]

This is the second year getting a 1/4 cow and I was in your same position last year--pretty newly meat eating, had never cooked beef. Last year, we split a 1/4 and by the end of the year were wishing that we had more!

Usually, the meatpacker has a set of cuts that they usually do, so be sure to ask. You could just get whatever the standard package is and then see what you use so that you know better for next time. We get an assortment--ground, chuck roasts, a few nice steaks (including a few minute steaks, which are so handy in a pinch), two other roasts, beef soup cubes, liver, heart, as many bones as they can give us. We used the ground beef and the chuck roasts and the liver really quickly. The steaks we didn't use as quick and wound up turning several of them into stew and soup meat. I'm still learning how to do roasts, but I think I'm up for the challenge!