Organic/Grass fed meat

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jenn0421
jenn0421 Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I'm trying to clean up almost every part of my eating and pretty much the last thing on my list is meat. Beef, chicken, turkey, and pork...I eat it all. I know that nitrate free is ideal but I'm not sure what else. What should I be looking for on the labels?

Thanks!

Replies

  • SpunkyBeanSprout
    SpunkyBeanSprout Posts: 6 Member
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    Look for packaging that says "Pasture Raised." Anything else, regardless of feed type is likely being raised in poor conditions(which causes the animals to produce unhealthy meat). Your best bet is to find a local farmer or farmer's merchantile.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    All beef is grass fed to a point. Grass finished also means that it's not sent to a feedlot before slaughter.

    I'd strongly suggest sourcing whole animals who are raised correctly, then hire your own slaughterer/butcher, or slaughter yourself and have the butcher handle that which is too big for you.

    Wild caught fish is good, line caught is better for the environment.

    Get chickens from a local producer, raise them yourself, or find the most humanely raised possible. There are "Cerified Humane" standards and such, would be good for you to investigate those.

    Halal meat is meat that was slaughtered and butchered to strict standards of cleanliness, well worth getting.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    What should I be looking for on the labels?

    Your ideal is to develop a relationship with a local farm shop or farming co-operative that provide some insight into how they rear the animals. That means that you can actually understand the supply chain.

    Subject to how you feel about the animal welfare issue you may want to avoid halal. Slitting an animals throat and letting it bleed to death isn't my idea of appropriate treatment of the beast.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    It's actually extremely effective and quite humane. SMH.

    All death involves death. Halal is one of the cleanest and humane methods. It's even marginally more humane than when I hunt.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    All death involves death.

    Indeed, but personally I don't see the need to needlessly prolong it. The place I use kills and butchers the animals on site so there is no need for a stressful trip to the abattoir either. There is no practical reason to kill the animal in that way, very few of us live in the arabian desert.

    fwiw I grew up around farming so I'm familiar with cattle and sheep rearing

    YMMV
  • AJLovinLife
    AJLovinLife Posts: 125 Member
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    All beef is grass fed to a point. Grass finished also means that it's not sent to a feedlot before slaughter.

    I'd strongly suggest sourcing whole animals who are raised correctly, then hire your own slaughterer/butcher, or slaughter yourself and have the butcher handle that which is too big for you.

    Wild caught fish is good, line caught is better for the environment.

    Get chickens from a local producer, raise them yourself, or find the most humanely raised possible. There are "Cerified Humane" standards and such, would be good for you to investigate those.

    Ditto above. Raise it yourself or know the farmer. There are lots of great farmers/coops out there. If you can't do that then research companies figure out what they mean when they use the trigger words "natural" " organic" etc. I would suggest wild caught fish, and if you are concerned about the environment research the different fishing methods and the impact on the ecosystem.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    All death involves death.

    Indeed, but personally I don't see the need to needlessly prolong it. The place I use kills and butchers the animals on site so there is no need for a stressful trip to the abattoir either. There is no practical reason to kill the animal in that way, very few of us live in the arabian desert.

    fwiw I grew up around farming so I'm familiar with cattle and sheep rearing

    YMMV

    I personally prefer to put a bullet in their head, then cut their neck to bleed them. Sadly, that's not how it goes with ducks, or deer.

    I would still go Halal over industrial beef any day. The overall process is cleaner and safer.
  • cmsmj1
    cmsmj1 Posts: 66 Member
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    Personally - I feel Halal is not quite the ideal method to slaughter your meat - it is stressful to the animal and to my mind - it is not as well regulated as a proper slaughterhouse.

    Local farm - locally butchered - pick your animal and watch it chopped for you - that is the way forwards.

    supermarket meat, cheap chicken and so on - all pretty rank.
  • DamianaKitten
    DamianaKitten Posts: 479 Member
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    Look into your county 4-H or FFA programs. Talk to the leaders and see if any of the kids would be willing to raise an extra meat creature for you. I did that a few times when I was in 4-H, and it was great. ^_^
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,020 Member
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    Local and from farmers that support responsible agriculture.....I don't buy organic, that is just a label that really doesn't tell me all I want to know. I use 3 different farms for beef, I'm also a chef, so I need different feeding protocols. Where I am the cows are pasture fed mostly for about 8 months then winter fed hay, haylage, corn and some barley and a bunch of other smaller stuff that is generally farm specific, but check your area. Grass fed are leaner and have a different taste than grain fed, and to tell you the truth, most people prefer grain fed, in beef, lamb is a different story. Anyway grass fed have better ratio's of omegas and increased levels of CLA, which has been shown as a good thing for comparison reasons.

    Also IN before the vegan moral lectures start.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    So I'm trying to clean up almost every part of my eating and pretty much the last thing on my list is meat. Beef, chicken, turkey, and pork...I eat it all. I know that nitrate free is ideal but I'm not sure what else. What should I be looking for on the labels?

    Thanks!

    Why not find local sources for your meats?

    http://www.eatwild.com/
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Whole Foods is a pretty safe bet for meat. The prices are not all that crazy and the quality is appreciably better. Local farmer's markets can be good too, but the prices can be astronomical and the quality may or may not be there. I ordered half a pig one time, so I got a good price and great quality, but they included so many blocks of this terrible scrapple I ended up throwing away (and I LIKE scrapple).
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
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    http://wildideabuffalo.com/mission/

    If I could afford to buy all my red meat here, I would. I also highly recommend his book, Buffalo for the Broken Heart. He's doing things the way they should be done.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    Whole Foods is a pretty safe bet for meat. The prices are not all that crazy and the quality is appreciably better. Local farmer's markets can be good too, but the prices can be astronomical and the quality may or may not be there. I ordered half a pig one time, so I got a good price and great quality, but they included so many blocks of this terrible scrapple I ended up throwing away (and I LIKE scrapple).

    I was looking at an avg of $17.99# for berkshire hog when I lived in Boston. After buying directly from the farmer, and having a mobile butcher handle the work, I was in for $3.85 a pound for a berkshire. Whole Foods is retarded when it comes to meat pricing. They also, based on my experience in MA are full of **** when it comes to sourcing.

    The only local humane slaughterhouse in eastern MA is Blood Farm, and all meat they sourced was supposedly from a local slaughterhouse within 50 miles of Cambridge. Well. There is none if it isn't Blood Farm, and Blood Farm wasn't doing their meat. They were foisting industrial meat off as humane.

    Another option is that a lot of county fairs have the 4h Stock Auctions. That's where I get my meat now. I pay a small premium over if I had just gone to any old farmer, but this is helping kids, and these are more pets than meat with legs. The treats, hugs, and walks these animals get are truly delicious.

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