I Gained 92 lbs in one day.

2»

Replies

  • mvl1014
    mvl1014 Posts: 531
    I've been doing CSA for a few years and bought 540lbs of cow maybe 2 weeks ago.

    Also, just putting this out there: I friggin hate Michael Pollan.
  • GibblesandBits8064
    GibblesandBits8064 Posts: 26 Member
    Sounds like you almost bought a whole cow! Wish I had enough money at one time to do something like that. But, for that I'd also have to wish for a chest freezer:tongue:!
  • willowdancer
    willowdancer Posts: 95
    Thats a lot of beef!

    Its really great that you are doing the things that you are doing. My family is on a very tight budget and we didn't have room in said budget to participate in our local CSA's or anything like that. Luckily I am a gardening fanatic and was lucky enough to come into raising rabbits with no cost; its amazing how much free stuff you can get from people on stuff like Craigs list and just getting the word out. I got a three cage hutch for rabbits and three rabbits for free, all the water bottles and everything included. The rabbits were young (leftover from Easter when people bought them as wee-bitty things for their kids as gifts and don't feel like keeping them anymore) so they aren't old enough to breed, but I am hoping to set up a meat operation where we are raising our own rabbit meat Rabbits are very inexpensive to raise and for the same amount of natural resources (food, water, etc) that it takes to raise a cow you get 6 times as much meat from rabbits. I could geek out about it all day, but the short version is you may want to look into finding someone around you who raises rabbits!

    feel free to note me or something if you are interested in learning more. :)
  • love22step
    love22step Posts: 1,103 Member
    Sounds great! I recall an old boyfriend from Peru cooking a beef heart on the grill. I'm not sure how he prepared it, but I was surprised to discover it was delicious!
  • shokes718
    shokes718 Posts: 37 Member
    I'm also dying to do this but don't have the freezer space. Does anyone know of a good website where I can get a few pounds at a reasonable price? My local farmers market is closing for the season.

    I'm gonna add you OP if you don't mind!
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    How long does the meat last? My food budget is $1000/yr, so the cow would be over half, and I don't think I could eat that much cow without getting sick of it if the meat lasted only a year.

    I think that meat will last me a year for sure, and it's probably too much for a year. I'm sure I'll end up gifting some to my mom and neighbors. We'll see how it goes, but next year I may split the 1/4 cow, now that I see how much there is. I knew I would be getting a lot, but I couldn't really conceptualize it until it went in the freezer.

    So maybe finding 1-2 other people to split the 1/4 with would be workable for you.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Why do I keep reading your posts; you are always making me so jealous! And hungry!

    But glad that more and more people are concerned about the quality of meat, not just for our health, but for the health of the animals and environment. There is nothing unethical about consuming other life, because we aren't able to harness our own energy from the sun. Plants and animals are both living beings and we must eat them (or at least one of them) to live. There's no need for an ethical stance (imo) on what kind of life we consume EXCEPT that every life form has the right to a healthy, happy life while they are living and to be treated with respect while harvesting. I hate abuse, and that even extends to plants in regards to what is happening in the food industry in the last century.

    I'm not perfect, except the wild food that I occasionally get given to me, I do have to rely on the garbage in the store, but I do the best I can and I am researching to find a meat supplier who will ship to me.

    I love your posts Caribougal. I have moments of thinking that I need to move to Colorado (or other places where food choice exists in abundance)... but this Arctic dweller doesn't transplant well to the south. :wink:

    I know just the perfect butcher to set you up with. :-)
  • MissCarter79
    MissCarter79 Posts: 227 Member
    That is awesome!
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
    My dad and I were thinking about going half-and-half on a quarter cow this year. That sounds like a much better idea now that I have a ballpark idea of just how much meat it is. I'll remember to call dibs on the T-bones!
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    this post is bad *kitten*. way to go girl. my parent's have been doing this for years. they go all in with a friend and split a whole cow, so i usually end up with about 20 pounds of different cuts. and, i recently got a 15 pound pork share from my local veggie csa for $40 bucks! booyah.

    Nice score!
  • cntails
    cntails Posts: 8 Member
    BEST advice I have read in a while. We are hunters and farmers so we understand the "wild" meat. If you ever get a pig you should try the ones from your local FFA after the pig sales the ones that didnt make it or the ones that didnt bring enough $$$ will be up for sale for CHEAP it is a great way to fill your freezer and alot of our pig is grounded up so it makes a great pork burger.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    It seems my invitation to supper at your house got lost, so could you send it again? :drinker:

    Beef. It's what's for dinner.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Love this! I love Michael Pollan and I love local eating and gardening. Another fun read for you if you like this stuff is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - I LOVED THIS BOOK. It's a genuinely entertaining read in addition to being informative.

    There's a farmer who comes in to town every other weekend to sell his grass-finished beef and eggs from his free-range hens. His steaks are the best I've ever had. We haven't committed to a whole cow yet (or half, or a quarter..), but I think with two dogs we could totally justify it (beef heart doesn't appeal to me, but I think it will appeal to them!)

    I TOTALLY loved that Kingsolver book too. I could never do what she did, since I'm a TERRIBLE gardener, but it's a great example of locavore/seasonal dedication.

    When I picked up my 1/4 cow, I told the lady there that I wanted to buy some bones for my dog. She said, "Oh, you'll be getting a bunch with your order". She was right... big box of 30 bones! My dog was going nuts when I brought all the meat in the house. Good thing everything (except those bones) was freezer packed in plastic. I actually think she licked a few packages while they were in the box waiting to go in the freezer. Ewww. I'm trying to forget I saw that.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Wow - thats a lot of cow. Sounds like a great deal - and great job supporting local farms!

    As for the goat.... Im assuming you have had it since you are looking to buy it. My husband is from Ghana and goat is a staple - he loves it. I dont. More so, I dont like the way my house smells after he cooks it. Eww. So, if by chance you havent ever cooked it - be warned, it stinks! :)

    LOL. Thanks for the heads up! I think I've only eaten goat once in a goat stew, but never cooked it myself. But I've heard (from my butcher) that goat is the most widely-consumed meat in the world. I am thinking twice about it, because I think almost every recipe is a stew recipe, and I already have so much stew meat. I think I'll skip the goat this year.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Yes, I gained 92 lbs. Or rather, my chest freezer did.

    lol, with headlines like that you had aught to right for the tabloids...
    Note to vegans... you might want to click off of this post now.

    :laugh: :drinker:

    That's why I love MFP. I get to write fun stuff instead of boring corporate stuff (which is what I'm supposed to be doing at this very moment!).
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    I've been doing CSA for a few years and bought 540lbs of cow maybe 2 weeks ago.

    Also, just putting this out there: I friggin hate Michael Pollan.

    That's a s**t ton of cow. Is that the live weight? Hanging weight? Or is that what you brought home packaged???

    LOL on Pollan. I don't hear that too often, but I'm surrounded by like-minded people. Why?
  • bizorra
    bizorra Posts: 151 Member
    Love this! I love Michael Pollan and I love local eating and gardening. Another fun read for you if you like this stuff is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver - I LOVED THIS BOOK. It's a genuinely entertaining read in addition to being informative.

    There's a farmer who comes in to town every other weekend to sell his grass-finished beef and eggs from his free-range hens. His steaks are the best I've ever had. We haven't committed to a whole cow yet (or half, or a quarter..), but I think with two dogs we could totally justify it (beef heart doesn't appeal to me, but I think it will appeal to them!)

    I TOTALLY loved that Kingsolver book too. I could never do what she did, since I'm a TERRIBLE gardener, but it's a great example of locavore/seasonal dedication.

    When I picked up my 1/4 cow, I told the lady there that I wanted to buy some bones for my dog. She said, "Oh, you'll be getting a bunch with your order". She was right... big box of 30 bones! My dog was going nuts when I brought all the meat in the house. Good thing everything (except those bones) was freezer packed in plastic. I actually think she licked a few packages while they were in the box waiting to go in the freezer. Ewww. I'm trying to forget I saw that.

    That book inspired me to try gardening again! My husband is better at it than I am, but we're still not that great. I DREAM of raising my own chickens for eggs and a goat for milk and even RABBITS like the above poster has. Some day :) For now we have a 10'x10' overgrown veggie patch and a scrawny apple tree :)

    And your dogs just licked the PLASTIC, not the FOOD! The meat inside should be unphased :D
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Thats a lot of beef!

    Its really great that you are doing the things that you are doing. My family is on a very tight budget and we didn't have room in said budget to participate in our local CSA's or anything like that. Luckily I am a gardening fanatic and was lucky enough to come into raising rabbits with no cost; its amazing how much free stuff you can get from people on stuff like Craigs list and just getting the word out. I got a three cage hutch for rabbits and three rabbits for free, all the water bottles and everything included. The rabbits were young (leftover from Easter when people bought them as wee-bitty things for their kids as gifts and don't feel like keeping them anymore) so they aren't old enough to breed, but I am hoping to set up a meat operation where we are raising our own rabbit meat Rabbits are very inexpensive to raise and for the same amount of natural resources (food, water, etc) that it takes to raise a cow you get 6 times as much meat from rabbits. I could geek out about it all day, but the short version is you may want to look into finding someone around you who raises rabbits!

    feel free to note me or something if you are interested in learning more. :)

    Good for you! I just bought a few cuts of rabbit last month from US Wellness Meats... also sitting in my freezer, waiting to be cooked. Rabbit seems like a great alternative. So funny you post this because just last week I searched on rabbit and found a local lady who sells rabbits but I haven't called her yet. She got into it because her daughter raised rabbits for 4-H, and she realized there was nobody around really selling the meat. I figured I'd see how my first few dishes go and then decide if I want more.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    I'm also dying to do this but don't have the freezer space. Does anyone know of a good website where I can get a few pounds at a reasonable price? My local farmers market is closing for the season.

    I'm gonna add you OP if you don't mind!

    Feel free to add. You can buy online from US Wellness Meats. I think their prices are better than the local market most of the time, they have bulk deals and they ship pretty fast. They always run sales, and if you subscribe to their newsletter, they run special coupon codes. They have the most incredible sugar-free bacon ends. I'm not a huge fan of bacon, but these are delicious. I tend to use bacon more as a topping, so it's nice to have the ends to just cut up as needed. I bought 3 lbs and saved them in small snack-sized bags in the freezer, so I can just pull out and defrost a few slices at a time.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    BEST advice I have read in a while. We are hunters and farmers so we understand the "wild" meat. If you ever get a pig you should try the ones from your local FFA after the pig sales the ones that didnt make it or the ones that didnt bring enough $$$ will be up for sale for CHEAP it is a great way to fill your freezer and alot of our pig is grounded up so it makes a great pork burger.

    What's an FFA?
  • kimmymayhall
    kimmymayhall Posts: 419 Member
    BEST advice I have read in a while. We are hunters and farmers so we understand the "wild" meat. If you ever get a pig you should try the ones from your local FFA after the pig sales the ones that didnt make it or the ones that didnt bring enough $$$ will be up for sale for CHEAP it is a great way to fill your freezer and alot of our pig is grounded up so it makes a great pork burger.

    What's an FFA?

    Future Farmers of America. Kids raise animals for a period in order to take them to market to sell for top dollar, but a lot are not so successful (rough understanding of the process, never a member.) I'm not sure how you go about buying from them. Maybe contact your local chapter and see what they can tell you?
  • ErinRibbens
    ErinRibbens Posts: 370 Member
    :drinker: Good for you and enjoy!!!

    I've got a freezer full of pastured chickens, too bad we couldn't work out a trade. :laugh: This is a topic I'm passionate about, we have chickens and turkeys on our farm now but hope to get some pigs and sheep next year, and eventually cows. Nothing tastes better than meat you grow yourself but the way you did it is a close second.

    For the heart, I'd suggest grinding it (or put in the food processor) and mix it with the ground beef in chili or meatballs. It's very lean though so lots of moisture is needed.
  • summertime_girl
    summertime_girl Posts: 3,945 Member
    Logically I know it would make sense for my family. But emotionally I can't do that. How could I put an adorable cow next to my horse that I ride every day, or near my pet mini pig that lives indoors, and then eat it? I can't eat anything that I have cared for and given a name to. I don't want to meet my meat.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Logically I know it would make sense for my family. But emotionally I can't do that. How could I put an adorable cow next to my horse that I ride every day, or near my pet mini pig that lives indoors, and then eat it? I can't eat anything that I have cared for and given a name to. I don't want to meet my meat.

    I agree, that's hard. I'm a city girl, so I have no clue what it's like to raise an animal and then eat it. I did not personally meet my cow. The closest I got was the mailbox at the farm to drop off my check (I wanted to drive in to check it out but they were hosting a wedding... it's a beautiful farm). I'm hoping to go for a tour as soon as their wedding season is over.

    Last year I bought a 1/2 pig from my CSA, and I saw the 12 little piglets when they were only a month or so old. Totally adorable. I couldn't bring myself to look at the pigs again for the rest of the summer since I knew I would be eating half of one. The awful thing was that a few months after we had the pork in the freezer, my 2 year old TURNED DOWN THE TEMP on the freezer, and we lost everything. It was sooooo painful. I felt so terrible that we had paid for 1/2 that pig to live and die, and then wasted that meat. We've had several SERIOUS TALKS with our boys about the freezer, and we've duct taped over the controls.
  • momto1g1b
    momto1g1b Posts: 118 Member
    thanks for the info :)
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
    If you like venison, and live in area where deer hunting is popular, there are so me hunters that like to hunt but would be willing to donate some or all of the meat. I love a good venison roast, and venison burgers mixed with 1/2 ground beef (the venison is too dry to stick together).

    I grew up in western Pennsylvania which has the highest White Tail Deer population in the country. A lot of schools close on the first day of Buck Season!
  • LMPMOM4
    LMPMOM4 Posts: 75
    I'm super lucky because my dad has a farm so we get a free range pig (yes! They get to root around in a very large field) and turkeys, chicken, and goat. He wants to get beef in a few years, too. My kids love going to his house to get eggs from the coop. Love it!
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Lucky you. I wish I had farm connections like that.

Categories