Where Can I Buy Nitrate-Free Meats

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lwebsmfp
lwebsmfp Posts: 297 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey everyone! I wanted to know where I can buy deli turkey or other deli sandwich meats that are nitrite free? I've been able to find some packaged meats that are nitrite free in the Natural Food section of the grocery store but no deli style meats. Any help is appreciated!

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  • Chenoachem
    Chenoachem Posts: 1,758 Member
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    Trader Joe's
    Sunflower Market
    Whole Foods.
  • jkohan
    jkohan Posts: 184 Member
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    Trader Joe's uncured meats are very good.
  • slimkitty
    slimkitty Posts: 418
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    My grocery store carries the Applegate Farms brand. The hot dogs, bacon and deli meats (ham, turkey, chicken) are all nitrate free. These are gluten and casein free certified (food allergies in my family) so I haven't even looked at any other brands.
  • smae1980
    smae1980 Posts: 794 Member
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    Check out your farmers markets this summer, especially the larger ones. I live near Rochester NY and the Rochester public market has local, small, sustainably farmed meat vendors who carry organic and natural choices. I found an organic all beef brand of hot dogs for my daughter at the local supermarket as well that contained no nitrates or nitrites and she loved them. They were expensive, but her health is worth the extra expense. I am a vegetarian, so it is very important to me that if my family is going to eat meat, they eat the most healthful options. Wish they'd go veg, but it's hard to explain to a 3 year old when her dad eats the stuff
  • Thaedra
    Thaedra Posts: 52
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    Hormel makes a selection of deli meats that should be widely available at national grocery stores. It's called "Natural Choice", and it is free of nitrates. I wish they made hot dogs because my toddler and husband both love them. (And who am I kidding, so do I... :)
  • MattySparky
    MattySparky Posts: 771
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    Wild meat is the only way to go!!
  • DizzieLittleLifter
    DizzieLittleLifter Posts: 1,020 Member
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    Hormel makes a selection of deli meats that should be widely available at national grocery stores. It's called "Natural Choice", and it is free of nitrates. I wish they made hot dogs because my toddler and husband both love them. (And who am I kidding, so do I... :)

    I was just going to say this! I don't care for lunch meat, but my DD loves turkey sandwiches. I won't buy any other lunch meat for her. I usually buy it at target because it's less there, but Safeway has it BOGO right now. :)
  • lwebsmfp
    lwebsmfp Posts: 297 Member
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    Thanks! I have bought the Applegate Farms brand but have only been able to find the bacon and hot dogs. I'll look around to find the sandwich meats. I'll also check out the Whole Foods and Farmer's Market.
  • subwife
    subwife Posts: 1 Member
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    Oscar Mayer makes a nitrate free turkey hot dog. The only thing I will buy for my kids.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,112 Member
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    Processed deli meats have nitrates. That's what makes them deli meats. LoL

    What companies like hormel have done is circumvent the FDA's labeling requirements for nitrates by using "natural" nitrates from celery. And then label the product " All natural" then they add lactic acid starter culture to it and that turns the combination into.....wait for it..... Sodium nitrate. Doing this allows them to label the product as " no nitrates added. The end product can have As high as 10x the amount you get in a nitrates added deli meat.
    Here is a link that goes into depth
    http://deceptivefood.com/hormel-natural-choice-deli-meat-and-hidden-nitrates/

    Anybody who hunts or raises meat can tell you that actual real meat does not look, feel, taste or last the same as what the main stream meat industry provides.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,112 Member
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    And before anybody just dismisses me as another meat hater. I eat 150g of protein from meat a day.

    i just find ways to get the majority of my meat from sources other then big grocery inc.
  • loconnor466
    loconnor466 Posts: 215 Member
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    Processed deli meats have nitrates. That's what makes them deli meats. LoL

    What companies like hormel have done is circumvent the FDA's labeling requirements for nitrates by using "natural" nitrates from celery. And then label the product " All natural" then they add lactic acid starter culture to it and that turns the combination into.....wait for it..... Sodium nitrate. Doing this allows them to label the product as " no nitrates added. The end product can have As high as 10x the amount you get in a nitrates added deli meat.
    Here is a link that goes into depth
    http://deceptivefood.com/hormel-natural-choice-deli-meat-and-hidden-nitrates/

    Anybody who hunts or raises meat can tell you that actual real meat does not look, feel, taste or last the same as what the main stream meat industry provides.

    ^ I cut out deli meat and processed meat a long time ago, but this is great info on the "all natural" scam being pulled. Since changing to free range meat from my local farms, I have not purchased meat in a grocery store in months. Yes the taste is different and can take a little getting used to, and sometimes the meat can be a little tougher, especially the beef, but it is so worth it. And discovering Bison was amazing!
  • CrunchyDad
    CrunchyDad Posts: 66 Member
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    Both Target stores near me carry a deli meat brand "Healthy Ones" who have a couple of options with no nitrites, nitrates or MSG added. They are pretty good, however we still limit our intake to a few slices a week, I am skeptical about what other methods they use to preserve the meat as some have alluded to above.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,112 Member
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    While I don't buy "deli meat" i do buy some chicken from Safeway. They carry a line of. Antibiotic free chicken called Open Nature
    Some info on chicken labeling.
    http://consumerist.com/2013/12/19/organic-chicken-is-different-than-antibiotic-free-and-natural-means-nothing/

    Pork, I buy a pig raised by a FFA kid at the fair ever year and have it butchered into my favorite cuts.

    Fish, I catch a lot of fish. Rockcod, salmon, mackinaw and Ahi.

    Beef, I don't eat much beef but when I do it is grass feed beef from a local ranch purchased at a local farmers market. Safeway also carries Open Nature grass feed beef.

    Rabbit, duck, bison. Keeps things interesting and is available from our local butcher shop. ( google search your area as most still have a real honest to goodness butcher shop that carries boutique stuff as well as process your fair pig and hunted game )

    Turkey. Oddly enough seems to be in short supply around here most of the year. Farms must keep busy keeping the factors supplied. But when I find a whole turkey I cook the whole thing up. I prefer to buy the antibiotic free ones.

    I also hunt various critters but that is a whole separate topic. :)

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