What meat brand should you choose

I order my beef and pork from Butcherbox. It’s a delivery service. They work with certified animal welfare family farmers committed to regenerative practices around the Midwest. They carry a variety of meat products that are grass fed, crate free, free range, organic, wild caught, humanely raised, gluten free, dairy free, nitrate free and uncured. In some combination or another. I’m lucky to have access to organic free range eggs, I’d prefer to buy direct from a known farmer but those are scarce around me. My local grocery store carries organic air chilled chicken I like, store brand or Rosie’s is good and some wild caught fish is easy to find and even dolphin safe line caught tuna I forget the brand wild planet maybe. Such a difference from 15 yrs ago when these products were harder to find. I feel blessed to have the variety of organic options available to me.

All of my animal products (almost) come from local people, including eggs and a few other specialty products. I would suggest even if you reside in an urban area to take the time to seek out something similar and build a relationship. For example, all my beef are retired dairy cows from a family dairy and I have a local family for chicken, duck and eggs, it's pretty easy really and people generally get a lot out of a relationship like that, and most all my plant produce is local as well, right now it's potatoes, carrots, jerusalem artichokes and a variety of different squash and some greenhouse greens.

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend any 'brand' because if they're big enough to have a brand name and be national or multi state, they're too big to trust. Find local.

I bought from 2 ranches in Alberta that were 3rd and 4th generation who both raised angus beef and Alberta is cattle country in Canada and who really were worth dealing with, so they do exist, they just need to be found, which to many people is a lot or work, but I feel well worth it.

Anyway, for the last 12 years or so I've gone local simply because I can drop in and be proactive if I want and see how everything is raised and treated. Price is of course the main reason I sought local, it's much cheaper per lb buying a half or whole cow as opposed to getting steaks or roasts shipped to you. If my diet happened to be the popular plant based I probably wouldn't have changed, but, my diet relies on beef and other animal products so that's is another reason, which cost is certainly a main consideration.

@eavintx I think it’s wonderful that you are looking to find a more humane meat source. Important topic.

Wild Planet sources their meat from Uruguay, I don’t know anything else about their animal sourcing. I’d be more worried buying from WalMart personally, they have a track record of ethical issues in their supply chain.

I know not everyone can afford to change where they shop, but as you are researching meat providers, it might be worth looking into Walmarts practices as well. You can buy direct from Wildplanet online and have shipped to you.

Is the TX in your name Texas? Plenty of small cattle farms that sell meat direct to consumer if so. Any butchers in your area?

Agree @sollyn23l2 - humane slaughter is an oxymoron. I too grapple with brand trust and greenwashing.

For me; I go to a local butcher who has a relationship with a few family farms that focus on regenerative agriculture and most importantly humane animal welfare. I also have a friend who operates a small cattle farm and focuses on love of the land and their animals, so I take a little road trip when I can to stock up.

We're lucky enough to have an old-fashioned grocery store with its own butcher. They do local meat, stuff that's not shipped for days or coming from another country. It's about 20% more expensive for us, but I watch for sales. My husband can tell the difference on those rare occasions I've tried to get something by him.

If you put in "where to buy local meat" in your favorite search engine, you should get results for your area.

dearjulie1 wrote: »

Realistically, they all abuse the animals just by the nature of the business. So, if you're going to eat meat or dairy, that's just a given. Grass fed is probably the only label that I would consider preferable due to possibly marginally better nutrition. You can't trust any of them to be honest, though.

I think I found the Vegan.

Sollyn is right.

Any meat eater who thinks this is a totally happy, fun lifestyle for the animals is dreaming. IMO, we need to be real about implications of our food choices, and that generally includes some abuse of humans, not just abuse of animals, not to mention some negatives involving food waste and packaging/transport issues.

Yeah, I'm vegetarian, but I eat eggs and dairy, and I need to accept that truth, too. It's not a diss to meat eaters, either. I'm not vegetarian because of sympathy for the animals, obviously - given the eggs and dairy, plus the fact that I was happily married to a meat-eating hunter for a couple of decades (widowed, not divorced, BTW). I'm also not arguing that we should do anything other than treat them as humanely as practical.

Even with humanely focused local sources, the animals involved aren't doing this by choice. Some things are better than they would be in the wild (ample food, for example), but not necessarily overall.