Wild or Store Bought Meats - Which is better?

ADM1979
ADM1979 Posts: 105 Member
edited October 3 in Food and Nutrition
New Question: since turkey is better . . . is game turkey better than store bought turkey? We are hunters and turkey and deer season is fast approaching. Is it better to eat wild meat or store bought? How would I find calories to wild meats?

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    The most common answer you'll probably get is that wild is better, and that's probably generally true. But it would depend on the store bought meat (is it organic, grain fed, grass fed, free range, etc.) and the wild game, the thing about wild game is that it's diet is uncontrolled, which is generally a good thing. But it could be less safe if a water or food source in the area was contaminated or if the animal were not properly field dressed or butchered. There is also a strain of "mad cow" that affects deer and elk
  • Valechka
    Valechka Posts: 192
    Wild would be better, usually it is also more tasty, unless you overcooked it. I cannot get wild anymore, so I buy fresh from the farm, at least it is not frozen and not so huge, as usual deal with store bought. Who knows what that turkey ate to get that size.
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
    Wild is always better. If the hunter or farmer knows what they're doing. For ex, store bought meats have something (nitrice?) injected to keep them that nice red colour instead of turning brown.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
    How different could it be?
  • sarglava
    sarglava Posts: 206 Member
    Calories will be roughly the same, but wild meat tends to have a more natural fat structure. It may be "gamier" than store bought meats and possibly have more fat in it, but as this fat is not fat produced by cortisol (the fat formed when an animal is stressed, like in a farm atmosphere) it's not going to be as bad for your body to eat it.
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    New Question: since turkey is better . . . is game turkey better than store bought turkey? We are hunters and turkey and deer season is fast approaching. Is it better to eat wild meat or store bought? How would I find calories to wild meats?

    Wild game that you killed, slaughtered, dressed and stored is obviously the best. You know first hand exactly where your meat came from.

    I don't trust grocery stores to tell the truth in labelling so wild or a local farmer is ALWAYS best.

    I am envious of you to have access to the game meats. YUM
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I guess I'm wondering what you mean by "since turkey is better." Better than what?

    But heck yes I would opt for wild game if that is an option over factory-farmed meat (which is primarily what store-bought is). The reason being that I think animals eating what they evolved to eat and doing what they evolved to do are healthier and, thus, more nutritious than animals being confined and fed food primarily because it is inexpensive and fattens them up quickly.
  • astrand1800
    astrand1800 Posts: 54 Member
    I knew venison burger and steak was in the system already. I just searched wild turkey breast and its in too. Wild meats usually are significantly leaner which makes it lower in fat and calories. My husband hunts so we have a freezer full of wild game. Its nice not to buy meat at the store.
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    How different could it be?

    Well lets see..............

    Wild meat:
    Natural Diet as nature intended.
    Happy free roaming creature
    No hormones, antibiotics or feed lots, factory farming, etc.

    Store bought meat:
    Feed lot fed grains that the animal was not intended to ever eat
    Filled with hormones, antibiotics
    Stressed to the hilt because they are abused and crowded
    Disease infested.


    Again, how different is it? It is very different.
  • cabaray
    cabaray Posts: 971 Member
    Go wild! Typically it is leaner meat with no artifical hormones. Personally, I prefer deer to beef anyway!
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
    Calories will be roughly the same, but wild meat tends to have a more natural fat structure. It may be "gamier" than store bought meats and possibly have more fat in it, but as this fat is not fat produced by cortisol (the fat formed when an animal is stressed, like in a farm atmosphere) it's not going to be as bad for your body to eat it.

    Wild meat will actually have less fat than store bought stuff since stores tend to add fat to enhance flavour. This obviously isn't true for "extra lean" varieties where some fat has been taken out or the meat was from a lean area of the animal.
  • ADM1979
    ADM1979 Posts: 105 Member
    My entire family (including me) hunt and fish. Plus we raise cattle. So I have a lot of meat that is not store bought. We also raise a huge garden every year and put up as much as possible. I think "fresh" is best. But I was uncertain about the meats. We have all of our meats butchered and packed by an Amish family. So, they do not use any unnatural ingredients.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
    I wouldn't assume wild caught is better for land animals or birds.
    Wild caught means you don't know where it has been.
    Often wild caught geese or ducks are full of fertilizer and chemicals from golf courses. I have tasted it.
    Do you know how clean the water is that the animal has been drinking?
    What about lead or mercury? There are so many abandoned dumps and mines that unless you caught the thing inside Yosemite, you really shouldn't be too confident of what you have.
  • Grokette
    Grokette Posts: 3,330 Member
    My entire family (including me) hunt and fish. Plus we raise cattle. So I have a lot of meat that is not store bought. We also raise a huge garden every year and put up as much as possible. I think "fresh" is best. But I was uncertain about the meats. We have all of our meats butchered and packed by an Amish family. So, they do not use any unnatural ingredients.

    You have it made!!! Envious!!!
  • ADM1979
    ADM1979 Posts: 105 Member
    I feel the meat I have been eating must be pretty safe. I am still here! LOL!!!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I feel the meat I have been eating must be pretty safe. I am still here! LOL!!!

    You quite likely correct, although there are a lot of people eating junk food that are still here too so I'm not sure that argument alone is suffiecient. But if you have free meat that you are reasonably sure has not been contaminated definitely eat it. We should all be so lucky!
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I was surprised to find antelope in the database yesterday. It's probably mostly better. However my husband makes sausage and jerky out of some of his meat. That'll be interesting to try to figure nutritional info on. He added pork fat to the antelope for summer sausage.
  • LuciaLongIsland
    LuciaLongIsland Posts: 815 Member
    Where do you buy wild? I would never eat venison, so I guess steak? I live NO
    where near a farm. Isn't wild more expensive? Is it worth the price, I am retired and money is an issue.
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