Buying Meat page

[Maleficarum]

So I have seen people post some extremely inexpensive meat prices that they have reportedly paid by buying in bulk. My wife just bought me a 14.9 cubic foot freezer for my birthday. Now we have to fill the damn thing up.


I live in Sacramento, CA which I would have thought would predispose me to finding better deals on meat. All the ranches and farms in this area charge excessive amounts for even their halves and quarters. We are talking $7 to $8 a pound for non-grass fed beef. The grass fed beef is going for something closer to $11 or $12 a pound. I am not paying $700 to $1400 to fill up my freezer with a few steaks, a couple of roasts and some ground beef. It just doesn't make sense.


So, anyone with experience in this area, please lend me some advice.

[FlyNavyWife]

Wow, for non-grassfed??

I'm in California and have found several places that end up being about 3.50-5.00 per pound (grassfed) but they were sold out through 2009... would take orders in Jan 2010, but the beef wouldn't be ready till June or July. I didn't want to wait that long.


I found another farmer through a "guy who knows a guy" situation, who has grassfed cows and he's going to sell for 5.00 a pound but we had to find people to split up the cow ourselves, because he doesn't have a waiting list of people who want halves, quarters, etc.


Talk to some people and let them know what you want, maybe post something on Craigslist to see if there's a "guy who knows a guy" haha. Good luck!

[Pikaia]

Definitely ask around. You should be able to do better than that in Sacramento. But if all else fails, order online in bulk. Check out US Wellness and Slanker's. They'll ship nationwide. Ground beef is slightly cheaper at US Wellness, while cuts of beef are cheaper at Slanker's.


US Wellness

http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok


Slanker's

http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/

[FlyNavyWife]

oh yeah, I was planning on ordering from Slanker's before I found this guy - their cost works out to be roughly $6/pound for a 1/4 cow. Not bad.

[trypleight]

Up here in Alberta, Canada, I paid $3.89/lb CAD for grassfed/finished bison. You are getting ripped off. Search online, being a US resident you have many more options for online grassfed beef than us in Canada. If I could order organic grass fed beef from the US I would. Keep shopping, you will have to look beyond your local butcher. Order a whole cow and split it with friends or order by the quarter section.

[FlyNavyWife]

trypleight, I don't think "ripped off" is the right term... it's a supply/demand thing. And if the farmer can get those prices for his meat, because there isn't a lot of local grass-fed beef, and people are willing to pay those prices, why not? But a bargain shopper will look around and compare prices and seek out other sources... that's capitalism, not "Scamming" or ripping anyone off.

[trypleight]

10 minutes and here is grass fed for $5.49/lb to $6.99/lb...shipped.

http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/grass-fed-beef-whole.asp


Just one site.

[RogerDeRok]

I don't think anyone else here is in NM, but you can get a grass fed cow from Keller's in Albuquerque for under $4/lb.

[trypleight]

FlyNavyWife I'm bot here to argue economics, the post relates to a forum member looking for a feasable/economical retailer to purchase healthy meat. Compared to what the average person is paying per pound of meat on this forum, Maleficarum is getting "ripped off". Stay on topic, we are here to help not criticize.

[FlyNavyWife]

tryp, I am aware of what this post is about. But as a business-owning daughter of a business-owner, I'm acutely aware of the OTHER end of things too.

And if the farmer can get $20/pound for his beef but sells it for $4/pound while the guy next door is selling his for $20/pound (and still selling all of it since demand isn't an issue in this case... people want grassfed beef!)... isn't that having the farmer be "ripped off" in a sense too?


I offered suggestions for finding a "feasible/economical retailer to purchase healthy meat" before responding to your comment. So it's not like I'm just trolling around trying to make trouble or anything. Just responding to something that I felt needed a response. You can ignore me if you want. I'm okay with it.