I just bought our Christmas present...Organic grass fed beef.

[dixiegrrrrl]

or rather, half a beef.
Which will cost 4.25 a pound.
Plus the 115.00 for the butcher shop to cut and wrap and freeze it.
That sounds good, right?
Until one realizes that is the price of "hanging weight" after the beef is killed, skinned and gutted.
BEFORE it is cut up, and all the "discards" thrown away.
Comes to about 800 # hanging weight. Or hopefully smaller.

Bones will be included in the order.
I WANT the bones.
Back in the day, our Grandparents USED those bones, to make stews and things that actually jelled, because of the marrow in the bones.
The cooked bone dishes are what our bodies used to keep OUR bones strong, but in "today's" cooking, we don't use them.

There are a couple of good recipe books about how to cook bones, like the French do.
One is titled, appropriately, "Bones".

Plus the dog gets the cooked bones when I am done with them.

I also get the liver, heart, tongue, and the tail bones, for oxtail stew, which is extremely rich and flavorful.

Half a beef will last the 2 of us over 2 years, probably more, since we do not eat beef more than 2x week.
So, figuring the cost of beef I would buy in a store, which averages about 4.99#, in a year's time..
the rather huge outlay for half a beef now, upfront, is not that bad.
I consider it an investment, and saved up the money for it for the past2 years since we had our last beef purchase.
Esp. considering how incredibly flavorful the meat is, and how it does NOT contain anti-biotics and other yucky stuff.

The first thing I did after we moved into this house, was to buy a chest freezer, which sits in the carport, tucked away, and locked.

The joys of country living.

[denverbill]

1. That's cool. I've been wanting to do something similar with pork.

All the pork we can buy around here is soaked in brine and of unknown origin.

What 'discards' would there be after it is gutted and skinned?

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. What 'discards' would there be after it is gutted and skinned?

Gristle, layers of fat, all the stuff that gets trimmed off when the meat pieces are created.
I imagne there still is a market for tallow that the burcher can take advantage of.

We have a source of organic pork, across the line in Fla. about 40 miles away.
Apparenlty Fla. lets the farmer sell packaged meat...Ala. doesn't.
The Fla. farmer sells pork for 8.00 or more a pound, and turkeys, dressed, for 50.00.
He has a loyal following, and sells at weekend market in Pensacola
and at his farm.

The problem with buying REAL meat is you won't want to go back to commercial meat.
I have gone almost 20 years without eggs ( except for baking) and pork,
after eating my own homegrown stuff many moons ago.

We have chickens now....the eggs are marvelous.

[Kali]

3. this rancher thanks you!

a freezer is a GREAT way to eat better and save money too. If I were deciding between some consumer purchase like a big honking teevee or other item like it I would get a good chest style freezer FIRST!

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. And it is NOT a "frostless" type, either!

Mr. Dixie gave me some guff about buying one you have to manually defrost.
Clearly he had never kept any meats frozen for more than 6 months.
I cheerfully defrost it once a year when the outside temps drop.
runs less often, does not dry out food.

[jtuck004]

5. Just fyi -

Generally, most vets and sources will tell you not to give cooked bones to the dogs. The chances of splintering and then digestive problems are much greater than if they just get large raw bones. Even then it's best to keep an eye out, but they are generally said to be much safer.

Your experience may be different, but it's a fairly common warning.

That said, we bought a 1/4 a few years back - the darn thing lasted quite a while, but was some of the best we ever had. You might want to check up on how long beef lasts when frozen, and what you might do in packaging to help it last longer. Last I heard was a year before the meat began to deteriorate.