You can still buy them now. The less expensive models are harder to find though, as those are probably sold out for a couple months.
My experience is a little different as my sister and BIL raise beef and own the slaughter house. Couple points to add that’s not covered.. most customers say they want grass fed but really they do not. Grass fed is very lean and steaks are not marbled. So grass fed and then finished is way to go as fat adds flavor!! 2nd. Ground beef from butcher is much more dense and compact then from store. Meaning a 1/4 cup of ground from store weighs say 5 oz and from butcher can be double that.. really Makes a difference on say burgers, meatloaf and meat balls
Yes, people say they like grass fed, i think because they "think they should say that". Straight up grass fed beef is nothing to write home about
I have been buying 2 to 3 whole steers the past couple of years from one farmer. Between my family, my folks, my sister (and her neighbors/co-workers), and co-workers there are several halves to split!!!
Yep, cause to 99% of the people it tastes better to have the animal finished on something besides straight grass...
My bil/sil just brought us some overpriced grass fed burgers...was so lean the melted cheese didn't even wanna stick to them right...and yeah, not impressed with the flavor.
Ditto on the grass fed beef... No way. No how for this guy. When I travel out west, or shall I say when I used to travel out west I struggled to find a steak that appealed to me. I can however recommend a top notch place in Jackson Hole that serves a thirty eight dollar Ribeye I'd be embarrassed to offer a homeless person. I'll take my beef corn fed thank you. Much like my women To each there own!
We’ve been buying meat by the 40lb case lately from a food wholesaler. Save about 30-50% off store prices. Last time we got 3 cases of chicken wings $.69/lb and 3 cases of boneless skinless $.84/lb. looking at getting some more soon and a case or 2 of ribeye. Only downfall is cutting packing and freezing. For the savings and better quality I’ll do it.
Update - All great information to work with. As someone said, freezers, in general, are back-ordered until mid-late August. Yesterday in my search I reluctantly called Lowes. They didn't have the model I was looking for. However; they did have a Midea 8.8 Cu. Ft. chest freezer they could order with 10-day shipping. Since that has been the only one I've actually been able to find, we bought it. My cousin is getting whole chickens from a local source that cost $3.50/lb and they average 3-4lbs. He's also looking to split a half pig with someone. I know someone recommended getting a 1/2 pig, but I think we'll go with the 1/4 right now. The layout of cash is going really put us on edge. Not a place I like to be, but I believe this will be well worth it in the end. One thing to note is that my buddies wife runs a grocery store in Maine. We were on a FaceBook messenger call, and I was explaining to him about the plan. She told me we might want to hold on as she's already seeing prices drop on meat. I explained it's not just about the cost, but a combination of different factors. One being my concern for phase 2 of lockdown. The other is that a great deal of our food now is made from scratch. We've removed the vast majority of chemicals that companies put into our foods. Thank you all. Jason from RI
boettg33, I assume are you getting those chickens because they're locally or farm raised? Is the price you wrote ($3.50/lb) correct? If so, I'm assuming you're definitely not buying based on price.....
$3.50 a pound for farm raised is great. I grow my own meat and wouldn’t think of selling chicken for less than $6 a pound - which around here is very easy to get for farm raised
Here are prices from other local farms for whole chickens: $23 - 3.5-4lbs - ($5.75/lbs best case) $6.25/lb - average 4.25lbs Poultry CSA - 6 months 8-10lbs/month (best base is $7.67/lbs) Another local CSA to compare: 3 months - $300 total 1 dozen eggs ($2.75 guessing) 1 whole chicken (4-5lbs) (using 4lbs that is 40% of the total 10lbs) 6lbs of assorted beef and pork (6lbs is 60% of the total 10lbs) 10lbs of meat total per month Calculation: I subtracted the egg cost from the $100 monthly to get $97.50 I multiplied $97.50 by .40 to get $39 for the chicken. I multiplied $97.50 by .60 to get $58.50 for the need and pork. The average price for chicken at 4lbs is $9.75. The average price for the beef and pork at 6lbs is $9.75. Local supermarket - $1.83-2.19/lbs. (I added this for comparison. Trying to get away from store-bought.) The main purpose of doing this is to ensure we have meat should there be a shortage. Many say there will not be a shortage. That would be great if there is no shortage, but it does not hurt to be prepared. The second reason is to avoid increasing prices at the supermarket. Clearly the supermarket is still well below the local options for chicken. The final reason and probably the most important reason is knowing where and how your meat is grown. The amount of chemicals/growth hormones being used today is out of this world. When it comes down to it, my concern is for my family and making ends meet. These prices represent RI. In RI, costs run higher due to the crazy taxes we pay. Other than that, I'd say it's the RI way to gouge prices. I'd prefer to support a local farmer if possible. Two reasons, first I am a local guy when it comes down to it. I hardly if ever buy anything from Lowe's or Home Depot. The chest freezer is one of the exceptions in the current climate where I've not been able to find one anywhere else. We buy stuff from Amazon when there are no local stores to purchase from. Walmart and other big box stores do not qualify for local stores. The second reason is to keep down the shipping costs. Looking at these prices, if you know of cheaper options I could look at to have delivered, please let me know. As I said, I support our local businesses and farmers as much as possible, but when it comes down to it, our ability to get ahead is just as important. One final note. My wife has been making a lot of our foods from scratch at my request. One example I'll give you is cookies. She would buy 4 packages of storebought cookies. Once she started baking our cookies, I found that I hated the taste of packaged cookies. They tasted awful. This resulted in her exploring more foods from scratch. The elimination of the chemicals found in packaged foods has been liberating. Now to get the garden big enough to can. Jason from RI
I understand that. Purchasing the chest freezer, a 1/4 cow, 10 chickens to start plus adding in the 1/4 pig is going to stretch our budget. We might end up holding off on the pig until we get the budget back in line, and then purchase 1/2. My issue is that I don't want to wait too long knowing that many of the local farms are currently sold out. The question becomes do I purchase a little now and stretch and take a chance that in 4 months when the budget is in a better place we purchase a 1/2 a pig. Jason from RI
Its is great that you want to support the local farmers, and I understand you wanting to do what you you think is best for your family in terms of type/quality of food. I have no idea what "local" chickens around here would cost, not sure anyone is doing that...would probably have to look up closer to richmond or charlottesville. I don't believe there's any earthly way someone would get those prices per pound for chicken in this area. If so, I'll start raising some yardbird to sell. So maybe that's where the high $/lb comes into play since you're in RI. But me personally...I dont think we'd be eating much chicken again if I had to pay that price. I get ancy if it gets more than the $1.78/lb for boneless skinless breasts at wm. It'd be a whole lot of deer and squirrel....and the groundhogs better take cover too.....
