I’m looking into ordering some grass fed beef. It looks like ordering half a cow costs $6.15/lb while a whole cow costs $6.00/lb. Half a cow represents ~170 lbs of meat and a whole cow is ~340 lbs of meat (makes sense now doesn’t it). There would be additional delivery fees as well. I’m putting this up here because I am open to sharing this order with a bunch of people (all co-op style) if there is interest. I would cheerfully deal with picking up the meat (I would need to rent/borrow a truck for a whole cow) and arranging for it to be divvied up. The meat would be a mixture of steaks, roasts, ground beef and stew. Usually a breakdown for a split (half) of a cow looks like this:
15 lbs pounds steaks (one – two pound packages)
17 lbs roasts (2.5 – 4 lbs)
35 lbs pounds ground beef (1 lb. packages)
11 lbs chuck and round steaks (1.5 – 2 lb. packages)
7 lbs stew meat (1 lb packages)
I don’t have the storage for a whole cow by myself but I could potentially help with storing some meat for other people on a limited basis. This would need to be negotiated case by case because I will run out of room. The company I am looking at is: www.morrisgrassfed.com
Pickup would be in early June, this gives us all time to eat out of our freezers and make some room. 🙂
So! Who is interested? We could have a meat pick-up party. 🙂 I would like to put in an order by the end of April.
I wonder if you get to choose which 1/2.
Like me, I would totally want the tongue
For beef, the back of the cow isn’t kosher, so I got to think if you contact folks that do kosher butchering you might find back 1/2s at a discount.
“The hind quarters cannot be kosher unless the sciatic nerve and the fat surrounding it are removed. Because this is much too costly to do in the United States, no Kosher meat from the hind quarters is available in this country. Interestingly, you can find Kosher venison hind quarters. That’s because it is easier and less expensive to get rid of the sciatic nerve and any minimal amount of fat from deer, elk, moose, pronghorn, and other cervids.”
Chileno Valley Beef in West Marin will sell you tongues for $7.50/ea., but they don’t include them as part of the beef package.
I would volunteer, but I’ve got a feeling shipping costs would approach prohibitive.
Yeah, probably.
I’d have been interested too, were I to live closer to you. The place we bought our beef for the chili party last year, they do half cows and other large packages like this too. I’m thinking that maybe after I move in with the fiance, we might try a large package like this sometime.
It’s just me (yay living in a studio) but I would love to have some of everything to freeze. I just bought a crock pot so the stew meat looks especially appealing.
Excellent. I’m going to put together a spread sheet and email people. 🙂 I’ve had a couple of people speak up elsewhere such that I may actually be purchasing two cows at once. ha. I’m definitely going to need to rent a truck.
I *strongly* recommend that you try buying a few small packages first to see if you like it and if your cooking style will accommodate its toughness and leanness. I bought a half cow and had a helluva time using it up — E found the taste “gamey” and it was difficult to find ways to disguise it.
I’ve had grassfed beef before and liked it a lot. I haven’t cooked with it yet, but I’m new enough to cooking that I think I’ll figure it out. 🙂 I don’t have a firm ‘style’ at this point.
I’d be interested 🙂
Yay. You are on my list. 🙂
Honestly, I think I”d want to try it before I bought large quantities. If you do buy some, may I buy a roast from you to try?
On a similar note, there is a good possibility I’ll end up with a bit of elk this year. If so, would you like to have some?
Of course. 🙂 And I would looooooove some elk. 🙂
“a meat pick-up party”
isn’t that hanging around in a bar on Saturday night?
I don’t have any sharing opportunity, but I wanted to say YAY! We did this, got a “half cow” this past fall, and have been loving it. We have a small upright chest freezer that held all of it, and still had room for some other things. I think ours was around that price, maybe a little closer to $5/lb, and we picked it up at the farmer’s market on a specific delivery day. It was in about three square boxes, that fit easily into the Prius. I suspect you could fit all of it in your car if the seats were folded down.
Meat was (and continues to be) DELICIOUS, by the way. IT even smells good RAW. It’s amazing the difference it makes. I fully endorse this plan!!
How could I possibly pass this up? 😀
Are you doing Morris Grass-fed? Yum! Turtle and I split a split quarter one year and it was awesome!
I would be interested. Thanks!
BTW… you can get some pork and other interesting things from TLC Ranch. If you want info on them, lemme know.
I would love some pork and other interesting things. 🙂 Pass on some info, if you please. 🙂
I also give TLC Ranch one whopping vote of approval. They’re at the Mountain View farmer’s market every Sunday.
Actually, I’ve been tempted to find someone to share a half-pig from them some time. You’re inspiring me. 🙂
I might be interested in a little bit of beef, to make a good exception once in a rare while. E-mail me?
I don’t know how I feel about sharing a pig with a Jew. 😉
I would be very interested in sharing a pig. And you might be surprised who else is. I had a huge response.
Is this happening soon?? 🙂
oh oh oh, early June is here! Is this happening soon? would ~love~ to hear all about it, please? 🙂
~Debbie