We were spoiled when we lived in Illinois because we could easily buy a 1/4 side of beef from my cousin’s husband. Honestly, since moving to Arizona, not having a freezer full of quality, grass-fed beef has bummed me out a bit.
However, one of the groups I’m a member of sells local, grass-fed beef, twice a year, in March and September. Thanks to our grocery challenge, we couldn’t afford to buy 1/4 side of beef, but we could afford 1/8th. (Hopefully in September we’ll be able to buy the 1/4 side.)
We paid $252 for our 1/8 side, and we received the following:
- 11 pounds of burger,
- 2 chuck roasts,
- 2 pkgs. stew meat,
- 3 pkgs. soup bones,
- 1 London broil,
- 1 Sirloin tip steak,
- 1 Rib Eye steak,
- 1 Top Sirloin steak,
- 1 T-bone steak,
- 1 pkg. ribs,
- 1 Bottom Round roast,
- 1 Round Bone roast,
- 1 Eye of Round roast
The total was 37.5 pounds of meat, which works out to $6.72 a pound, which I don’t think is bad considering the cuts we received.
HOWEVER, the farmer was also offering organ meat for free, so we also got:
- 4 pkgs. of oxtail,
- 2 pkgs. of 1/2 heart,
- 5 pkgs of liver,
- 1 pkg. of tongue
I’ll be honest, I’m not going to eat the tongue. That’s my husband’s baby to enjoy. (Blech!) I’m not real keen on liver or heart either, but I know they have amazing health benefits, especially when they come from grass fed animals, so I’m going to eat them. I need all the help I can get to get rid of my candida and heal my leaky gut.
The organ meat came to 16.5 pounds. So, if I add that to the rest of the meat, then we got 54 pounds of meat for $252, which works out to $4.66 a pound.
Do you buy your meat in bulk, or do you prefer to buy it as you need it from the grocery store?
I can’t say that I’ve purposely eaten tongue but then again I might have with some of the Mexican dishes I’ve had over the years when I thought I was ordering something else! 🙂 Out of curiosity, I just did a quick recipe search and tongue tacos (lengua) appears to be popular. I’ve been told that tongue is very tender when cooked correctly – think slow. I know my brother-in-law’s family cooks tongue when they butcher but I haven’t had the joy of being there when it’s served so I can’t tell you exactly how they cook it or what it is similar to texture wise.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll pass them onto my husband, especially the taco idea. I just need to get beyond imagining the tongue and what it does all day long. 🙂 My husband ate it once before, and it still had bumps on it. I guess it’s not supposed to look like that?
It shouldn’t have the bumps on it based on the recipes I saw. After you cook it, you should remove the “skin” and then you can use the meat.
Thanks, Michelle. Hopefully this one doesn’t. I couldn’t quite get the image out of my mind last time. 🙂
I’m Mexican and grew up eating tongue. It’s a delicacy and honestly is really good!! My dad boils it then chops it up and we eat it with corn tortillas and cilantro and lime, and add in onions and tomatos. SO delicious. Don’t get to eat it that much anymore, each tongue is like $25! So thats cool you got it for free from the farmer. We’ve been wanting to get into buying grass fed meat. Still trying to find a farmer. You should try making liver capsules with the rest of the organs so that you still get the health benefits. They’re super easy, just chop them off into capsule sizes and freeze them, then swallow them like a pill with your daily vitamin.
Thanks for the advice. We’ll try it in tacos. I had no idea it was $25. 🙂
the other option for liver – grind it up and it in meat loaf…not a lot, but mix it in and you wont taste it. My doctor told me it was a great way to get iron when I was expecting…who knew?
This is definitely the way we’re going to try it. Maybe it will disguise the liver, but we’ll all get the nutritional benefits.
I am a little jealous of the Oxtail… oxtail soup is delicious and one of my favorites! As for the heart/liver, if you aren’t big on the taste, why not chop them up into little giblets and ad them to gravy. You’ll get the health benefits while diluting the tastes somewhat.