A couple of questions I hear a lot of people ask these days is how to make pastured meats fit into their budget and how to source truly grass-fed, quality meats. While we are raising most of our own meat at this time, for years I did source most of it from local farmers. Getting started with this can feel a little overwhelming, but once you figure it out, it becomes easy and very rewarding.

Even though we raise most of our own meats today, there is still a significant amount of time and money that goes into producing it, so we too want to get the most out of our investment. Here are a few tips that have helped us save money.

1. Before we raised our own, we bought whole animals, because we got the best price per pound. If a whole animal is too much it might be helpful to find another family to split this with. We found that freezers are a great investment and pay for themselves very quickly. Most meat products will keep frozen well over a year.
2. We don’t have the bones removed during processing. A lot of meat is wasted and the bones add a lot of flavor. I believe the bones are the most valuable part of the animal for making nutritious stock for healing.
3. We make soup with all leftover bones and meat. I have been amazed at how filling soup is in my family. This is a great meal to pair with sourdough bread.
4. We add vegetables or beans to meat to make it go further. For example, we often add beans to hamburger when making tacos, cabbage to hamburger to make cabbage rolls or casserole, garden vegetables to chicken, beef or lamb to make stir fries, etc.
5. We don’t buy processed meats anymore. While these can be convenient, the cost is significantly higher. We make our own naturally cured meats, summer sausage, and beef sticks rather than purchasing them like we used to.
6. If I had to buy chicken, I would only buy whole chickens. Once I learned how to cut up a chicken, I realized that it didn’t take that long and it saves a lot of money. More important you can make more than one meal with a whole chicken.
7. When someone asks me what I would recommend they raise for meat in order to save money, I share that in our experience beef and lamb have been cheaper to raise, but we have pasture, we don’t feed grain, and we put up our own hay. This could be different for everyone.

When searching for quality meats it’s so important to know exactly what you are getting. I have witnessed a lot of fraud in this industry, and it makes me want to raise as much of our food as possible. Last year I was searching for new pigs for breeding, and I was so excited to come across a pasture-based, GMO free farm (this is rare)! I committed to buy some older breeding pigs from them (I had checked out their website and thought I knew exactly what I was getting). As we were making plans to pick them up, I asked them specifically what they were feeding them, because we have had trouble with ours getting too fat. They said it was a feed from their local mill. I was a little confused and asked if it was GMO free/organic. It wasn’t and unfortunately, they had not updated their website to reflect this. They were having a hard time sourcing affordable, non-GMO feed. I said I didn’t want to buy them anymore, and since they were still selling pork, I asked them to correct their website. I waited a month and checked their website again which wasn’t updated and reached out again. I was ignored both times.

I share this because I believe it’s very important to have a conversation with your farmer and make sure you are getting what you think you are. I believe most people will be completely honest, but I have run across a few “natural farmers” that are not. I am not going to call anyone out on this, but I will encourage everyone to ask questions, visit the farm, and never assume anything.

I’m not always good at updating our website, but if someone is purchasing something from us that is different than stated, I always make sure to tell them exactly what they are getting. For example, we have bought just weaned piglets to raise up for people because we couldn’t meet the demand with our own, but I let everyone know this before they committed. If your farmer isn’t willing to answer your questions, let you look around the farm, and help you through the whole process, it might be best to look elsewhere. I do try to have grace with farmers, because I know how busy things can get, but when we pay for a product we deserve to know exactly what we are getting. While sourcing pasture-raised, toxin free meat can be a little more work and a bit less convenient, the investment in time and money has been one of our best investments in the health of our family and our environment.

Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, decrease modern distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle, and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet and lifestyle, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was How We Got Our Salt Better, week 2 was The Power of Water and we learned about removing toxins from our water in week 3, week 4 was Get Your Sleep Better, 5, 6, and 7 were How We Got Our Fats Better, we got our eggs better, and now we will be getting our meats better. Join us next week for How We Got Our . . . Better.