Thank you to everyone that shared their thoughts on meat in this week’s discussion thread, Let’s Chat: Meat. If you missed it and want to share your thoughts head over there and leave a comment. I loved reading everyone’s response and am so grateful for everyone that shared. 🥰
My thoughts on meat – I love it. I enjoy all types except for the liver. No pate for me, please. We eat animal products daily and dinner is usually a protein with one or two vegetables and a carb. This is the way Marco and I both grew up eating (thank you grandma) and we still enjoy it. We also really love vegetarian and vegan meals and neither of us is ever sad if we don’t have animal protein with a meal.
I enjoy cooking meat, especially on the grill. My favorite part about working with animal products is being able to honor the animal and its life. It starts with making a beautiful meal for dinner but continues when I make broth with the bones, I render as much fat as possible to cook with later, and lastly making sure leftovers get turned into a second meal. As long as I am not wasting animals I am okay to keep consuming them.
In recent years, where the meat I am consuming comes from has been at the forefront of my thinking. My world revolves around food. From the newsletters I start my day reading to the Youtube videos I watch in the bath. If I am not cooking, I’m thinking about food. The more I research the US food system, factory farms, nutrition, and agricultural practices the more invested I get in how things really need to change.
My entire adult life before moving to Kansas City was spent on the west coast. I went to culinary school in San Francisco where the importance of where your food comes from was deeply ingrained in my brain. I would walk through the best farmers markets in the city on my way home each day and I was lucky enough to do lots of my shopping at them.
After that, I lived in Santa Cruz with Marco while he finished his last year in college. We were definitely a little…crunchy during that phase of our life. There was no shortage of farmers markets there and when we did go to a grocery store it was New Leaf. We still talk about how much we miss New Leaf because even though it falls into the category of “health food store” it has every single thing you could need. We were so fortunate to do things on the weekends like drive a little up the coast and buy flats of strawberries during strawberry season. We would snack on them, make jam with them, and dehydrate them for later. Eating organic, local, and real food was a fundamental belief that brought Marco and me together. His allergies limited the number of processed foods we could purchase and it pushed me as a cook to make everything we wanted.
Moving back down to LA for our next chapter wasn’t much different. Marco and I would walk to the farmers market down the street from our apartment on Saturdays. I would regularly meet my mom to walk the Sunday farmers market in her neighborhood. In addition to the farmers markets, Marco and I would make a weekly trip to our local Co-Op turning our grocery shopping into a fun activity we did together. There was of course a Whole Foods around every corner that we would pop into whenever we needed.
I give KC a lot of shit for its lack of produce but coming from the west coast, it’s true for me! I say that fully acknowledging how spoiled I have been with the access I had but it is one of the things I miss the most living out here. I do 90% of my shopping at Whole Foods which I have to drive 30 minutes to. They have the best options for organic but since being acquired by Amazon more products are being shipped in from all over the world. This usually means the quality and flavor are lacking. We have a teeny tiny health food store, Green Acres, right down the street from us and we pop in multiple times a week but it’s not big enough to get everything we need. Then, of course, there are farmers markets but instead of glowing produce stands, the markets are filled with meat stands from local farms.
The first meat we tried was pork from Odd Bird Farm and were blown away by how good it tasted. Then we tried a chicken from Five Mile Farms and it was easily one of the tastiest chickens I have ever prepared. We researched the farms and found out all about their sustainable and regenerative practices. This was something Marco was familiar with after studying environmental studies and economics for four years in college. I on the other hand had no clue what that was or why it was important. Marco and I have wanted to buy our proteins solely from these local farms but it isn’t convenient, it’s expensive upfront to stock up on items, I need specific things for recipe testing…the list goes on for why we haven’t been able to make it work in the past.
So fast forward to the last few months. We popped into a butcher shop close to us that only sells products raised within 100 miles of Kansas City. Great, local! We went in together and bought a few things. One thing we bought was bison from KC Buffalo Co. which we later found out the butcher shop charges double what it costs to order directly from KC Buffalo Co. Marco was pissed about that one and rightfully so. Later that day I researched the farms that the shop sources their beef from since I had bought a few steaks. That farm feeds their cattle a corn diet. Not ideal. Lastly, I researched the farm where they source their lamb. We skipped buying two frozen racks of lamb when we were told the price was over $200! I was able to find a local farm with regenerative practices that delivered to our door for $26/lb making that $200 price completely unnecessary. That same evening we decided to make the investment and stock up our deep freezer directly from the farms around us.
There is one other hugely important detail that I haven’t mentioned yet. Meat that comes from animals that were raised properly tastes better! This is something that I deeply believe after many experiences preparing and consuming meat sourced from tons of different places. I have had countless experiences with grocery store meat (always organic) which left me a little uneasy. I have even tossed some leftovers and you know how strongly I hate food waste.
Food is important to me. Treating our animals and planet properly is important to me. Feeding myself and my family with the most nutrients possible is important to me. Having a delicious meal each night is also very important to me.
Although I still miss west coat produce, I am incredibly fortunate to have access to a handful of farms that use regenerative and sustainable practices. This is something not everyone will have at their fingertips. This week we placed two large orders of our favorite meats and stocked up our deep freezer. The first order was from Five Mile Farms. We purchased five whole chickens, a package of chicken thighs, beef short ribs, ground beef, skirt steak, and chicken hearts that I boil for Josie.
The second haul was from Farrar Family Farms. Unlike Five Mile Farms we haven’t tried their meat before. I have seen them at farmers markets and after researching their practices we were sold. Our delivery included bacon, baby back ribs, ground pork, pork chops, sliced ham, Boston butt, rack of lamb, lamb ribs, ground lamb, and beef rib-eye steaks.
This is a ton of meat! No doubt about that. We spent about $500 on everything which is a huge upfront cost but our weekly grocery budget will come down significantly. I compared the cost from these two farms with organic options from Whole Foods and it’s about the same. Lamb and chicken from the farms were a few dollars more expensive per pound but beef and pork per pound prices were lower than the grocery store. So it balances out.
This shift will change how we consume meat for sure. Buying this way requires a bit more planning. Both farms have a hefty minimum purchase price, have limited pick up/delivery options, plus everything needs to defrost and those big chickens will take at least two days. I (and most of our country) am used to the accessibility and convenience of popping out and getting what we need at that moment.
This will affect my recipe testing too. I test each recipe 3-5 times. I’ll have to make sure I have what I need to get that done and be flexible because everything comes preportioned and frozen therefore limiting my options. For example, last week we made Braised Short Ribs with English cut short ribs. The ribs I picked up this week look like they are flanken cut. I didn’t have the option to specify and I might be able to build a relationship down the line to make a request but for now, I’m workin’ with what I got! I’m a resourceful gal and will get things down in no time.
I won’t be able to change our country’s food system but I’m ultimately in charge of where I source my food and what I put in my body. I’m not giving up on my hunt for great produce around me and the next area I want to tackle is seafood.
When I am back from our trip we will dive into specific topics around regenerative agriculture and eating sustainably. For now, I have a few resources for you guys to look at and I am excited to tackle this topic again in the spring.
The Bittman Project is a newsletter from Mark Bittman and a wonderful group of writers. They share the belief that “food should be fair to people and animals, affordable for everyone, nutritious, and produced in a way that respects nature and the environment. Food should also taste good; more often than not, that requires shopping, preparing, and cooking.” I link articles from The Bittman Project all the time but it is a must-follow for those interested in food (all of us here?).
I linked to this video last week from the NY Times, See The True Cost Of Your Chicken. Give Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet a watch also. It sucks to see the images in both videos but it is really important information.
*Both links are gift links meaning you will be able to watch them without a subscription.
Watch The Next Thing You Eat on Hulu! It’s a lighter viewing experience than the two videos above for sure. Each topic is so interesting and presented really well.
How can you find farms around you?! If you are in KC all the farms I purchased from are linked above. If you are elsewhere google “regenerative agriculture farm meat <your city>” and you’ll be able to look into some options. I tried it with a few random cities and had luck. Most farmers are proud to use these practices and will have the information available. If you need more help send me a message and I’ll help you research. It’s still too cold in most places for farmers markets but once spring hits, get out there and start exploring your options!
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I use my Kunz spoon so much I have now added some more to my kitchen. One addition is a perforated spoon. Ditch your old slotted spoon and treat yourself to this beauty.
I used ground pork from Farrar Farms this week in my pasta sauce with cabbage, there is a whole chicken defrosting that I’ll roast in a few days, and Josie’s chicken hearts will be boiled this afternoon. It feels good to support these local farms!
Talk to you next week, M