# looking for any advice or help (new raw lover)



## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

Everyday I am trying to educate my self more on the act of feeding raw and what to look for. 
My problem is finding butchers or local places to find these cheap deals...... Unfortunately for me we just have big supermarkets, and the prices aren't cheap.
Anyone live in the bayarea, Oakland, Sfo, California. 



Thanks for all the info you fellow dog lovers give. I love this forum!!!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Welcome, and yes there are people from around there! I'm sure they will chime in.

I bet there are butchers and co-ops around there.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Here's one in S.FWelcome to the San Francisco Raw Feeders Website!


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## _unoriginal (Apr 8, 2012)

Do you have a stand-alone freezer? I found that calling area butchers and asking prices on bulk order was a good place to start. The pricing I found was cheaper than grocery stores but most costly than suppliers but it was enough to hold me over until I got a supplier.


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## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

I do not have a freezer dedicated for that only yet. Maybe in the near future.
As far as co-op what does that mean?

Supplier, is thay different then a butcher shop?


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## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

whiteleo said:


> Here's one in S.FWelcome to the San Francisco Raw Feeders Website!


Great start for me especially because it says they even give classes. Thank you!!!!


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Hi - Welcome. My mom is in that area and she shops sales for chicken, ribs and that kind of thing and for variety I place an order through Creston Valley Meats. They have some really nice grinds of very hard to find meats - I have purchases emu-beef heart grinds, bison - sardine grinds, and even some unground stuff. He delivers up and down the I5 corridor and one stop is Walnut Creek, but check his website and see if he may have a stop nearer you. I place larger order three or four times per year for my mom and all his organ and variety pretty much comes from them. Cash N Carry has some good prices on chicken and pork and sometimes clearances beef chuck, etc. Walmart carries one brand of chicken quarters that it unenhanced and I believe about $6.98 for a ten pound bag. Hope that helps a little.


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## _unoriginal (Apr 8, 2012)

Pit4Life said:


> Supplier, is thay different then a butcher shop?


In a word, yes. 

The supplier is going to be where the butcher, grocery stores, or restaurants get most of their meats from. My supplier is actually a restaurant/wholesale store supplier. When they dropped an order off at one of our area drop points, they were leaving there to go to Sams Club.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

HI! :wave:

I am in the north bay. Check out Capital City Raw feeders or Fremont raw feeders. I haven't bought from either one (no need to with a freezer full of freebies!), but they have okay prices and products. Its bulk which does help.

Also, Werecatrising, knows of a bulk supplier in Sac called "Calvada? Calneva?" I can't remember but she has bought from them before. 

Also Natures Bounty in Vacaville has offal for sale occasionally. You have to call and ask though. I happen to need organs right now so I just called them.  They do have "a lot" available. She couldn't tell me what kind or a price but shes calling me back tomorrow.


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## mwplay (Oct 10, 2010)

I live in the East Bay, a few cities south of you. I belong to SFRAW and love it. I buy all the food for my dogs there, and some meat for my family. We have access to Petaluma Poultry, Marin Sun Farms, Prather Ranch, EcoPawz, Liberty Duck, Brandon Natural Meats, Diestel Turkey, GreenTripe, James Ranch Lamb, Hare-Today, Answers Pet Food, etc... They just started a weekly organic produce box. The produce comes from Veritable Vegetable in SF. 

Best way to describe it is a group who comes together to purchase food for our pets (and they offer items for people too!). We have a weekly freezer sale that is open to the public and you do not have to be a member to shop the freezer sales. During the freezer sales, you can sometimes find smaller sizes of what we buy in bulk for the normal monthly order (example - if I order a month in advance, I can get a 20 or 40lbs case of chicken, but at the sale, they sometimes break down a case to 1-5 lbs baggies, so it is more manageable if you don't have the freezer space) The co-op is located on Napoleon Street in San Francisco. Takes me about 40-45 minutes over the SM Bridge. You can easily access over the Bay Bridge. 

They deliver to Oakland (Taft Ave) and Berkeley (Holistic Hound) the 3rd Saturday of every month or you can pick up in San Francisco any Saturday. You order 1 month in advance of your pick-up/delivery. But again, they do have the freezer sales every week (Thursday-Saturday).

There is a membership fee and a volunteer requirement (8 hours per year), but you can choose to pay a higher membership fee to waive the volunteer requirement.

They have a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sfraw) you can look at some of the recent items they have had available at the freezer sales and some of the events they have going on. I think for the past 2 weekends, they've had a demonstration on different raw/cooked feeding styles.

Kasie, Patti & Jeff really "run" the place and are EXCELLENT at answering any questions you have.

Honestly, joining the group was one of the BEST things I've ever done since I started feeding my dogs raw. The people you meet when you volunteer are incredible. I've been extremely pleased with the product quality and price is okay for the vendors we have access to. I would highly recommend if you have a chance, take a drive over, just visit and see if it works for you. If it does, you can join. If not, as someone already pointed out, Fremont Barf Coop and Capital City Raw Feeders are other options. 

There is also Creston Valley Meats out of Southern California. They make, I think, bi-weekly trips to Northern California. I have never purchased through them, but someone I know has and likes what they get. 

The other option, if you don't want to buy in bulk is to shop some of the Asian markets. In my area, I've got Marina, 99 Ranch and Lion Markets. You can find organ meats there (hearts, livers, kidney, etc). I think Chavez Markets also has organ meats. 

Hope this helps. Sorry for going on about SFRAW, but I really do like the group.


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## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

I can't thank you enough for all the advice and guidance. I am really looking forward to this new beginning. 

I am def giving these a try. Thank you!!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Mwplay pretty much summed up SF Raw. I get my exotic cuts (heart, turkey necks, fish, tripe) from there. I get pork (shoulder and ribs) from Costco and liver and such at Asian markets. Chicken goes on sale at Safeway for 99 cents a pound pretty often! That's pretty much where I get all my meat and I live in the Bay Area.


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## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

I've looked at the co op fremont and sfraw, but none of those seem to sell anything that is close to $1/lb. I sometimes can find a deal at local stores that have whole chickens for 99c/lb.
1 of my dogs is up to 4 lbs a day, his digestive sytem is so advanced and energy level is so intense that it's the only way to keep him at a good weight. I started with 2 lbs a day and he started to turn into skin and bones. 
For two pitbulls we are spending about $6 a day, when we find 99c/lb. That's total of $180 a month. When it was about $80 a month on taste of the wild. 
I'm just venting....getting a lot of pressure from the wife, its hard to explain when I convinced her we would be spending about the same amount. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Have you looked at Creston Valley Meats

Here are just a few items from their website.

Emu / Ostrich Heads .60 CENTS A POUND
Emu and ostrich heads whole. This is a limited supply so I may not always have them. Please put the number of boxes you want in the order box.

OSTRICH OR EMU LUNG & TRACHEA .75 PER POUND
Whole ostrich or emu lungs with the trachea attached. Sold only by the box. each box is about 10 pounds. Please put the number of boxes you want in...

Ostrich/Emu Frames
Ostrich Frames - back frame of ostrich , $.75 lb. Order by the box.

PIG EARS .50 cents per pound
Pig ears. Sold by the box only. Each box is from 3 pounds to 10 pounds. Very limited supply. Please put the number of boxes you want in the order box.

Pig Feet .35 cents a pound
Pig Feet packed in 15-25 pound boxes. These are sold by the box. Please put the number of boxes you want in the order box.

PIG HEADS .50 CENTS PER POUND
Pig heads. These are all meat, no meat taken off. They have the ears and all. a meal for days. We shoot the pigs so we can't use them for sausage....

They have different things every month and deliver up and down the I5 corridor. My mom orders from them for her sheltie and then buys chicken and pork at regular stores.


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## BeagleCountry (Jan 20, 2012)

Buying in bulk is usually the cheapest. A google search for "wholesale meat san francisco" shows several companies in San Francisco as well as some near Oakland. Request a price list from each company. Look at the weekly online sales ads for grocery stores and walmart. Visit markets in the less affluent minority neighborhoods where off cuts and organs are frequently sold. Decide on a basic menu of chicken, turkey, beef, and pork to determine the overall cost. Chicken quarters or whole chicken and beef/pork hearts are usually cost effective. Then, shop for a freezer on Craigs List, local newspaper or Lowes which often has holiday sales.


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## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

Just checked out creston and I see a lot of stuff under $1/lb which looks great. I do need to find a freezer asap to take advantage of it. 

I have called a few meat only places and have found majority is $1/lb. I'm not giving up, I thank you all a lot gor keeping the spirit up!


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## Pit4Life (Jun 2, 2012)

Question. Does it matter what part of the pig we use? Because I see pig heads for very very cheap! And they usually have a lot of meat so I could use all that meat and buy bones that are also really cheap. Or pig feet. Just wondering if some parts are not as nutrient as others?


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

They will eat a lot of bone off the head. Yes if I could get these at this price i definitley would feed them. My mom has purchased one for her sheltie and he ate off it for over a week, yes it went back in the fridge every day. He loved it and ate quite a bit of the bone. The lung is also great.Especially for the price.


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