# Where does your meat come from?



## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

Now I'm sure this question has been asked before (actually I think I remember reading something of the sort), but I'll be a pain and ask it again. :biggrin:

Where do you guys get your meat from? I know about all the different ways to find it, I'm just curious as to what most of you do. Where have you guys found the cheapest prices? The best selection? Etc....


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## chrisinaustin (Dec 6, 2009)

I'm in the first week; so far it's been chicken quarters from the neighborhood Randalls (a.k.a. Safeway?) @ $0.79/lb.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

I get my meats from a mexican market and asian market I have about 5 minutes from my house, and also my wholesale meats from a company that is about 15 minutes. Most of the meats I buy are never over $1. Except for the duck, and beef. I never ever go over $2/lb. Well, not yet at least. LOL :smile:

Oh, forgot Costco and Walmart!!! They have some cheap stuff...!


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

malluver1005 said:


> I get my meats from a mexican market and asian market I have about 5 minutes from my house, and also my wholesale meats from a company that is about 15 minutes. Most of the meats I buy are never over $1. Except for the duck, and beef. I never ever go over $2/lb. Well, not yet at least. LOL :smile:


That's cool...what do you get from them other than beef and duck?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Harvest Meats

Harvest Meat Company - Products

Average price on the "regulars" is about $.60 per pound. 

Regulars:
chicken quarters
chicken backs
turkey necks
turkey wings
pork riblets
whole tilapia
beef ribs
beef heart
liver meat (pork usually)
kidney meat (pork usually)

We look for pork shoulder/butt roasts at the supermarkets when its on sale for $1 or less per pound. Whole turkeys when on sale from the supermarkets.

Asian markets for the cats food items-small fresh whole frozen fish.

Colorado Carnivores co op- misc items and meats...wont pay more than $1.50 per pound for much of anything.

Craigslist ads for freezer burned meats- usually free, unless its game meat we will buy it for no more than $1.50 per pound.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

harrkim120 said:


> That's cool...what do you get from them other than beef and duck?


Chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, goat, whole tilapia, whole pollock, whole cod and liver and kidney. They even have horse meat, buffalo, elk and venison. But that's too expensive for me. :smile:


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I go a couple different places. 

WAL MART
Chicken Quarters- Regularly $.61/lb but I generally stock up like crazy when they go on good sales. (like $4/bag-$.40/lb)
Pork Shoulder Roasts- Regularly $.99/lb, but they go on sale often enough for $.79 that we don't pay full price, and just buy a few when they are on sale. 
Beef Kidney- $.99/lb Never seen it on sale. 


FOOD4LESS
Beef Ribs- $1.09 regularly. 
Lamb Breast- $1.59 regularly. (unbelievable for lamb, according to prices I see elsewhere!
Goat- $1.80 regularly. I bought it on sale for $1.49, not sure how often it goes on sale, as I've only gone one time so far, and bought these three things. 

RANCH 99
Pork Heart $1.19/lb
Whole Sardines $1.02/lb
Boneless Beef Shank- $1.89/lb


LOS RANCHEROS MEXICAN MARKET
Whole Talapia $1.42/lb (occasionally goes on sale for less. but not a whole lot less)



I buy whole turkey only on sale and have gotten it as low as $.25/lb. I really try to keep it under $1/lb but will go up to $2 for a few things, like beef. I try to stock up as much as possible on sales, so I never have to pay full price. I keep abou 300lbs in stock at a time here, so I never run out!


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> Harvest Meats
> 
> Harvest Meat Company - Products
> 
> ...


I went looking at this Harvest Meats website...they have a location in Orlando. :biggrin: How do you get your product from them? And is it in crazy bulk?


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> Whole turkeys when on sale from the supermarkets.





CorgiPaws said:


> I buy whole turkey only on sale and have gotten it as low as $.25/lb.


I would love to stock up on some turkey right now...they have it on sale at the local market, but I'm trying to figure out how to portion up those suckers. lol Getting the wings and drumsticks off are easy, but how do I divide up the body? Do you guys just take a heavy meat cleaver to it???


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Walmart for my CLQs because they're usually about $0.57/lb. Sometimes they have turkey necks or drumsticks on sale for about $0.79/lb so i'll snatch those up when it happens. 

Winco for my pork because I can usually find it for about $0.98/lb in the "off season" and about $0.68/lb during the summer. Winco also has less expensive cans of mackerel. Right now they're $1.48/each. And sardines for $0.88/tin. Not the best price but I bet my puppy and cat will enjoy them. 

Almost everything else I get for free off of craigslist or from my mom's butcher friend. I spend almost 2 hours today cutting up cow liver, spleen, tongue, heart, and lung. What a pain in the butt lung is to cut up! I swear I will not be asking for it again for a long time. And I now have so much organic, free range, grass-fed cow liver I don't think I will ever need to buy liver again. It should last all of my dogs for the rest of their lives! Ok maybe not that much but it sure seems like it! 

I also got a bunch of slightly meaty pork bones that were already conveniently cut up, so those will make nice chew toys.


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

I see cow tongue all the time at Walmart, but I have no idea what to do with it. lol Would it be a muscle meat or more of a chew toy? 

I can just see Brady running around with this giant tongue sticking out of his mouth...shaking it...smacking him in the face...:tongue:


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

harrkim120 said:


> I would love to stock up on some turkey right now...they have it on sale at the local market, but I'm trying to figure out how to portion up those suckers. lol Getting the wings and drumsticks off are easy, but how do I divide up the body? Do you guys just take a heavy meat cleaver to it???


It is easier than you might think. :wink: Poultry shears work pretty well, but I've just used a big knife before.

I cut it like this:

Drumstick
Thigh
Wing
Left breast
Right Breast
back
guts/neck if included

The breast bone can be a little tricky to cut through. But I've found that there is a "sweet spot" juuuussstt to either side of the middle. I cut there because it's loads easier. :tongue:

Richelle


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Tongues easy, just cut it up into slices or chunks and feed it. It's considered a muscle meat, it is kinda rubbery with the thick skin left on but somewhere someone said that they find it skined. My dogs love it when I find it.


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

Co-Op, but I just emailed a 'high end' grocery store that carries a lot of lamb, peasant, duck, goose, elk, buffalo, etc. to see if they have any deals on weird cuts (necks, etc) or old meat.

Hopefully they get back to me.


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## J&T (Oct 13, 2009)

Most of our supplies come from a local grocery (3 stores)--I stop in 2-3 days per week and shop either for advertized sales or the managers special.

Right now pork butt roast are .99/lb as an advertized sale and also picked up quarters on managers special at .79/lb. While the last is not a great price it lets me stay well under the per pound price I try to stay under. I think being willing to buy at the higher price helps promote a good relationship. I did call the store just a few minutes ago and they have put aside the remainder of the managers special on the quarters for me to pick up Saturday. Going to be .19/# for about 18#.

Also in talking to him before- none of their private label product is enhanced.


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

Ok, he has lamb necks...these are good to feed, right??


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Lamb necks are fine to feed, I don't personally feed them as they are an odd shaped bone and not alot of meat on them, they can be sharp. Hope this helps.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

spookychick13 said:


> Ok, he has lamb necks...these are good to feed, right??


yep. :smile:


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## spookychick13 (Jan 26, 2010)

The butcher told me he could get them for me whole, this would be a lot better, right?


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## LindaP (Jan 14, 2010)

I get my wholesale product from Perfectly Raw. She's in NH, but delivers all the way down through CT and NY. She pulls off the highway, we meet at a designated parking lot, and the deal goes down. She makes it convenient for everyone. 

Then scan what I now call the "weird meat sections" of the grocery stores and Wally World. Based on comments here, I will go trolling ethnic markets when I can. Never thought of that, and it's a great tip.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

harrkim120 said:


> I went looking at this Harvest Meats website...they have a location in Orlando. :biggrin: How do you get your product from them? And is it in crazy bulk?


We just call and say that we are with the Colorado Meat and Bone Feeders and would like to make an order. Possibly just call the number listed for Orlando and ask if they sell to private parties. All the different branches might be managed differently, but it never hurts to ask!

We go and pick it up. Its a warehouse with big door for loading semis so we just back into one of those spaces and they just load up the back of our truck. We can call in our order and go pick it up an hour later. I usually order a few days in advance, just in case they are out of something that they will get the next couple of days. Also I ask them to leave the meat sitting out so it can start thawing...but they usually don't do this since its human grade meat LOL

Its in bulk, and frozen solid. The biggest case of meat we get is the beef ribs, which is a 55-60 pound case, but the racks of ribs are easy to pull apart when frozen (we just wrap these up in cheap trash bags and refreeze them). Most of the cases of meat are 30-40 pound cases. We have to thaw out the cases in order to re-package them into smaller containers that hold ~2 days worth of food. Thawing takes about 2-4 days at room temp in HUGE rubbermaid containers, or 1-2 days in the summer outside. But its worth the work for the price.



harrkim120 said:


> I would love to stock up on some turkey right now...they have it on sale at the local market, but I'm trying to figure out how to portion up those suckers. lol Getting the wings and drumsticks off are easy, but how do I divide up the body? Do you guys just take a heavy meat cleaver to it???


You can use a sharp, serrated knife to saw through the bones. Just finding the "weak" parts of the carcass takes practice...its taken a few times of breaking one down to get the hang of it! I whole ~20 pound turkey feeds our 4 big dogs well for a few days, it would last you like 2 weeks LOL!!!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Since were having a meat cutting fest today, Jon thought he'd just "stop by" food4less and see if we "needed" anything else.... and now we have 20 more lbs of lamb, another pork roast, and liver. Seriously? lol. DId we need any of that today? No. Add thirty minutes to our meat cutting party!

ETA: hopefully with all the meat pulled out, Ellie, the kibble junkie cat, will show some interest.


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

CorgiPaws said:


> Since were having a meat cutting fest today, Jon thought he'd just "stop by" food4less and see if we "needed" anything else.... and now we have 20 more lbs of lamb, another pork roast, and liver. Seriously? lol. DId we need any of that today? No. Add thirty minutes to our meat cutting party!
> 
> ETA: hopefully with all the meat pulled out, Ellie, the kibble junkie cat, will show some interest.


Geez...what size freezer do you have for all those goodies?


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> We just call and say that we are with the Colorado Meat and Bone Feeders and would like to make an order. Possibly just call the number listed for Orlando and ask if they sell to private parties. All the different branches might be managed differently, but it never hurts to ask!
> 
> We go and pick it up. Its a warehouse with big door for loading semis so we just back into one of those spaces and they just load up the back of our truck. We can call in our order and go pick it up an hour later. I usually order a few days in advance, just in case they are out of something that they will get the next couple of days. Also I ask them to leave the meat sitting out so it can start thawing...but they usually don't do this since its human grade meat LOL
> 
> Its in bulk, and frozen solid. The biggest case of meat we get is the beef ribs, which is a 55-60 pound case, but the racks of ribs are easy to pull apart when frozen (we just wrap these up in cheap trash bags and refreeze them). Most of the cases of meat are 30-40 pound cases. We have to thaw out the cases in order to re-package them into smaller containers that hold ~2 days worth of food. Thawing takes about 2-4 days at room temp in HUGE rubbermaid containers, or 1-2 days in the summer outside. But its worth the work for the price.


Man...that's so awesome. :biggrin: The co-op in my area doesn't seem to get much variety. :frown: So I'm looking into other options. I'll give them a call on Monday...hopefully something could be worked out. 



danemama08 said:


> You can use a sharp, serrated knife to saw through the bones. Just finding the "weak" parts of the carcass takes practice...its taken a few times of breaking one down to get the hang of it! I whole ~20 pound turkey feeds our 4 big dogs well for a few days, it would last you like 2 weeks LOL!!!


Hey, nothing wrong with that. :biggrin: I'll be looking forward to the fun. lol


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