Yeah. I should probably write a blog post going through all this...
Keep in mind, I selected for the highest quality meat I could find -- organic, grass fed, grass finished, small farm raised, etc.
Step 1: Find farms. I used my local farmer's market as a jumping off point, they publish a local farm guide.
Step 2: Ensure the farmer meets your criteria, get information on cost and availability. Most farmers had this info on their websites or were a single call/email away. Farmers, btw, are generally not technologists. Some farmers will let you come by. Others won't.
Step 3: Pay your down payment and wait. I put $400 down, and I waited a couple months for my harvest date.
Step 4 (Optional): On harvest day, I could come collect the organ meat (tongue, liver, heart, etc.) if I wanted them, directly from the farm.
Step 5: Pay the farmer -- I paid about $2000 to the farmer at this point.
Step 6: Contact the butcher with your cut sheet. An animal has a number of different cuts that are mutually exclusive -- prime rib vs ribeye steaks, filet mignon/new yorks vs tbones, etc. The butcher will walk you through this.
Step 7: Wait again. The butcher hangs the animal for a few weeks, then processes it via your cut sheet. I think this was 3-4 weeks for me? It was around the holidays, so they were slammed.
Step 8: Pick up your beef, pay the butcher. Be prepared to fill your car with coolers, and fill the coolers with beef. I picked up ~415-480lbs of beef and bones, and paid the butcher ~$550. Every cut was packaged, neatly labeled in white paper, and I stacked them into coolers and drove off.
Step 9: Deliver to your friends. I split my order into 1/8ths and delivered to friends. We kept 1/2, some friends took 1/4, some took 1/8th, and some further split their 1/8th with other friends. (For my own sanity, I refused to subdivide below 1/8th.)
1/8th is about 50-60lbs of meat, which packs a medium sized freezer above/below a fridge. Be prepared and clean that freezer out in advance!
Step 10: Find lots of recipes. Share recipes. Explore global culture through your food. I discovered key wat, a spicy Ethiopian beef stew, because I wanted to go beyond just the meat and potatoes from my midwest history.
Keep in mind, I selected for the highest quality meat I could find -- organic, grass fed, grass finished, small farm raised, etc.
Step 1: Find farms. I used my local farmer's market as a jumping off point, they publish a local farm guide.
Step 2: Ensure the farmer meets your criteria, get information on cost and availability. Most farmers had this info on their websites or were a single call/email away. Farmers, btw, are generally not technologists. Some farmers will let you come by. Others won't.
Step 3: Pay your down payment and wait. I put $400 down, and I waited a couple months for my harvest date.
Step 4 (Optional): On harvest day, I could come collect the organ meat (tongue, liver, heart, etc.) if I wanted them, directly from the farm.
Step 5: Pay the farmer -- I paid about $2000 to the farmer at this point.
Step 6: Contact the butcher with your cut sheet. An animal has a number of different cuts that are mutually exclusive -- prime rib vs ribeye steaks, filet mignon/new yorks vs tbones, etc. The butcher will walk you through this.
Step 7: Wait again. The butcher hangs the animal for a few weeks, then processes it via your cut sheet. I think this was 3-4 weeks for me? It was around the holidays, so they were slammed.
Step 8: Pick up your beef, pay the butcher. Be prepared to fill your car with coolers, and fill the coolers with beef. I picked up ~415-480lbs of beef and bones, and paid the butcher ~$550. Every cut was packaged, neatly labeled in white paper, and I stacked them into coolers and drove off.
Step 9: Deliver to your friends. I split my order into 1/8ths and delivered to friends. We kept 1/2, some friends took 1/4, some took 1/8th, and some further split their 1/8th with other friends. (For my own sanity, I refused to subdivide below 1/8th.)
1/8th is about 50-60lbs of meat, which packs a medium sized freezer above/below a fridge. Be prepared and clean that freezer out in advance!
Step 10: Find lots of recipes. Share recipes. Explore global culture through your food. I discovered key wat, a spicy Ethiopian beef stew, because I wanted to go beyond just the meat and potatoes from my midwest history.