Choosing meat

This is a long post, and it's all about food. And not necessarily the fun parts, but important issues that I've been mulling over for a while and want to discuss.

I've been working on improving our diets lately. I'm lucky in that I was raised with really healthy food habits, but when life gets hectic I start to fall back on grilled cheese sandwiches, which is fine for a while but not ideal as a lifestyle. The first step I took was increasing my vegetable intake so that about half of every meal I eat consists of vegetables. Hence, the veg laden breakfasts that we've been having lately. That part was pretty easy, because D and I both love vegetables. I just fall out of the habit of cooking them sometimes because it's faster to ignore side dishes. I find that if I refuse to allow myself to use bread or pasta as a regular crutch, it gets easier to incorporate vegetables. We'll usually have lentils, eggs or meat alongside them. And that's where it gets tricky.

{salad with everything}

Except for a terribly unsuccessful one year stint as a vegetarian, I've always eaten meat. Not much, in general, but some. I should say upfront that I'm fine with eating other animals. I realize that this is one of (many) reasons that some people choose vegetarianism and I respect that, but it isn't an issue for me ethically. But I do have an issue with the animals I eat being treated inhumanely. I've mostly dealt with it by throwing my hands in the air and feeling terrible and then focusing on keeping our meat consumption relatively low. Every once in a while I would try to explore other options and get overwhelmed and give up.

Lauren has been sharing a bit about her decision to be veg, and I respect it a lot. That said, we are fairly committed omnivores. Partly because we like it and partly because I feel physically better with some amount of meat in my diet. But I've been feeling worse and worse about the source of our meat and her posts were the kick in the pants I needed. 

I started exploring options with intense internet searches. Lots of mail order possibilities popped up (a nice change from when I investigated this a few years ago and gave up!), and I think these could be great. My friend Kris and her husband actually purchase a steer share every year which I think is amazing, but we live in an apartment and can't store that much meat at once and our needs are quite a bit lower. 

My goals were to have humanely raised meat first and foremost, with a preference for localish options if available. The cost wasn't the biggest factor, because we don't intend to eat a ton of it, so we can easily fit a higher price into our food budget. Voting with dollars makes sense to me, so I'm glad to spend more to help keep a better option in business. 

When I found out that Novy Ranch has a pick up option at our weekly neighborhood farmer's market, I was pretty much sold. They are fully pastured and fairly local. I can pick up whatever I like at the market without ordering ahead, or I can pick everything out ahead of time and have it waiting for me when I get there. It all comes frozen and vacuum packed, so eating it immediately isn't an issue. And honestly, the cost isn't nearly as high as I thought it would be. We particularly love the ranch cut steaks. We buy enough that we can share a pound of meat between the two of us each week and that gets us through a couple meals. I'm sure that for some people this sounds like an unnecessary amount of meat and for some people it isn't nearly enough. It's what works for us. We do buy extra if we're having people over. 

Grass fed beef does taste a bit different, but I like it. And I feel so much better about this source that everything tastes better. They do age their beef, which is supposed to make a difference. 

Now, for EVERYTHING ELSE. As in, milk and other types of meat. Baby steps. I get overwhelmed by this whole process and have to remind myself to step back, evaluate and not beat myself up for not being perfect about everything. I'll just keep moving forward as best I can. We're currently buying our eggs from a stand at the market that claims to be fully pastured, but honestly, I haven't found a good way of checking up on egg suppliers. How do you guys deal with that? I guess we're always taking everyone at their word, really. It isn't as if I've personally inspected the Novy Ranch farm either.

I should probably note that I still eat meat at restaurants, which can be problematic, but more and more places around here are being transparent about their sourcing, and I try to frequent places that I know make an effort. When we ate at Short Order recently, I noticed that they listed all their sources on the menu, which was amazing. I don't want to get too Portlandia about it, but I really appreciate having a little more information. 

For those of you who aren't local, here are some of the mail order meat options I was considering ... 

Hat Creek Grown

Open Space Meats

Alderspring Ranch

I'm sure there are lots of other options and I don't have any personal experience with these, but they looked really promising. You have to commit to a larger mixed order to get the best deal, but it looked like most of the options would work in our apartment sized freezer. 

If you're looking for something in your area, I found the Chowhound local boards to be a good resource.

Questions or suggestions? Bring them up in the comments and I'll make sure to check in. I love talking about this stuff and I'd love to know how you guys handle it.


* Reading this over I realize it is enthusiastic enough to verge on sounding sponsored. Just to clarify - Novy Ranch has never heard of me. I am just really excited about having finally found a convenient, humane supplier. *