Critters for Less

After seeing Food Inc., Mr. Pie and I decided that critters deserve better, and although we're not becoming vegetarians, we want to buy humanely-raised meat instead of just getting what's on sale at Jewel. However, on my last shopping trip to Whole Foods, I noticed a pork tenderloin for less than 1lb for over $10! The grocery bills are too high for me, even though we're cutting back on meat from 4 times a week to 2. Is there any place (including butchers) in the area that sell humanely-raised meat for a more reasonable price than Whole Foods? Also, how can you tell if your butcher is selling that sort of meat? I'm planning on taking mom on a meat-shopping trip down Lincoln Ave. this month and it would be helpful to know if Gene's, Lincoln Quality, and Paulina's are selling it, and if not, who does.

Thanks!

Pie Lady wrote:After seeing Food Inc., Mr. Pie and I decided that critters deserve better, and although we're not becoming vegetarians, we want to buy humanely-raised meat instead of just getting what's on sale at Jewel. However, on my last shopping trip to Whole Foods, I noticed a pork tenderloin for less than 1lb for over $10! The grocery bills are too high for me, even though we're cutting back on meat from 4 times a week to 2. Is there any place (including butchers) in the area that sell humanely-raised meat for a more reasonable price than Whole Foods? Also, how can you tell if your butcher is selling that sort of meat? I'm planning on taking mom on a meat-shopping trip down Lincoln Ave. this month and it would be helpful to know if Gene's, Lincoln Quality, and Paulina's are selling it, and if not, who does.

Thanks!

Whole Foods turns out to have decent prices on some humanely raised meat -- maybe not pork, but chicken compares well with Farmer's Market prices.

My guess is that if a butcher is selling this kind of meat, you'd know about it -- it's a selling point and a point of pride for some, so I'd assume they'd advertise that fact.

Whole Foods now carries Miller's Farms chickens from Indiana. You can buy Miller's Farm chicken for less at Strack and Van Til. I cannot vouch for whether the Miller's chickens at Strack & Van Til were treated differently from those sold at Whole Foods, but I suppose some questions asked of Miller's would yield a response.

Look at the "C&D Farms fresh meat & eggs from the white van" post, its a few down.

Here is the link to the C&D thread: viewtopic.php?f=16&p=305772

Here is their website (with prices): http://www.cdfamilyfarms.com/

There are a number of suppliers at the Green City Market. I wouldn't say that any are cheap, per se, but I think their prices are in line with what you'll see at Paulina, Whole Foods, etc. See http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/f ... asp?type=5

I think you'll find that most "humanely raised" meat is in the same general price ballpark. Paulina Meat Market has tenderloins for $9/lb (according to their website). C&D is $8/lbs. I presume that Lincoln Quality Meats is in the same range. Note also that "humanely raised" is a shades-of-grey type of thing. Some simply eschew hormones; some give a lot of pasture, etc.

aschie30 wrote:Whole Foods now carries Miller's Farms chickens from Indiana. You can buy Miller's Farm chicken for less at Strack and Van Til. I cannot vouch for whether the Miller's chickens at Strack & Van Til were treated differently from those sold at Whole Foods, but I suppose some questions asked of Miller's would yield a response.

I believe Sunset Foods carries Miller's Farm chickens as well.

Fresh Farms Niles carries Miller chickens as well.

My vote would be to buy directly from the farmers/ranchers, rather than supporting Whole Foods-- that way you also support your local farmers. We get our beef from Heartland Meats, and recently got a great shipment of pork from Arnold Farms. I love Heartland Meats-- great beef, wonderful folks.

Here is an old thread about where to get meat:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26315

Jen

The only way you are going to know if the meat a supplier sells to you is 'humanely' raised according to your expectations is to actually visit the grower. Otherwise you are open to the interpretation of what anyone can say or print because there are no definitions cast in stone or Law. Most of what is grown/raised in this country is in accordance with Federal and State Law and may or may not meet your expectations. there are a few operations that are very smalll, fly below the radar and may or may not be safe and may or may not meet your expectations.-Dick

Hi- Whole Foods in Evanston has a three day sale every weekend. It runs Friday-Sunday, and has some really good prices. They always have at least one type of meat on sale for 40% off or more. I assume all the other locations have the same thing. A few weeks ago they had their frozen bags of boneless skinless chicken breast 40 % off, and last week they had hamburger ground for chili for I believe $2.98/lb. There frozen chicken breast are really cheap even when they are not on sale. Also if you use meat in stir fry or in a casserole or soup, you don't have to use as much. Hope this helps, Nancy

I can't speak highly enough of investing in a whole (or partial) animal. Buying half a pig or a quarter of a cow might seem like a lot, but you'll use it up over time.

The last half hog I purchased was from Willow Creek Farm. $2.77/lb, cut to your spec* (roasts vs. chops, size of cut, etc), packaged in the units you want (1 chop to a package or 4, etc). For a few extra cents per pound, they'll make all the scrap in to sausage, cure the ham, etc. (I prefer to to this kind of thing myself, that's part of the fun).

The main advantages of this that I see:

• Cheap - $2.77/lb is a good deal, in my opinion
• Support a local farmer - you're literally placing the money in to the hand of the person who raised the pig, with no middleman
• You know exactly what you're buying - Because you're talking directly with the person who raised the animal, you can ask about their farming practices and get straight answers.
• Variety of cuts - Buying half a pig has forced my hand to try cooking new/different cuts, many of which I now really like.
• Tastes better - I think that heritage breed pork (Berkshire, in the case of Willow Creek) tastes a lot better. Deeper taste, more marbling, etc. This has nothing to do with farming practice, it's just a breed thing. With beef, I prefer the taste of grass-fed

-Dan

* As a side note, I wasn't happy with WCF's butchering job. They outsource this to a local slaughter/butcher house and it wasn't very well done. They've since told me that they're opening (or perhaps have already now opened - this was a year ago) their own on-site facility to process the animals.

dansch wrote:...The last half hog I purchased was from Willow Creek Farm. $2.77/lb, cut to your spec* (roasts vs. chops, size of cut, etc), packaged in the units you want (1 chop to a package or 4, etc). For a few extra cents per pound, they'll make all the scrap in to sausage, cure the ham, etc. (I prefer to to this kind of thing myself, that's part of the fun)....

Dan, I completely agree with you on your reasoning. I had a great experience with Arnold Farm, but their processor will not separate out the leaf lard. Do you know offhand if WCF will? I can ask them myself otherwise-- they sound great.

Jen

Pie-love wrote:I had a great experience with Arnold Farm, but their processor will not separate out the leaf lard. Do you know offhand if WCF will?

As best I can recall, they did separate out the leaf lard for. Of course, that was unprocessed lard - I rendered it later. If you have them render it, I don't know.

All that said, hopefully they've built their own on-site processing facility now, so it could be completely different. Tony and Sue, the couple behind WCF, are extremely friendly and were happy to help with all of my odd requests.

-Dan

I'm going to ask a stupid question. How much space does a pig take up in the freezer? I have a standard size one above the fridge, and there's no room for a separate freezer in my place.

dansch wrote:I can't speak highly enough of investing in a whole (or partial) animal. Buying half a pig or a quarter of a cow might seem like a lot, but you'll use it up over time.

The last half hog I purchased was from Willow Creek Farm. $2.77/lb, cut to your spec* (roasts vs. chops, size of cut, etc), packaged in the units you want (1 chop to a package or 4, etc). For a few extra cents per pound, they'll make all the scrap in to sausage, cure the ham, etc. (I prefer to to this kind of thing myself, that's part of the fun).

The main advantages of this that I see:

• Cheap - $2.77/lb is a good deal, in my opinion
• Support a local farmer - you're literally placing the money in to the hand of the person who raised the pig, with no middleman
• You know exactly what you're buying - Because you're talking directly with the person who raised the animal, you can ask about their farming practices and get straight answers.
• Variety of cuts - Buying half a pig has forced my hand to try cooking new/different cuts, many of which I now really like.
• Tastes better - I think that heritage breed pork (Berkshire, in the case of Willow Creek) tastes a lot better. Deeper taste, more marbling, etc. This has nothing to do with farming practice, it's just a breed thing. With beef, I prefer the taste of grass-fed

Dan, thanks for the lead on WIllow Creek Farms, I sent them an email today to try to get some info on some cuts I am looking for

I am also trying to get some info about a place out near where I live that raises certified Berkshire pork, and sells direct.

jimswside wrote:

dansch wrote:I can't speak highly enough of investing in a whole (or partial) animal. Buying half a pig or a quarter of a cow might seem like a lot, but you'll use it up over time.

The last half hog I purchased was from Willow Creek Farm. $2.77/lb, cut to your spec* (roasts vs. chops, size of cut, etc), packaged in the units you want (1 chop to a package or 4, etc). For a few extra cents per pound, they'll make all the scrap in to sausage, cure the ham, etc. (I prefer to to this kind of thing myself, that's part of the fun).

The main advantages of this that I see:

• Cheap - $2.77/lb is a good deal, in my opinion
• Support a local farmer - you're literally placing the money in to the hand of the person who raised the pig, with no middleman
• You know exactly what you're buying - Because you're talking directly with the person who raised the animal, you can ask about their farming practices and get straight answers.
• Variety of cuts - Buying half a pig has forced my hand to try cooking new/different cuts, many of which I now really like.
• Tastes better - I think that heritage breed pork (Berkshire, in the case of Willow Creek) tastes a lot better. Deeper taste, more marbling, etc. This has nothing to do with farming practice, it's just a breed thing. With beef, I prefer the taste of grass-fed

Dan, thanks for the lead on WIllow Creek Farms, I sent them an email today to try to get some info on some cuts I am looking for

I am also trying to get some info about a place out near where I live that raises certified Berkshire pork, and sells direct.

You might try the Slagel Family Farm:

http://www.slagelfamilyfarm.com/

eatchicago wrote:
You might try the Slagel Family Farm:

http://www.slagelfamilyfarm.com/

thanks for the tip,

that farm & Fairbury, IL. sound familiar.

jimswside wrote:

eatchicago wrote:
You might try the Slagel Family Farm:

http://www.slagelfamilyfarm.com/

thanks for the tip,

that farm & Fairbury, IL. sound familiar.

I've had Slagel pork a number of times and have been pretty happy with it. They do their own processing and sell a ton of meat to local restaurants, so they can probably do what you want in terms of specific cuts. Beyond that, they are really nice folks.

All of that said, if you are specifically looking for Berkshire pork, I don't think that you'll find it with Slagel. IIRC, they raise a Duroc/Yorkshire hybird.
--Rich

thanks rich, the pig we had at the pig roast was from down that way.

I just talked to a fella out sw of me. and I think I am going out to visit his certified Berkshire pig farm on Saturday, he's hoping to have a couple slabs of spares ready for me, and offered a tour of his herd/facility

gotta say Im excited for some reason.

I've been working on trying to do what Pie Lady is doing also.

I'v been using Whole Foods and many might already know this....Tuesdays they have their roasted chickens for 6 bucks a piece in various flavors. I buy two or three of them. Eat one on Tuesday dinner and then slice and pull meat from the other birds for either freezing or tacos/sandwiches/chicken salads. I then make stock from the carcasses.

I also buy ground grass fed beef from WF for 5 bucks a pound. Not sure if that's regular price or sale but it's almost always there.....

ayo LTHers: where to buy a whole pig in the city?

jdchurchill wrote:ayo LTHers: where to buy a whole pig in the city?

Slagel family farms is a local farm that makes a weekly drop-off to Mado in Wicker Park/Bucktown. You can order basically any cut of meat (or whole hog) at a pretty reasonable prices relative to what you'd pay at a farmer's market. I've purchased two suckling pigs from Slagel this year for pig roasts.

http://www.slagelfamilyfarm.com/pork.shtml

Slagel is excellent, I've also been really happy with Gunthorp farms. I believe they deliver in the city on Fridays.


Gunthorp Farms
Greg & Lei Gunthorp, owners
0435 N 850 E
Lagrange, IN 46761

http://gunthorpfarms.com/
info@gunthorpfarms.com

260/367-2708

the gunthorp site is wierd, do i try to order at greengrocer and they deliver there on fridays? who has used these dudes before? and how did you do it?

jdchurchill wrote:the gunthorp site is wierd, do i try to order at greengrocer and they deliver there on fridays? who has used these dudes before? and how did you do it?

I would just email them and ask. I've split hogs from them with a friend, they dropped it off at his house on the day they make restaurant deliveries (I believe it's been on Friday nights).

And yeah, they really need a new site.