meatshare
TRANSCRIPT
Meatshare
Whole animal buying for local, sustainable, pastured meat
Why Meatshare?
Knowing too much about the industrial system!
If I’m going to eat meat, I want meat from healthy
happy animals
But going to the organic butcher shop or the farmer’s
market = serious sticker shock!
Buying in bulk is ALWAYS cheaper
The Whole Animal Advantage
Cheaper
Ensure you get the best quality meat
Cooking adventure!
A way to make friends with farmers and people you
are sharing with
Who to share with?
Small
Roommates
Family
Friends
Social circle
Big
Internet meetup groups
Gym/dojo
Church
Finding Sharers
Social Networking
Google Plus
Meetup.com
The Trump Card: Chest Freezer
A chest freezer is the best
way to buy in bulk and
store your meat
5 CU chest freezer from
home depot for less than
$200
Very energy efficient, can
cost less than $25 a year
Stores ½ pig or a whole
lamb/goat + fish
+vegetables
Foldable cooler is also a
good idea
Meat share is for people who
Eat special diets (like Paleo or Primal)
Place a high priority on saving money
Like to cook
Don’t mind trying new things
Willing to take small risks
Have some freezer space for at LEAST 10 lbs meat
Meatshares are NOT for people who
Want a precise amount of meat
Want or don’t want certain cuts
Aren’t willing to take on a little bit of gambling (less
meat than you want, cuts you might not like) in order
to save money
Direct these people to a butcher like Dickson’s
Farmstand Meats, The Meat Hook, or Fleischers
Finding Farms
Localharvest.org
Word of mouth
Setting up a Meetup group
Poultry
Are they truly free-range?
No such thing as a grass-fed bird, all birds need some supplemental feed
Might ask about the quality of supplemental feed. Some farms doing soy-free birds
One bird per person usually, with a bulk discount, so don’t save that much money, but worth it for higher quality meat such as heritage turkeys and chicken
Goats/Lamb
Most popular meat in the world, underrated in the US
Variable taste based on pasture
Depends on breed, but usually pretty small from 15-65 lbs
Small very young goat or lamb (15-20 lbs) can fit in a normal freezer
Definitely recommended
Swine
Taste and fat % vary heavily by breed, so ask the farmer what to expect- Mangalitsa = very fatty, Duroc= pretty lean for example….how much lard do you want?
No such thing as grass-fed pig, pigs need supplemental feed
What is the supplemental feed?
Should be pastured on grass though so they can eat at least some grass
Lots of butchery options…sausage, bacon, etc.
Large Ruminants like Cattle
100% pastured always preferred
100% grass-fed usually preferred, but if you want fattier meat, some supplemental grain is OK, but make sure to ask about the quality
You’ll get TONS of ground beef
Might be worth sharing a share like a quarter if you don’t have many people, but will buy more per lb for it
Other animals
“wild” game
Rabbits
Ostrich
How to buy? By animal
Flat rate per animal regardless of weight
By live weight
The weight of the live animal
Final yield can be 25-60% of live weight
By hanging weight
The weight of the WHOLE carcass after slaughter but before being cut
Some risk as final yield can be 50% to 97% of hanging weight
By final weight
The weight of all the butchered cuts added together
Butchering
Butchering probably done by a professional butcher
Each butcher is different
Might have to talk on the phone with the butcher to determine what products you want the animal turned into
For example: Ground meat or sausage? Smoked or fresh ham? How thick do you want the chops?
Recipes for cured meats and sausages?
How will it be packaged? Paper or plastic?
Fresh meat = impractical
Regulations
USDA Slaughterhouse= sell anywhere in the US
State-inspected slaughterhouse = can only be sold in
the state it was slaughtered
Some exemptions allow for on-farm processing, most
of them are for poultry
DIY slaughter if you buy the animal by live weight??
Advanced Meatshare
Ideas Buy whole carcass and do
butchery
demonstration/supper club
Rent commercial kitchen
and make your own
sausage and other
chauceuterie
Hunting club
Buying checklist
What am I paying for?
Final weight? Live weight? Hanging weight?
Are fees and taxes included?
How will the meat be packaged
How will I get the meat? Pickup? Or delivered?
We prefer all-inclusive final weight pricing
How to split
What products are variable and what are predictable?
For example: lamb has only two legs, but unknown amount of ground lamb
Fewer shares= easier for us, members can use message board to share a share
We set a MAX amount and charge for that, then we give a refund if the amount in the share is less
Flat rate per lb, but we try to equally distribute the most premium predictable products among shares
Each comes in a thermal pig with a weight label
Other split models
Randomly, flat-rate
First come, first serve
When you have a random model, it’s best for one
person to distribute things “randomly” before the
shares are picked up = handling meat too much will
mess up vaccuum packaging
Easy Meatshare: Goat with Roommates
Reserved a goat from Glynwood farm
Talked with roommates about splitting it since we have
a chest freezer
Drove up there and picked it up
Split it 50/50 by labeling with Sharpie – there were a
few parts there were only one of like the liver and
kidneys, so we each took half of those
Spring Lake Farm 1/8th
Pig What items are premium and predictable?
Spare ribs, fresh ham butt, etc.
What items are variable?
Bacon, sausage, chops, just divide as equally as possible
Basic share
2 Premium predictable items (you can let people pre-pick these or just pick randomly)
1/8th the sausage, bacon, and chops
Distribute the one-off items (liver) randomly
Picked up in individual labeled and pre-weighed thermal bag
Gym Meatshare
Gym invested in 25 CU chest freezer and a scale, financed
by charging a meat club joining fee
Bought half a cow online at $4 a lb to split among twenty
members = 400 lbs
265 1 lb packages ground beef split and 40 packs stew
meat evenly
Random 5 premium cuts per share (steak, filet)
Farmer dropped off and organizer (gym owner) put in
freezer
When member picked up, organizer weighed and filled
their cooler with their share, then refunded deposit
Bad Example: First share I did
10 people to one lamb, even though one lamb was 50
lbs hanging weight
Didn’t research any cuts
Cuts weren’t pre-weighed
Went to farm and got a back of un-weighed cuts
Had to weigh them and randomly distribute them
Stressful, people didn’t get hardly meat
What is hard? MATH
Coordinating with people
Collecting deposits and payments
Planning how to divide the share and dividing it into packages if the farmer doesn’t do that
Transportation
Coordinating pickup and dealing with money/people during pickup
The organizer may want to charge a commission or organizing fee
I use Google Docs frequently
The perfect farmer
Willing to let organizer visit
Delivers
Willing to split, weight, and label shares for you before
delivery
All-inclusive pricing, no dealing with butcher
fees, taxes, etc.
The Fun Part: Eating
Cooking nose to tail
Learning how to braise!!
Meat keeps for up to a year or more with a good
vaccuum seal, a few months in paper
Some farms to work with
http://healthymeat.org/
Email [email protected] and ask to be on
meat mailing list