After reading In Defense of Food and Omnivore’s Dilemma, I decided to try not to eat meat unless it was local and grass-fed. I have always been an animal lover and after reading about some of the ways the cows, pigs, and chicken that we eat are treated I was so disgusted that I nearly stopped eating meat entirely. Since I do most of the cooking, my husband was not exactly excited about this and so we decided to try to find an alternative.    We did some internet research and stumbled upon a grocery store about 10 miles from us in Erie, CO that is run by buffalo ranchers called Rocky Plains.  They offer not only their buffalo in the store, but also a variety of other free-range meats and local food products including: pork, lamb, chicken, fish, cheese, and raw milk shares.   Jeremy went to Rocky Plains last week and stocked us up on meats for the freezer.  At this store, you do not have to buy in bulk, so instead of buying a 1/4 pig, like you do with many free-range animals, you can just buy pork chops.  They also have a variety of other products from honey and jam to red beans and rice mixes all made here in Colorado.

The one thing that Rocky Plains doesn’t offer that we eat often is beef.  We have purchased grass-fed beef at the farmer’s market before but in the winter we were not sure where to get it.  After some research and debate we found Lasater Beef also located in Colorado, and they offer family packs of their beef which consists of 36 lbs of various cuts of beef.  Because we bought in bulk the beef is sold at a relatively normal price, not too much more than you would pay at the grocery store.  Lasater Beef delivers not only to Colorado, but also all over the country if you cannot find a place to get local free-range beef near you.

According to In Defense of Food, not only is buying free-range meat better for the animals, it is also better for your health.  It is leaner meat with more Omega-3 fatty acids, and you don’t have to worry about growth hormones or antibiotics being given to the animals.  If you haven’t made the switch to grass-fed meat but would like to, Eat Wild offers information on where to find grass-fed meat or more information on the health benefits.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Eating Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.