After our Europe trip last year we really noticed the food quality difference between what we were eating back home and what we were eating while on vacation, that’s not to say the food was always better in Europe but we did, on average eat at better places that we might normally so to a certain degree it should be expected.
That being said in some cases, like with vegetables (Tomatoes in particular) they were definitely better all around in Europe, this is why we put up a greenhouse.
We have yet to get our first crop of vegetables (but it should come soon), in the mean time our friend Chris arranged for us to buy a 1/2 organic, grass fed Angus, which we split 3 ways (one part going to a nice lady named Linda).
Chris did most of the work, he ordered the steer (from a family friend), arranged for the butcher (recommended by the family friend), picked up the beef, and of course paid all the afore mentioned actors; for this I am thankful!
With that out of the way I would share how this worked out with my faithful readers, bellow is the excerpt from the spreadsheet we used to figure out who got what and how much each person paid.
For those that do not want to read the nitty gritty details, the net of all this is that we each got 126 lbs of good quality grass fed Angus beef for $2.53 a pound.
|
Total Pounds
|
378
|
|
Base Price Per Pound
|
$2.00
|
|
Butcher Fee
|
$200.00
|
|
Total Price Per Pound (incl. butcher)
|
$2.53
|
|
Total Price
|
$956.00
|
|
Participants
|
3
|
|
Price Per Participant
|
$318.67
|
|
|
5
|
chuck
|
|
4
|
chuck
|
|
5
|
chuck
|
|
|
1
|
cross rib
|
|
1
|
cross rib
|
|
1
|
cross rib
|
|
|
1
|
arm roast
|
|
1
|
arm roast
|
|
1
|
arm roast
|
|
|
2
|
rib steak
|
|
2
|
rib steak
|
|
2
|
rib steak
|
|
|
1
|
rump roast
|
|
1
|
rump roast
|
|
1
|
rump roast
|
|
|
2
|
tenderloin
|
|
2
|
tenderloin
|
|
3
|
tenderloin
|
|
|
2
|
ny
|
|
3
|
ny
|
|
2
|
ny
|
|
|
1
|
top round
|
|
1
|
top round
|
|
1
|
top round
|
|
|
3
|
top sirloin
|
|
2
|
top sirloin
|
|
2
|
top sirloin
|
|
|
1
|
short rib
|
|
2
|
short rib
|
|
1
|
short rib
|
|
|
2
|
soup bone
|
|
2
|
soup bone
|
|
2
|
soup bone
|
|
|
3
|
stew meats
|
|
2
|
stew meats
|
|
2
|
stew meats
|
|
|
1
|
sirloin tip
|
|
1
|
sirloin tip
|
|
1
|
sirloin tip
|
|
|
1
|
eye roast
|
|
1
|
eye roast
|
|
0
|
eye roast
|
|
|
1
|
bottom round
|
|
0
|
bottom round
|
|
1
|
bottom round
|
|
|
0
|
top round
|
|
1
|
top round
|
|
0
|
top round
|
|
|
0
|
flank
|
|
0
|
flank
|
|
1
|
flank
|
|
|
14
|
hamburger
|
|
14
|
hamburger
|
|
14
|
hamburger
|
|
Total Units
|
41
|
|
|
40
|
|
|
40
|
|
Was this a good deal? Really only time will tell (will we eat it all?, will we like the taste?, will we figure out how to cook the extra lean meat without ruining it?) but on paper this looks like a good deal, Safeway sells 80% lean ground beef at $1.29 a lb and 85% lean ground beef at $2.49 a lb while the NY Strips go for $11.99 a lb.
More over in theory the beef we get out of this exchange is of a higher quality, 1st off its Angus and the marketers would have us believe that makes it a cut above the rest then it being organic (pasture raised, no antibiotics, grass fed, etc.) tells us the meat will be healthy, lean and as humane as can be.
When shopping at Whole Foods or PCC we can pay much more than what Safeway sells for; with that in mind I am going to say we did all right, I will let you know how it goes after towards the end of the summer to see if we would do it again.