Buying a 1/4-1/2 a cow? What's your experience?

[Tlock]

@bionic knees knows his meat

 

[Stomper]

Ended up with 375 lbs of meet.

Meet.
Lol

If you hang out at any dive bar until closing time, you're bound to find 325-lbs of "meet". Of course we're talkin' tundra-pig and buffarillo, not proper beef.... per sé.

 

[Tlock]

If you hang out at any dive bar until closing time, you're bound to find 325-lbs of "meet". Of course we're talkin' tundra-pig and buffarillo, not proper beef.... per sé.

We gotta get you out of those dive bars.....you might catch something and it's not gonna be the wooflu

 

[Stomper]

We gotta get you out of those dive bars.....you might catch something and it's not gonna be the wooflu

As if! You meat-heads crack me up!

 

[Nosferatu]

We gotta get you out of those dive bars.....you might catch something and it's not gonna be the wooflu

@Stomper doesn't currently have mad cow disease, but he's a carrier.

 

[Tlock]

To much roast beef.....curtains

 

[Nosferatu]

The spousal unit and I get a 1/2 cow from a place in Kalispell that raises and butchers on site. We typically end up paying ~$6/lb and we can specify the cuts we want.

 

[P7M13]

Look at Omaha Steaks. You can order a variety and it's guarantied.

Mother-in-law would send Omaha Steaks every year. Not much better than choice grade, IMO.

 

[Mayberry59]

I would probably just keep buying from Costco.

Awesome, this is exactly what I needed to know. So $1750 total?
I would probably be looking for 1/4 if it's that much meat.
Who do you buy from?

I'm ok with expensive, I just don't want to pay top dollar for junk

We bought it thru our nephew, a friend of his raises a few cows every year. It's been really good beef. Keeping my eyes out for someone selling half a pig.

 

[Stomper]

The spousal unit and I get a 1/2 cow from a place in Kalispell that raises and butchers on site. We typically end up paying ~$6/lb and we can specify the cuts we want.

If it were me I would specify all 85% ribeye and 15% NY strip steaks!

 

[bionic knees]

The spousal unit and I get a 1/2 cow from a place in Kalispell that raises and butchers on site. We typically end up paying ~$6/lb and we can specify the cuts we want.

The meat cutters call us and get a detailed list of what and how we want it cut. (Cinder Butte Meat Co.) In Terrebonne Or. This years half weighed 280lbs. at the locker, we paid $5 per lb. Out the door, our seller paid the kill fees, cut and wrap fees, and waste fees.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Using @Mayberry59 s example.

That's about 4.70 lb. Mostly burger/stew/roast.

Also, it's going to be frozen. Frozen proteins are never going to be quite as palatable as fresh.

I get primal cuts of beef and nicely packed for freezing or already frozen steaks and filets at the chef's store for a good price. They keep very well.. It used to be called cash and carry.

 

[Bobbygun]

I get primal cuts of beef and nicely packed for freezing or already frozen steaks and filets at the chef's store for a good price. They keep very well.. It used to be called cash and carry.

A former co-worker I was having lunch with today was just singing the praises of that place. He even showed us pictures of he and some of his buddies where he works now, cooking up some rib eyes on a Blackstone griddle. They looked really good. The way he talked, they bought a large chunk of beef and cut the steaks out of it themselves. I just told my wife about it about an hour before reading your post. Good to know they also sell cuts and already frozen steaks. We will soon be visiting that store.

 

[arakboss]

Cash n carry is now US chef store. Our warehouse company bought them a while back. There beef prices ( and quality) are getting worse.

They're selectively gouging on random stuff all the time now.

We paid $101 for a gallon size plastic container of granulated garlic yesterday. That's maybe 6 or 7 lbs. That price is ridiculous.

They have cheap potatoes if you can use a 50lb bag. Sometimes their romaine hearts seem to be priced well.

 

[Tlock]

A former co-worker I was having lunch with today was just singing the praises of that place. He even showed us pictures of he and some of his buddies where he works now, cooking up some rib eyes on a Blackstone griddle. They looked really good. The way he talked, they bought a large chunk of beef and cut the steaks out of it themselves. I just told my wife about it about an hour before reading your post. Good to know they also sell cuts and already frozen steaks. We will soon be visiting that store.

Cheaper in primals, plus you can wet age them yourself for a way better steak

 

[arakboss]

If it were me I would specify all 85% ribeye and 15% NY strip steaks!

If they let you pick out the cow look for one like this to get the good steaks.

 

[Bobbygun]

Cheaper in primals, plus you can wet age them yourself for a way better steak

We're empty nesters so it might take us some time to get through too large of a chunk of beef. Just this week we tossed some vacuum sealed pork and chicken that had been in the freezer too long. I've heard a little about wet aging and dry aging but haven't attempted either. My son is more of the culinary expert in the family. He's 27 now and doesn't drop by for dinner as often as he used to, but he is definitely more open to new cooking ideas. Maybe I can get him to give it a try (or maybe he already has). Unfortunately, I'm older and set in my ways and really enjoy eating more than cooking. I'm the camp cook when we're camping, but not too involved at home - other than scrambling eggs or flipping burgers.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

We started a few years ago with a quarter of a beef which was too little for a large family. A half of a steer ended up being too much, but we give away the extra.

 

[JackFrost]

I highly recommend trying to stay local IE oregon/Washington. Looks like you are in Vancouver so anything within a "realistic" drive time. There are plenty of local butcher's and cattlemen who would be happy to work with you I'm sure.
We have been buying 1/2 a cow for over 14 years now and it's the only way I would buy beef, just look at the color difference between grocery beef and locally raised/ butchered beef, big difference.
We only do grass fed NO grain finish. The grains are garbage and filled with GMO variants soy and quite a few other unpleasant surprises, but that's just us. Most people prefer the grain finish as they say it fattens the meat, YVMV.
Our rancher in Lapine is strictly grass only and that's what we prefer. We bought in June and paid $4.25 per LB out the door, that included cut and wrap. We also take the tongue, liver, heart, tail and anything else the butcher offers and feed it to our dog's.
If you go that route the butcher will ask what cuts you prefer, roasts, tbones, strip steak, rib steak, ground beef etc. We never vacuum seal it and it takes about us 6-7 months to consume. Hope this is helpful.

 

[Dozer99]

I hope that when you guys say that you are buying a cow or half a cow, what you actually mean is that you are buying a steer.

For reference - https://carnivorestyle.com/steer-meat-vs-cow-meat/