To all the meat eaters , how do you afford to eat it than a couple of times a week?

[kelly1mm]

50. Basically, yes. Since we buy the cow (this year we got a Free Martin - yummy) we know

where it comes from and even get to pet it/take pictures (the kids love that part). Since we are having it butchered for our own use (not for resale) we can have it done onsite at the Mennonite farm. While not USDA inspected, this farm processes all the Mennonite/Amish/BIC beef in the 3-county area. Good reputation and that is good enough for us. Been doing it for about 17 years now.

Here is how it works:

1) find a beef to buy (family connections with dairy farms)
2) meet at the Mennonite farm with the farmer who brings the live beef.
3) the animal is weighed
4) we pay for the animal (directly to the farmer) based on weight
5) we take pictures (tradition) with the beef
6) we tell the processor what we want as far as cuts (mainly more stew meat or more hamburger)
7) we go away and the animal is processed (dispatched, hung, aged, cut into different cuts)
8) we come back in 3 weeks.
9) we pay a set price to the processor per lb based what we wanted done.
10) Take the processed beef home and split the 1lb or so packages into 3 piles for the 3 families.