Where do you get your meat?

    • Gold Top Dog

    Where do you get your meat?

     I'm at a loss. Right now I get my meat from the local grocery store and the butcher. I'm having a hard time finding parts. I can get the common stuff but not the stuff like hearts, brains, stuff like that.

    Suggestions??

    • Gold Top Dog

    I get everything I need from my local grocery store. They carry marrow bones, livers, hearts, tounge, stomach, and all the "regular" meats.

    Can you order stuff online? There are a lot of great raw suppliers online (Im not sure about shipping to Canada, tho)

    Maybe contact a slaughter house? Not sure if they'd be willing, but you might be able to buy organs/brains/leftover/unwanted meats/cuts directly from them?

    • Gold Top Dog

    I've never fed brain and I think I'd be afraid to try.  I *think* a lot of the really bad bacterias live in the brain.  Often Walmart carries sliced heart......

    • Gold Top Dog
    Totally agree about the brain.
    • Gold Top Dog

    Ground meat, hearts, livers, chicken wings from the grocery store.  Organs I get at the mercado.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I only get food from the grocery store if I have to. Where I am anyway, it's so expensive! I think the only thing I get there are my eggs...lol.

    I get my chicken through a friend, who gets it privately from her family friend. We get everything but the *usable* parts, and all organs as well.

    I get pork hocks, beef ribs, and other meats from my local butcher.

    I get ground beef from the local meat market, I go in and ask for the *day-old* meats that they can't sell anymore, and can usually get 15-20 lbs at a time for almost half price. I'll sometimes get other meats there as well.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Well the brain was an example. I don't think I could bring myself to handle it.. Lol..

    I wonder if I talk to the butcher at the grocery store... Kim, it's really expensive to get beef ribs and pork of any kind except for ground. 

    Hmmmm

    • Gold Top Dog

    The biggest worry about eating brain would be prion diseases.  Mad Cow is an well known example of a prion disease but there are a few others nasty ones like Kuru that are spread by consuming the brain.  They target the nervous system and are horrable horrable to deal with.  It's not really a problem in the US and it's rare that it will happen but the chances of an animal or human getting it goes up if they eat brains.

    • Gold Top Dog

     I get most of my meat from a meat distributor, so I buy in bulk.  20-30lbs boxes of chicken backs and beef hearts, etc.  I suppliment what I don't want in bulk from my grocery (especially if there is a sale, I've been known to buy them out of stuff, when there's a good sale :) and from my local Asian Marketplace.... I love that place! I'm from Hawaii, so they have all kinds of stuff I can't find at a local grocery, and it's bonus that they carry some of the less traditional cuts of meat.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Brains aren't that bad to handle. My local supermarket carries 1 lb tubs of pork brains. Apparently, it tastes good with eggs. I wouldn't know. It's VERY high in DHA. Like helps like, you knowBig Smile

     The dogs really didn't LIKE it, because it's slimy, but ate it fine, mixed with ground meat. I don't feed it, any more, because Emma is no longer here, and she was the one with the brain issue. I buy meat from a local farmer. Eggs, too. The girls like it much better, and it smells different.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Whenever I think of feeding brains, I think back to Hannibal Lector eating brains on his flight. Lol!!

    I wish I had an Asian market here!! I'd have to go in to the city for that and lacking in a car, I can't do that yet.  

    Thanks!

    • Gold Top Dog
    What about Farmer's Markets? I used to think it was all vegetables and baking and jams and stuff, but I noticed a big deep freeze on a trailer the last time I was there and managed to get some great marrow bones for super cheap. I also talked to the lady there and found out I could get other parts too, besides the regular cuts and roasts, if I ordered ahead. This was a cattle farmer, but there was also a pig farmer that goes regularly too, so I'll ask them next time too.
    • Gold Top Dog

     I was thinking about the farmers market. I just haven't made it up that way yet. I'm gonna check it out next Saturday. Hopefully I'll luck out like you did.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I buy from a meat distributor.  I usually order 800-1000lbs at a time, & they deliver it for me.  We also have a raw store here, & if I buy in bulk, their prices are really good.  We're also members of a co-op, so we get meat from there as well. 

    It has taken some time, but now, it's easy to get a meat order together, & know that I'm paying the lowest price possible.

    We feed brain, & have for the past two years, without issue.  Our guys love it.  Of course, I'll let them try almost anything. 

    • Gold Top Dog

     Holy crap!! 1000lbs of food!  I don't think I've ever seen that amount in my house. LOL!  I'm hoping to get something better going with my butcher. He feeds his dogs raw but it's ground and I don't want to do that.