One of my first commitments this year is to feed my family a healthy real/whole foods diet without killing our budget! So this month I am going on a journey to discover what real healthy eating means and how to do this while on a budget. You can read more in my healthy eating series here.

We are beginning this series on healthy eating by discovering what it means to eat healthy. We have looked at what it means to eat organically and locally grown products. The next step is to figure out what’s the deal with  grass fed and free range meat. Is it really worth the extra cost? On Monday we will also tackle the question of raw milk. Is it safe? Is it worth the extra cost?

Healthy Beef & Chicken

Beef is beef and chicken is chicken right? Or is it? Actually there is a BIG difference between pasture raised grass fed meat and the meat you find at your grocery store.

What’s The Difference?

Pasture raised grass fed meat is how meat  is supposed to be raised. Since Biblical times, animals were raised in herds and allowed to roam the fields. Throughout history, chickens were allowed to peck and scratch and eat worms {chickens don’t eat grass but the general idea still applies}. Cows were allowed to roam fields and eat grass. They were never given grain and corn as their sole diet until modern times.

So what do modern cows eat? Keeper of the Home describes it well,

“When a meat cow is old enough, it is ready to be taken to the feedlot.  You know those places—you can smell them from miles away!  At the feedlot, hundreds or thousands of heads of cattle are pushed together into small living quarters to spend their rest of their living in squalor, eating grain and slop.

Because God created a cow’s rumen to handle grass but not the grains and corn that it is fed, infection and bloat usually sets in.  The goal of the feedlot is to fatten the cow as quickly as possible before infection sets in and the cow dies.  Because of this, cows are fed a cocktail of growth hormones and antibiotics until they are finally sent to slaughter.” ~ Keeper of the Home

As a result, these growth hormones and antibiotics are passed on to us when we eat the meat. ick!! Buying grass fed meat is more expensive because it takes longer to mature a cow and more land when they are grass fed.

*Note: While a chicken’s diet doesn’t consist of grass, they should be allowed to roam free and eat insects to their hearts desire. So the general principle of “free range” still applies and chickens shouldn’t be caged up all day eating grains.

Why My Family Is Choosing to Eat Grass Fed Meat (When We Can)

I know some people are very concerned about the treatment of the animals but I am not focusing on that. Here is what is important to us:

• Grass fed meat is hormone and antibiotic free!
• Grass fed meat is often leaner and healthier for you
• Grass fed meat has fewer no additives in it {such as ammonia}
• Grass fed meat is (often) local meat and you KNOW where it came from

Do we eat grass fed meat all the time? In fact at this point we eat it very little. I make sure that our eggs are all free range and we occasionally have grass fed and free range chickens.

To go somewhere like Whole Foods and purchase free range is just too expensive at this point for us. So I make do with eggs, good fish, and occasional grass fed and free range meat. But I have big plans for this year to increase our good meat consumption! And that I will share with you next week as we dig into how to save money while eating healthy! 

Want to find out more?

• Hey, What’s Wrong With My Store Bought Meat?
• Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned ~ New York Times
• Grass-Fed Meats ~ Keeper of the Home
• Switching to Pasture Raised Meat ~ Back to the Source

These general principles apply to chickens and eggs as well! But here is a good resource on chickens:

• A Good Egg ~ Keeper of the Home

Want more Real, Whole food goodness? Sign up for a Traditional Menu Plan. Save money and eat healthy whole foods! Sign up for TWO weeks FREE! You can read about my experience with this menu plan HERE.

 

This post is part of my Feed Your Family ~ Eating Healthy on a Budget series. Catch up on all the posts in this series:

• Introduction {What we will cover}
• So What’s the Deal with Organic?
• So What’s the Deal with Locally Grown?
• Feeding My Family Grass Fed & Free Range Meats {What you are reading now}
• Up next: Raw Milk: Is it Safe? Why buy it?
• Stay tuned for more!