A few years ago, my brother had a customer who suffered from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The poor man ended up dying from it, but from this association my brother learned that some think it's caused by eating bad beef - related to the mad cow situation - and he was starting to lean toward wanting us to buy only grass-fed or organic beef - as good quality as we could find. Meanwhile, on my end of it, I was coming across videos online of the terrible treatment of these unfortunate animals and this one from Germany, of some happy cows gamboling about in grass (which they'd never seen before), when some kind-hearted neighbors had arranged for them to escape the slaughterhouse. So, I was also not wanting to eat regular beef anymore, albeit for different reasons. And that's how we came to be spending lots more money on beef, (not to mention having far less variety!).
With a two-pound meatloaf in mind for Sunday dinner, I made my way to the organic meat area at the supermarket the other day. I should have seen it coming - in fact, I had, but chose to ignore it. The pound of grass-fed ground beef which used to be $6.49 a pound, was now $9.99. I say I knew it was coming to this, because for the last two weeks the sign had said, "$5.99! Four dollars off!" Oh, brother. And, here it was. A two pound meatloaf was going to cost me twenty dollars. I couldn't believe it. I really wanted to cry. At least, I felt that I should be crying!
Well, I bucked up and bought it. And when our purchases went through the checkout I watched the screen. Guess what? It was on sale! So, our twenty dollar meatloaf was only a twelve dollar one. I took no pictures of it, but they always look the same - here's a previous one. So, we got a reprieve - this time. But it's going to happen one of these weeks.
Oh, the hidden costs of those "cheap" meats (and other products)....good for you. Money well spent. We were just talking about this at my house the other day--though it was about organic veg vs. non-organic. I am willing to pay a little more because I think its that important.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. We are hoping to find a farm for this, etc... glad you found the meat on sale! it's worth it for organic.
ReplyDeleteYes, we're going organic here, too, and there is a definite upswing in the grocery budget! So much healthier for you, though.
ReplyDeleteHow nice to have it be on sale after all!! I never buy grass-fed, organic meat in the grocery store because it's the most expensive place to do that around here. We buy part of a grass-fed, organic steer from a friend every fall - the total cost for all the different cuts comes out to about $5 a pound. And we also simply don't eat meat often OR we eat it as a part of a dish, not the main part of the plate. My kids don't know that some people eat second helpings of meat because we never do that at our table :)
ReplyDeleteAh, Margo - it wasn't on sale this last time! I know I need to hood up with a farmer, but what's held me back was not really knowing how much to get. I need to figure it out and get with it!
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