Grass Fed Beef: It's What SHOULD Be For Dinner
Here's a guide to grass fed meats, and what you can do to contribute to your health and sustainability.
Summertime in my family is synonymous with grilling, more dinners with friends, barbecues and my favorite part, weekend Farmers Markets.
So next time you are going to the store to buy some beef, I want you to know exactly what you are buying and where it is coming from. Why? Because it matters. For your health and sustainability in our world.
Opt for free-range, grass-fed and grass-finished, pasture-raised meats when available.
It's quite sad and actually disturbing that we have arrived at this place in America where there is such a high demand for meat. It used to be a luxury, now eating a burger, a sandwich, steak, stew, tacos or a burrito is a more than once-a-day occurrence. Herein lies the problem and the health of our nation is suffering to prove it.
Grass-fed beef contains higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, and is usually leaner than the corn, soy and grain-fed meat you will find at most grocery stores and restaurants, even the best rated steak houses in St. Louis.
USDA organic-certification rules allow farmers to fatten grass-fed herds with soy, corn and other grain-based feed, provided that it's organic, which isn't a practice upon which all farmers agree.
Most of the health benefits of grass-fed beef are removed in the last three months when you finish them with grain. Feeding grain increases the acidity of the animal's stomach, increasing levels of bacteria, including E. coli, in the gut. This means you should always look for "grass-finished" beef. And you are in luck because we have two resources in Wildwood and Eureka that offer this sustainable meat. Stop by the Wildwood Farmers Market every Saturday this summer beginning May 21 and pick up organic, grass-finished meat from Sunny Farm's LLC. The Wildwood Schnucks and Eureka Schnucks also carry grass-finished beef from Southern Missouri under the name Americangrassfedbeef. This farm uses sustainable methods nourishing the environment through restoration and soil improvement means.
You can do something with your purchasing power and your voice. Tell the managers of your favorite restaurants you would like to see local organic, pasture-raised, grass-finished beef in their establishments. Tell the grocery stores you want more varieties of these types of products as well.
Believe me, they listen.
Layla Azmi Goushey
6:44 am on Saturday, May 21, 2011
ChrisAnn. I rarely eat beef, but I purchase it for my family. I have purchased grass-fed beef at Whole Foods before. I will look for grass-finished beef next time too. I wonder if there are differences in texture or taste?
Dottie Everett
10:36 am on Saturday, May 21, 2011
Before grain fed beef became popular we had grass fed, then it was cheaper than grain fed, now that some folks are going back to grass fed it is more costly, WHY?
Yes there is a difference in texture. if you put a grass fed steak next to a corn fed steak, you will pick the corn fed any time!! Ever eaten beef in the UK? That's grass fed , stringy and tuff!
Layla Azmi Goushey
2:35 pm on Saturday, May 21, 2011
Dottie,
That is a good question regarding the cost of grass-fed beef. As for the texture, I noticed this too. I don't think the taste or texture of ours was bad, just different. It made me wonder if I should look for different recipes or spices to account for the different taste.
Ermintrude
10:43 am on Monday, May 23, 2011
"Opt for free-range, grass-fed and grass-finished, pasture-raised meats when available." We don't really have an affordable option to find this near us, so we've been ordering our meats directly from a farmer from Home Grown Cow. You can search by location or product (beef, chicken etc) to find exactly the kind of farm you're looking for, so if you don't like grass-fed but want hand-raised/ drug free, you can find a farmer like that. We've also found that even with shipping, we are saving over retail because we buy in family packs which is cheaper, plus I always have something in the freezer for dinner.