Not to be an alarmist or anything.... I hate to spread possibly unnecessary concerns.
However, I've been getting a teeny tiny bit worried. In light of the recent closures and partial closures of so many US protein processing plants, now might be a good time to get to know your local farmer.
We've been trying, since we sent our own last beef cow to the processor, to purchase local beef whenever we can. Some farms sell their products by the cut or pound, which is how we prefer to buy. Others sell shares or standard packages of assorted cuts. Chicken and pork can be a little problematic to find, but many farmers raise and process beef cows, oftentimes having it USDA inspected and certified. Many farms also sell lamb. I haven't purchased lamb locally yet, but I'll bet you it is a lot better quality than store bought.
Prices we've paid for beef are sometimes a little higher than store retail, but quality usually is better as well. We just bought a few pounds of locally-grown hamburger last night, plus to our great good fortune our boy and his wife shared some meat from their last beefer with us.
If we have the choice we buy meat that has been cryovacced, as it keeps for a really long time. We are still eating a few cuts off our last cow and she was processed a couple of years ago.
Another thing we have been doing routinely for a couple of years is buying whole pork loins instead of pork chops. It's a simple matter to cut your own chops to the thickness you prefer and is usually much cheaper. Then package and freeze. Loin quality is uniformly excellent, and there are no bones. Bones in chops increase the price you pay per pound of edible food. No waste with boneless.
Anyhow, if you happen to be reading this and sell homegrown meat retail, please feel free to leave a link in the comments. I have a feeling there may soon be plenty of customers.
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4 comments:
I think you are right...it's down right scary now.
LInda, I am so concerned for the entire food supply. These bottlenecks could start a domino cascade of failing farm businesses that could affect the stock in the grocery store even more than it is already.
I have read two articles in the Wall Street Journal with 2 explanations. The first is that several plants have had a rash of Covid-19 infections, so have decided to shut down until they can figure out how to protect the workers. The second is that over the last 10 years or so the populations has started to eat out more and more, resulting in many plants changing their packaging to meet restaurant needs instead of grocery store needs. When restaurants closed, they were not able to adapt the packaging.
This is indeed scary. We are very fortunate to have a small independent grocery store nearby that has relationships with local farmers. Also, about 20 miles away in a very small town is a farmer who butcher's his own and sells it in a small store.
Jonna, I think both are right. I also think that consolidation in the packing industry leading to the closing of many smaller plants well before this has made the system more vulnerable. There are only a handful of players in the packing industry today. Same story in dairy. If worse comes to worse for us, we have various livestock we can eat even if we would prefer not to, plus the know-how to turn them into food. Also there is plenty of game, at least for now. Sure hope it doesn't come to that though.
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