Meat, Eggs, & Dairy

Well, we made an outing to the new Costco in Coralville on Wednesday (the grand opening day). No purchases made that day (it was rather a zoo), but I'm planning to make another trip down for a closer look. The selection of organic foods, and items with a limited ingredient list is much better than I've found at Sam's Club. And the prices, at least on things we are likely to purchase, seem to be better.

That being said, I figure our trips there will be no more than once a month (better for the budget, and fewer trips). And I doubt I will be buying any meat or eggs there. I'll stick to our local co-op for that.

When I went thru veterinary school in the early 1990's (UGA CVM, 1991), much of our large animal emphasis was on production medicine - essentially dealing with large groups of various species, pretty much all in confinement. In this situation, you could expect regular problems with infectious disease, parasites, and foot/leg problems.


Dairy operations once were considered big with 100 cows. Now, herds of 1,00 to 5,000 are common, with some over 15.000 cows (James Macdonald, et al, Changes in Size and Location of US Dairy Farms, Sept 2007; this is a portion of the full report Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming, if you are interested in reading more).


The more reading I'm doing, the less I think that huge operations are a good thing, for the environment around them or for those of us consuming the products from them. Sure, the price at the grocery store is cheap, but what about the other, hidden costs?


So, I'm working on shifting our purchases, particularly for meat & eggs, to local producers. People I've met, and where they are happy to have us visit the farm to see how they do things. As a side benefit, some of the best tasting meat I remember eating has come from these local farms. Yes, I pay more (quite a bit more - about 3 times the cheapest sale price for eggs at the grocery store). I think the trade-off is worth it, just for the flavor. If I get more nutrients and it's better for me? So much the better.


Dairy is one animal product I'm still working on. I like milk & cheese, and so do my kids. But I have yet to find a dairy operation close enough to us to make the price point difference work for our budget. I have experimented with making yogurt at home, with great success. I've considered trying cheesemaking, but haven't made that step (yet).

What we are trying to eat

So, what am I hoping to feed my family?

I'm trying to get more fruits & vegetables. I'm trying to get organic, preferably pasture-fed meat (beef, pork, eggs, chicken, etc). I'm trying to get our food locally (from in Iowa, preferably the east-central part of the state where we live).

I want to start putting up more of our own food - tomatoes, beans, fruit, jams & jellies are all fairly easy to do. I need to work out a better location for storage of the home-canned goods if I'm going to put up more :)

We have already cut back our dining out to one or two meals a week (one dinner, one breakfast or lunch, typically). DS & MG are not particularly pleased with this - they'd rather eat out every night, especially if they could eat the same thing every time (DS wants pepperoni pizza, MS wants mac & cheese or chicken fingers).

I've debated once a month cooking or other batch cooking, but I then have to remember to get dinner out in time to thaw.

I've tried menu planning more than a day or two in advance, but I haven't been very successful in keeping that up, either.

At least I'm starting this in the summer, when local produce is more available :)

Starting out anew

I've decided to start a new blog here, to see if I can get myself jump started back into the  habit of blogging regularly :)

I've been thinking quite a lot recently about food (duh!), where it comes from, how it is handled getting to our house, food safety & hygiene, and corporate and governmental involvement in the food chain as it exists at this point in time.