Take Time to Care: Where to find farmer-sourced meat

A regular reader sent me an e-mail asking how to know what kind of meat to buy. Since yesterday I talked about NOT eating meat, I thought I'd share how to find high quality meat today! It'll only take a little bit of time to find out where to buy healthy meat for your family.

These are my top recommendations:
1. Farmer's Markets: Our local market is every Saturday morning. It's close so I'm not using any more gas than going to a grocery store. There are three vendors: one who sells buffalo and pork, one who sells chickens and lamb, and one who sells pastured beef. This means I can make one stop to get any type of meat I want that's straight from the farm. Check out Eat Wild and Local Harvest for locations near you.

2. Farmer's Meat Deliveries: We live in a densely populated area so some of the farms nearby come into town once-a-week to deliver pre-purchased meat. You can go on their websites and order what you want to be delivered. You pay online and then pick it up on the scheduled day with all your other foodies in town! Check out Eat Wild and Local Harvest for farmers near you.

3. Organic Meats in grocery stores: If I didn't meal plan accurately and don't have enough meat in my freezer, I will occasionally buy meat in the grocery store. I only buy organic meats since it's the most regulated (feeding, grazing, etc). This doesn't mean it's protected from disease or other problems, but, to me, it's the safer option. I've spent some time trying to find the descriptions of the USDA regulations, but I can't find them! If you've found them, can you add the link to the comments?

You might be asking: "Why should I care what kind of meat I buy?" Well, rather than me type it all out, why don't you hop over to these sites to read about the health benefits.
Local Harvest
Eat Wild
Nutrition Journal (Ok, so I haven't actually read this piece. I found it on a NY Times blog post about grassfed beef.)

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