My husband and I discussed last night the possibility of buying a 1/2 cow and splitting it with my foodie brother. We have the chest freezer and the interest in integrating more lean, grass-fed and finished beef over other sources of protein. The cost savings when buying, literally, in bulk are much more than buying a little at a time.Interestingly enough, when I was discussing exposure to toxins in food sources with the environmental medicine physician I am working with for my book, he suggested that I eat less butter and dairy and more grass-fed lean meats. The reasoning behind this is, toxins are stored in body fat, cows and other animals included. When you eat high fat animal products, you are ingesting those accumulated toxins, mostly PCBs, DDT, DDE and the like. Contaminants that are known to cause health problems.
I was somewhat surprised at the fact that, even during an intense toxin depuration program they designed for me, it was still recommended to eat grass-fed beef, mostly because of the high levels of omega 3 fatty acids which are important in ridding the body of toxins during a detox. Of course, organic vegetarian sources are the best (as far as toxins go) like beans and legumes for protein and olive and walnut oils for fats. I'll be eating a lot more of both since I'll be seriously limiting the amount of white flour based products like bread and pasta that I'll be eating for a while.
Anyway, I'll be hunting down a local source using the fabulous Eat Wild website, which lists all the pastured meat products available in our area.
Have you ever gone in on a cow share? What did you think?