I mean, literally, a whole or half cow.
Does anyone here buy their meat in bulk from farmers? If you ever have, would you recommend it? Or was it more of a pain in the ass than buying farmer market meat as needed?
We do. First off, you need a freezer for it. We have an upright and chest freezer. The chest is 25 cu ft and we fill it. Here are some pros and cons;
Pros
MUCH cheaper than retail. I believe we paid between $2.50 and $3/lb
Excellent grass and corn/grain fed beef. We bought from a local farm so we knew what cow we were getting.
Farmers in this business will have a reputable butcher but you can always choose your own. Some are mobile too, which is cool.
Not a pain in the ass at all. It's commercially frozen for you and the packages are labeled. For instance, I like ground beef in square, 1lb packages, wrapped in freezer paper vs the plastic bags. They do it the way I want and stamp the packages Ground Beef.
Cons
You're buying hanging weight and that could mean a lot of waste, depending on what cuts you eat.
If you have not tried grass fed beef, I suggest you do before investing. Not everyone likes this and the beef we get is only partially grass fed because of that.
They slaughter all the time but the best ones we have had are in the spring.
Really consider what cuts you use. Sometimes people are kind of disappointed. You may want to look into a Co-Op or CSA before you make the jump.