Red State Green

This is a series about learning to feed yourself. The idea for this came from this post. You might want to read both of those first to see where I’m coming from before you comment.

1. Learn to garden
2. Stock up
3. Find out who your neighbors are
4. Find local food sources
5. Learn to cook
6. Think about your meat sources <– we are here

Think about your meat sources

(this is optional, of course, for you vegans out there, but think of it as a ‘bonus’ should your carnivore friends have a question)

For some reason, meat eating discussions are similar to discussions of religion or politics. I eat meat, okay? Just so we got that straight. Please actually read what I write here before you start flaming.

When I think about meat, here’s what comes to mind:

• Do you need to eat meat? No, you actually don’t. You can get all the protein you need without eating one bit of meat for the rest of your life. Billions of people all around the world don’t eat meat every day and are doing fine.

You can get every vitamin you need to live if you eat a variety of vegetables, grains and fruits, and add a dairy product such as milk, yogurt, cheese or eggs once in a while (for vitamin B12, which plant products tend to lack). You do not have to eat meat to survive.

• So why do people eat meat? Some people feel better eating meat, but to most it’s a custom, not a necessity.

Many cultures relied on meat because it was their only food source before the discovery of agriculture, and those traditions were passed down through thousands of years to today. Because only the wealthy could afford meat in medieval times, having meat on the table daily was seen as proving you ‘made it’, and not eating meat has been associated with ‘being poor’.

• Why do I like to eat meat so much then, if I don’t need it to live? Much of the ’satisfied’ feeling you get from eating meat comes from the fat content of the meat, not the protein.

A cheese pizza fills you up just as well as a sausage one, mainly because of the fat content. Meat tastes good, too, no questioning that. But you don’t need it in order to live.

You don’t need dessert to live either, and most people like eating that too. But things are getting to the point where we don’t really need either one. (I look at my waistline and realize that!)

• Is there a problem with eating meat? I don’t have a problem with killing something so I can eat. That’s what every creature on this earth does. I take the lives of fine lettuce plants every day, along with cows and chickens.

But my view is that people come first. Feeding cows and chickens the way it’s done commercially uses grain that people could be eating. There are too many children dying of hunger (or succumbing to illness from malnutrition), elderly choosing between medicine and eating, and vets standing in line at free food pantries right here in the US for me to throw good food to cows. Which leads us to the next question:

• Do you know where your meat comes from? Most commercial meat in the US is produced in what they call feedlots, where the animals are put in close quarters to produce maximum food for money spent. This is a typical beef feedlot:

See how packed in they are? That’s good for the farmers, because they get lots of beef for their buck. And most of them use hormones to make the cows bigger and stronger (ie. more muscle), which gives more meat. They also feed cows grain (usually corn), which makes them fatter, giving that nice marbled appearance to the meat.

But this has its dark side as well. Cows are not designed to eat grain. It gives them stomach problems. Cramped quarters leads to spread of disease. That’s why most commercial beef farmers add antibiotics to their feedlots, to keep the animals well.

Unscrupulous farmers looking to cut their feed costs have resorted to grinding up animal parts and adding them to the mix. That practice is why mad cow disease is now in the US. Cutting corners to make money has spread to packing plants, too. Unsanitary conditions in packing plants using unhealthy animals leads to meat contaminated with E. coli.

It’s not just a beef issue. Chicken, turkey, farmed fish, pork … all the commercial producers have their problems, because the goal is to make as much money as possible in the shortest time possible. People talk about beef so much because this is the meat most people in the US eat.

I am not saying meat farmers are evil people. I’m not saying that every meat producer farms this way. If you don’t, great. What I’m saying is that the bigger and more focused on money you get, the easier it is to cut corners and not see that this is something someone’s child is going to eat.

• Are there healthier sources of meat? Yes. Let’s talk about beef for a moment.

Cows do best eating grass. They’ve eaten grass for thousands of years. It’s how they like to live. People don’t eat grass, so there’s no competition. Best yet, beef from grass-fed cows is much better for you. Here is a typical grass-fed farm. I linked this picture to their site (since this is where I got it) in case you want to learn more, but there are hundreds of farmers growing this way:

If you buy local meat, it’s easy to take a trip to the farm and see how your meat is being produced. A farmer who’s proud of what he’s doing won’t have a problem with you visiting and asking questions.

Maybe you’ve always eaten beef, but they don’t grow beef where you live. You might try other, more local sources of meat, and see what you think. I never had buffalo until six months ago, and I found a great farmer who’s growing it grass-fed, very close by. Check around and see what’s growing in your area!

• I don’t care about all this. I just want to know how to secure my meat supply. That’s fine. There’s lots of ways to do that:
  • Growing your own is the most self-sufficient way. You’ll need to check the ordinances for the city you live in to see what’s allowed and what isn’t, and homeowners’ associations (HOA’s) have their own set of rules.

  But there are still options, even in the most restrictive areas. I’ve heard of people who kept crayfish in their home aquarium, small poultry in cages inside for the eggs, codfish or catfish in a backyard fish pond, and food rabbits in indoor cages. If there’s a will, there’s a way.

  If the area you live in allows raising food animals, pick one you’d like to try and research it. From what I’ve read, chickens are fairly easy animals to raise and slaughter, and you at least get eggs if you don’t want to slaughter them when the time comes, so that might be a good one to start with. Maybe some people who are actually doing this can give us some ideas here.

• Buying local. We covered that already.
• Stocking up with canned/packaged meats with long expiration dates. We sort of covered this already too.

If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them!

I currently buy local, grass-fed beef and free range organic chicken. Growing my own is not something I’m doing yet (HOA issues), but I’d like to try some of the stealth ideas.

If some of you are self-sufficient/otherwise set with your meat supply (whether growing your own meat animals or not), how did you get started?

I’d also like to hear from those of you (especially conservatives) who have decided to change their meat-eating habits in some way. What made you change?

This ends our basic series on feeding yourself, but we’ve only just scratched the surface. I have much more to say on the subject (as you might have guessed). Stay tuned.