2. Why Meatshare?
Knowing too much about the industrial system!
If I’m going to eat meat, I want meat from healthy
happy animals
But going to the organic butcher shop or the farmer’s
market = serious sticker shock!
Buying in bulk is ALWAYS cheaper
3. The Whole Animal Advantage
Cheaper
Ensure you get the best quality meat
Cooking adventure!
A way to make friends with farmers and people you
are sharing with
4. Who to share with?
Small Big
Roommates Internet meetup groups
Family Gym/dojo
Friends Church
Social circle
6. The Trump Card: Chest Freezer
A chest freezer is the best
way to buy in bulk and
store your meat
5 CU chest freezer from
home depot for less than
$200
Very energy efficient, can
cost less than $25 a year
Stores ½ pig or a whole
lamb/goat + fish
+vegetables
Foldable cooler is also a
good idea
7. Meat share is for people who
Eat special diets (like Paleo or Primal)
Place a high priority on saving money
Like to cook
Don’t mind trying new things
Willing to take small risks
Have some freezer space for at LEAST 10 lbs meat
8. Meatshares are NOT for people who
Want a precise amount of meat
Want or don’t want certain cuts
Aren’t willing to take on a little bit of gambling (less
meat than you want, cuts you might not like) in order
to save money
Direct these people to a butcher like Dickson’s
Farmstand Meats, The Meat Hook, or Fleischers
10. Poultry
Are they truly free-range?
No such thing as a grass-fed
bird, all birds need some
supplemental feed
Might ask about the quality
of supplemental feed. Some
farms doing soy-free birds
One bird per person
usually, with a bulk
discount, so don’t save that
much money, but worth it for
higher quality meat such as
heritage turkeys and chicken
11. Goats/Lamb
Most popular meat in the
world, underrated in the US
Variable taste based on
pasture
Depends on breed, but
usually pretty small from
15-65 lbs
Small very young goat or
lamb (15-20 lbs) can fit in a
normal freezer
Definitely recommended
12. Swine
Taste and fat % vary heavily
by breed, so ask the farmer
what to expect- Mangalitsa =
very fatty, Duroc= pretty lean
for example….how much
lard do you want?
No such thing as grass-fed
pig, pigs need supplemental
feed
What is the supplemental
feed?
Should be pastured on grass
though so they can eat at
least some grass
Lots of butchery
options…sausage, bacon, et
c.
13. Large Ruminants like Cattle
100% pastured always
preferred
100% grass-fed usually
preferred, but if you want
fattier meat, some
supplemental grain is
OK, but make sure to ask
about the quality
You’ll get TONS of ground
beef
Might be worth sharing a
share like a quarter if you
don’t have many people, but
will buy more per lb for it
15. How to buy?
By animal
Flat rate per animal regardless of weight
By live weight
The weight of the live animal
Final yield can be 25-60% of live weight
By hanging weight
The weight of the WHOLE carcass after slaughter but before
being cut
Some risk as final yield can be 50% to 97% of hanging
weight
By final weight
The weight of all the butchered cuts added together
16. Butchering
Butchering probably done by a professional butcher
Each butcher is different
Might have to talk on the phone with the butcher to
determine what products you want the animal turned into
For example: Ground meat or sausage? Smoked or fresh
ham? How thick do you want the chops?
Recipes for cured meats and sausages?
How will it be packaged? Paper or plastic?
Fresh meat = impractical
17. Regulations
USDA Slaughterhouse= sell anywhere in the US
State-inspected slaughterhouse = can only be sold in
the state it was slaughtered
Some exemptions allow for on-farm processing, most
of them are for poultry
DIY slaughter if you buy the animal by live weight??
18. Advanced Meatshare
Ideas
Buy whole carcass and do
butchery
demonstration/supper club
Rent commercial kitchen
and make your own
sausage and other
chauceuterie
Hunting club
19. Buying checklist
What am I paying for?
Final weight? Live weight? Hanging weight?
Are fees and taxes included?
How will the meat be packaged
How will I get the meat? Pickup? Or delivered?
We prefer all-inclusive final weight pricing
20. How to split
What products are variable and what are predictable?
For example: lamb has only two legs, but unknown
amount of ground lamb
Fewer shares= easier for us, members can use
message board to share a share
We set a MAX amount and charge for that, then we
give a refund if the amount in the share is less
Flat rate per lb, but we try to equally distribute the
most premium predictable products among shares
Each comes in a thermal pig with a weight label
21. Other split models
Randomly, flat-rate
First come, first serve
When you have a random model, it’s best for one
person to distribute things “randomly” before the
shares are picked up = handling meat too much will
mess up vaccuum packaging
22. Easy Meatshare: Goat with Roommates
Reserved a goat from Glynwood farm
Talked with roommates about splitting it since we have
a chest freezer
Drove up there and picked it up
Split it 50/50 by labeling with Sharpie – there were a
few parts there were only one of like the liver and
kidneys, so we each took half of those
23. Spring Lake Farm 1/8th
Pig
What items are premium and predictable?
Spare ribs, fresh ham butt, etc.
What items are variable?
Bacon, sausage, chops, just divide as equally as possible
Basic share
2 Premium predictable items (you can let people pre-pick
these or just pick randomly)
1/8th the sausage, bacon, and chops
Distribute the one-off items (liver) randomly
Picked up in individual labeled and pre-weighed thermal
bag
24. Gym Meatshare
Gym invested in 25 CU chest freezer and a scale, financed
by charging a meat club joining fee
Bought half a cow online at $4 a lb to split among twenty
members = 400 lbs
265 1 lb packages ground beef split and 40 packs stew
meat evenly
Random 5 premium cuts per share (steak, filet)
Farmer dropped off and organizer (gym owner) put in
freezer
When member picked up, organizer weighed and filled
their cooler with their share, then refunded deposit
25. Bad Example: First share I did
10 people to one lamb, even though one lamb was 50
lbs hanging weight
Didn’t research any cuts
Cuts weren’t pre-weighed
Went to farm and got a back of un-weighed cuts
Had to weigh them and randomly distribute them
Stressful, people didn’t get hardly meat
26. What is hard? MATH
Coordinating with people
Collecting deposits and payments
Planning how to divide the share and dividing it into
packages if the farmer doesn’t do that
Transportation
Coordinating pickup and dealing with money/people during
pickup
The organizer may want to charge a commission or
organizing fee
I use Google Docs frequently
27. The perfect farmer
Willing to let organizer visit
Delivers
Willing to split, weight, and label shares for you before
delivery
All-inclusive pricing, no dealing with butcher
fees, taxes, etc.
28. The Fun Part: Eating
Cooking nose to tail
Learning how to braise!!
Meat keeps for up to a year or more with a good
vaccuum seal, a few months in paper
29. Some farms to work with
http://healthymeat.org/
Email kkleinpeter@glynwood.org and ask to be on
meat mailing list
