They Don't Make Cows Like They Used To

[pdub]

Give me a steak and a baked potato, I'm a happy camper.

As of yesterday, we completely give up on steaks. We're done with it. For us, it's been going on for years. Many years. It used to be, a ribeye was a great cut of meat. Not any more. Tough as the bottom of any shoe.

What do they feed the cows these days? It's gotta be something.....SOMEBODY can answer that question, I'm sure. Maybe somebody else has the same thought. We can't be so unlucky so many times at the store. Different stores.

[STINEY]

All I hear is “store bought meat”and am turned off instantly.

We have not bought any meat from stores for over 20 years. Have a chest deep freezer in the garage and buy a whole grain fed Angus from a customer who raises them. Straight from his pasture to the local butcher and to our freezer. Best meat you ever had, bar none, and approximately $2 per pound for prime cuts.

Each February we have a party with several other families and butcher hogs ourselves. We all share a meat saw, grinder, etc and make our own sausage, bratwurst, pork chops, tenderloins. $200 for 200# of perfect fresh pork and a party with friends......how can you beat that?

And we save ave even more money by simply going to the garage for meat instead of going to the store. You never get out of a store cheap, always something else you end up buying while you are there, plus the time to shop and get there and back.

[silver_bullet]

We have Fareway markets here... a real meat counter in the store.... much better quality meat... it's not the cow... it's how the meat is cut and shipped... the longer it's frozen, to worse it will be...

[studemax]

Peewee, I just seldom eat a steak - and my grandad raised Angus cattle for the table. If I eat dead cow - it's a burger. Beef is overpriced and mostly tasteless IMO. Dead yardbird or pig is way better and more affordable. And I think I've mentioned that another word for goat is YUM. Catfish is fine.

Have you and Unit got a crockpot? Dad and I have 3 - all in different sizes. We cook a lot, and you know I ain't going hungry. We smoke a bunch, too - but I know your system won't handle that anymore.

As for feeding cows - most beef at the store come from big feedlots in Texas and Kansas. They feed them all sorts of stuff a cow normally would not eat in the field - even portland cement! Stiney is correct - get with your local farmers where you know what the critter is fed. Go for quality. Ask around - surely there are ways to find local foodstuffs from folks in your backyard. Be a locavore..... (look it up).

[STINEY]

And I think I've mentioned that another word for goat is YUM.

Oh yeah......GoatWurst for the win! (might have to look into butchering goats for our yearly party too)

[malc]

Grow your own, park the lawnmower, buy a cow.

[Monster]

Give me a steak and a baked potato, I'm a happy camper.

[Loren]

We're fortunate to have a nearby grocery store with a great meat counter, everything you'd want however good you want it. Just across the highway is a butcher who has everything including buffalo raised locally by the family who owns/runs the famous Galpin Ford up in the San Fernando Valley, if you wanna pay 2x. Gail took a class so we could do our own chickens (I raise, she butchers) but it's not worth the hassle plus her with a knife makes me nervous so, it's just eggs now. The in-laws along with everything else they do raise turkeys so we do have it pretty good at Thanksgiving/Christmas. A friend's daughter has been raising a cow for 4H but she'll get better money/donation than what we'd pay, and we just don't eat enough around here to make it worth it.

Much of my family is vegetarian. One male member weighs 160 lbs. at 45 y.o., another probably 175 at 60, although I can't say they're not physically fit I have to ask: is that a good thing? Well anyhow, beer is what's going to kill me, not eating a little bit of meat.

[corvettedad]

Agree with all of the above, home grown, real meat market, or at least one that cuts there on steaks, BUT beware a lot of beef also comes from Mexico and it used to be mandatory labeled, now someone in government decided they don't have to, although a few stores still do most don't. It's cheaper beef, go figure.

[pdub]

Great stuff, but I believe we're all dancing around the point. Last year, many months ago, eons ago in anthill time, we went down to South Carolina. My great friend there was cooking ribeyes. Great looking steaks. Tough as could be, to the point he apologized for it. But you get what you get.

They're feeding the cows sandpaper or nails or something. They are, you can't convince me something hasn't changed over time.

[corvettedad]

Next time you make it back down towards the Lake I believe I can change your mind. I have two places I buy steaks up there and 99% of the time they dang near melt in your mouth and great flavor, they ain't cheap but you get what you pay for.

[Eric]

Go to a butcher, not a supermarket.
The market here, they have the cheaper line and the top shelf stuff, a roast will cost you 50.00+ .
Most won't pay that and buy the cheaper meat.
We once a month will get a steak from the high end line They have, and it is night and day from the stuff they push in the fliers.
We in this country are cheap when it comes to food, Then complain about all the crap in it, or in this case what they feed it.
I'm as guilty as everyone else.
The high line steak for the same cut as the 2.79 lb flier leader, is 10.99 lb. There is a reason and you can taste it.

[pdub]

Next time you make it back down towards the Lake I believe I can change your mind. I have two places I buy steaks up there and 99% of the time they dang near melt in your mouth and great flavor, they ain't cheap but you get what you pay for.

Bring 'em Perry. You know which day. I'll swap you for a case of Budweiser. Bottles, this time.

[Dan Barlow]

Generally, we eat chicken , pork ,and flank steak at home or a t bone occasionally .We don't pay much but they are pretty good . We get them from Costco . Generally though where I get steak is when we go out . And my favorite place is Long Horn steak house . Haven't gotten a bad one yet .

[corvettedad]

Bring 'em Perry. You know which day. I'll swap you for a case of Budweiser. Bottles, this time.

Well I won't be going by the lake but I think I can still handle it locally.