Buying a side of grass-fed beef is the most economical way for the Primal cook to get their hands on a large quantity of meat – often for less than the cost of comparable quantities of “regular” beef purchased through your local grocery store. And you’ll have flavorful, healthy, ethically and sustainably raised meat. The only thing I could argue is better is successfully hunting wild game (something for another post). There is, however, a bit of a trade-off. Anyone who has bought a side of beef can tell you that you’ll end up with a lot of burger. Yes, you get a nice assortment of steaks, roasts, ribs, and other tidbits. But out of the total hanging weight of the animal, burger will make up the largest single “cut” you end up with in the freezer (as much as 40% of the take-home weight).
So, with all of that burger, you need to have an arsenal of recipes that will hold the interest of your fiercest critics (the family) and keep variety in your meal planning while using up every package of this “budget” cut. You also need to always be on the lookout for new recipes…or working to develop new ones. And every once in a while, when working out a new recipe, you might stumble onto something that receives, on the very first try, the response of, “Wow! This is awesome!” Just such a thing happened here. A big thanks to Karen for making this while I was running around with the kids – she did great working off of the quarter-sheet of paper full of ingredients and disconnected half-instructions scribbled all over it that I left her with!
