How much meat does your family consume?

[DawnSuiter]

We consume approximately in 1 year for our family of 3.

144lbs of pork/ham
96lbs of poultry
48lbs of red meats/beef/bison/deer

we eat almost NO fish or seafood... I know that part is weird


I'm calculating this because after seeing Food, Inc I am making other arrangements for our meat supplies.

 

[The Chicken People]

How do you calculate how much meat your family eats? I know DH and I eat meat every night. But I honestly couldn't tell you in pounds!

 

[DawnSuiter]

Quote:
If you do the shopping or if you at least do the cooking, you know if you put 1/2lb of XXX or a whole pound into the dinner etc... Our family of 3 uses 1lb of meat per dinner... we eat meat dinner 6 times a week... it wasn't too hard for me... we eat red meats once per week, pork chops/roast or ham 3x's per week, chicken or turkey twice... on AVERAGE of course... sometimes we eat more chicken than pork... it's a fairly accurate estimate though for us I'm sure.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Myself and my family eat no meat per year, seeing as we're vegetarians!

 

[DawnSuiter]

Quote:
Well that totally makes that easy for you then! I hope it does not offend you that WE do eat meat... I thought about it before I posted... would I offend vegans... it is not my intention to do so.

 

[Mandalina]

i dont have exact numbers, but it takes us 2yrs to finish off a cow...which the last one was 800lbs i of meat i believe. we use 1 pig a year also. i hav no idea as for chicken bc i buy at the grocery and it changes monthly.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Mandalina, thanks for your reply! I was considering buying a half cow myself... but that was before I figured out we don't eat very much red meat... and I'm lately very happy with the Bison I've been able to buy... so I'd like to acquire about half beef half bison for the annual allotment. I'm not sure but I'm thinking we definitely need a pig and then some to last a year.

 

[alpinefarm]

We eat meat very sparingly. Pound-wise, per week, as a couple, I estimate we average around 1 lb of meat of various kinds...so perhaps 55 lbs per year.

I am awfully uncomfortable with the poor quality of artificial diets/mass-production/unhealthy conditions and inhumane slaughtering practices in the US. And I don't like the idea of raising and killing animals needlessly, and using such a huge percentage of the earth's resources to do it, when there are other nutritious possibilities for my food.

And, I'm the cook.

My husband was raised with lots of meat and it has been interesting for him to go along with me. He likes to fish and several of our friends like to hunt (and sometimes give us elk or venison). This seems to be enough for him to be content with. Interestingly, his large family is very big on meat and all but my husband and one brother have health problems related to obesity and excess meat consumption: high blood pressure, heart attacks, diabetes, gout.

I am not vegetarian...I do love trout, white fish, shrimp and wild meats when we have them. I feel these creatures have had a natural and wholesome life. Once in a while, we find ourselves with extra roosters and my husband has no issues with butchering and eating them. But for me, it is an unhappy thing to eat a creature I have "known" and cared for. So we struggle a bit with that.

We use a lot of fresh eggs

and legumes, nuts and whole grains (grind our own wheat, flax, quinoa for tortillas, breads, pancakes) and also raw dairy/cheese/yoghurt, which all seem to do very well for us as high-nutrient proteins. We use real butter a lot, and olive and coconut oils to cook.

I'm sure that's more than you wanted to know...sorry!

 

[Mahonri]

We do a beef roast almost every Sunday for dinner. It's just so easy to make with carrots and potatoes and then we always do peas and broccoli on the side with Texas rolls and butter.

The wife and kids don't do any other meat during the week.

I do fish or chicken 2-3 times a week for lunch, broiled or grilled.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Alpine.. no that was great. We are moving toward less meat as I now refuse to buy anything that was raised poorly, and the increased cost of quality meat and the added work of butchering a good portion of it myself (all the poultry chicken/turkey/duck/goose) will keep down our consumption in the future.

I do hope to get to about half of what we are eating now... and of course in a couple of years it'll just be the two of us... I'm certain we'll get those numbers way down then. I will never be a vegetarian... but trying to cram in all the fruits & vegetables one should consume in a single day really doesn't leave a lot of room left to eat much else I've found!!!

I'm excited to see what the future brings for our diets... ok.. now I'm rambling