Meat CSA Meal Planning
Ever since I joined the Chestnut Farms Meat CSA last year, the meals I've cooked at home have been determined partly by what shows up in our monthly share. Part of me loves being surprised. Part of me wishes I could just specify things so that I could do things like perfect the pulled pork recipe that I didn't quite get right the first time. And besides, some cuts I'm never sure what to do with. Anyone have a fool-proof recipe for Country-Style Pork Ribs? That's one where I tend to fail miserably. Oh and if I could request their bacon for every month, that would be great too.
We get the 10-pound monthly share and we had requested no beef since Brian doesn't eat beef. Here's what we got our last 2 shares:
August: 2 packs of pork loin chops, 2 packs of ground pork, 2 packs of pork cutlets, 1 pack of chicken legs, 1 pack of chicken breasts, and 1 pack of Pork Sweet Italian Sausage.
September: 1 pack of Greek Lamb Sausage, 1 pack of lamb for stew, 2 packs of ground lamb, 1 pack of lamb rack rib chops, 1 pack of chicken breasts, and 1 big chunk of Leg of Lamb. I supplemented and picked up 4 lamb tongues that are sitting in the freezer until I figure out what to do with them. Anyone have any ideas?
Clearly September marks the return of lamb. Great for us since we love lamb. They said that in October, they should be able to offer some goat too. Excited to try that though I have no idea how to cook goat. Luckily the internet should yield some ideas.
Tonight I plan to make Marcella Hazan's Split Chicken with Herbs with the chicken breasts. I haven't made that recipe in ages and I'm getting hungry just thinking about having it again. I hope it's not a disappointment.
I just put a bottle of white wine in the fridge for it. I love that so many places have cheap (yet drinkable) wine now. I'm not enough of a wine connoisseur to turn my nose up at cheap wine from Trader Joe's. Besides, I'm the only one who drinks alcohol in my house. At least if it's a cheap wine then it's not tempting me to drink the whole bottle by myself that night just so it doesn't go to waste.
Ten pounds of meat per month for 2 adults has been the right amount for us. At first I had worried whether or not that would be enough. I didn't want to buy more meat because I didn't think it would fit in our freezer. Besides, 10 pounds is already $80/month. We still eat out so we get more meat that way as well. But at home, we've cut back on our meat consumption. Not to the point where we don't get enough meat...just that now I think I eat the recommended 4oz portion of meat. Before, I more typically ate 8oz of meat and maybe even 10-12oz if there were going to be leftovers. Just because I could.
I had joined the meat CSA due to feeling guilty over how animals in the factory farming system were being treated. Since then, I've read more and more articles and books about the environmental toll that system takes. And it makes me think paying more for humanely and sustainably raised meat is worth it to me. So I'm going to keep up with the meat CSA for as long as we can afford it. He's been laid off so we're down to being a one-income household but so far, we've been able to keep it in the budget. We eat out less often. And if we do have to give up the meat CSA, at least I've adapted my eating habits to eat more reasonable portions of meat.
Neat! I just found a link to an NPR interview with Chestnut Farms:
Read or listen to the interview
They're having an open house Oct 11 so members can go meet their meat.
We get the 10-pound monthly share and we had requested no beef since Brian doesn't eat beef. Here's what we got our last 2 shares:
August: 2 packs of pork loin chops, 2 packs of ground pork, 2 packs of pork cutlets, 1 pack of chicken legs, 1 pack of chicken breasts, and 1 pack of Pork Sweet Italian Sausage.
September: 1 pack of Greek Lamb Sausage, 1 pack of lamb for stew, 2 packs of ground lamb, 1 pack of lamb rack rib chops, 1 pack of chicken breasts, and 1 big chunk of Leg of Lamb. I supplemented and picked up 4 lamb tongues that are sitting in the freezer until I figure out what to do with them. Anyone have any ideas?
Clearly September marks the return of lamb. Great for us since we love lamb. They said that in October, they should be able to offer some goat too. Excited to try that though I have no idea how to cook goat. Luckily the internet should yield some ideas.
Tonight I plan to make Marcella Hazan's Split Chicken with Herbs with the chicken breasts. I haven't made that recipe in ages and I'm getting hungry just thinking about having it again. I hope it's not a disappointment.
I just put a bottle of white wine in the fridge for it. I love that so many places have cheap (yet drinkable) wine now. I'm not enough of a wine connoisseur to turn my nose up at cheap wine from Trader Joe's. Besides, I'm the only one who drinks alcohol in my house. At least if it's a cheap wine then it's not tempting me to drink the whole bottle by myself that night just so it doesn't go to waste.
Ten pounds of meat per month for 2 adults has been the right amount for us. At first I had worried whether or not that would be enough. I didn't want to buy more meat because I didn't think it would fit in our freezer. Besides, 10 pounds is already $80/month. We still eat out so we get more meat that way as well. But at home, we've cut back on our meat consumption. Not to the point where we don't get enough meat...just that now I think I eat the recommended 4oz portion of meat. Before, I more typically ate 8oz of meat and maybe even 10-12oz if there were going to be leftovers. Just because I could.
I had joined the meat CSA due to feeling guilty over how animals in the factory farming system were being treated. Since then, I've read more and more articles and books about the environmental toll that system takes. And it makes me think paying more for humanely and sustainably raised meat is worth it to me. So I'm going to keep up with the meat CSA for as long as we can afford it. He's been laid off so we're down to being a one-income household but so far, we've been able to keep it in the budget. We eat out less often. And if we do have to give up the meat CSA, at least I've adapted my eating habits to eat more reasonable portions of meat.
Neat! I just found a link to an NPR interview with Chestnut Farms:
Read or listen to the interview
They're having an open house Oct 11 so members can go meet their meat.