I gave up animal foods when I realized that I could never really be sure of the source and didn't want to pay for it either. Even if I went to the farm to get the meat myself, I had to acknowledge that it's just not sustainable. I might feel better about my choices, but with 10 billion animals slaughtered per year, how can everyone eat that way?

Like the writer, I would love to buy organic, local meat but cost can be an issue. I too tend to eat more of a vegetarian diet, so that when I do buy meat, I can ensure it's higher welfare. You can also make your budget go further by being more inventive, with cheaper cuts - certainly in my usual local store, organic beef mince (ground beef) is only a little more than the factory-farmed stuff. For me, getting good local meat is more of a problem, living in an area with few specialist retailers offering this. Therefore my option is generally supermarkets, where I can be assured of organic or higher welfare, but not neccessarily local provenance, so I sacrifice the food miles knowing the animals I'm eating have been raised well. But perhaps that's the beginning of a wider discussion - with so many options available to the consumer with a conscious, which path do we prioritise?

And I, of course, meant conscience in the last sentence!

In our household, as we began eating more locally raised, humanely processed meat we gradually began eating less of it-due in no small part to the cost factor. We eat many more meatless meals and it was such a natural progression that it didn't feel forced. Not only are our meals not centered around it but when we do prepare it, a little goes a long way. Better for us and better for the planet. Win win.

My family of 4 became members of a meat csa last year. Every 3 months, we get 25 lbs of meat (mixture of beef, pork, chicken & occasionally lamb). I also purchase separate turkeys for Thanksgiving from local farms, a couple of lambs in the spring (my friend's mother is the lamb farmer) & some additional pork from another local farm. It is not hard for us to do since we are in an area that has some great farmers (Mass). On average, I pay $9/ lb for the meat, so it's way more expensive than the discounted bins at the grocery stores.

It's funny though, a few years ago, I started analyzing what our family spends/ month on food. Back when I would go to the grocery store (mixture of Costco, Whole Foods, Market Basket grocery), I spent about $800/ month on food & alcohol. After a recent cost analysis, I now spend between $800-900/ month. We waste a lot less food b/c I force myself to cook from our csa's instead of running out to the store to get a couple pounds of whatever. Joining the csa's requires bigger chunks of money up front (like the summer veggie $600 that's due later this week!)

When we go out to eat, my husband & I will often order vegetarian if the restaurant doesn't offer locally raised meats. And a couple times a year, we will get the double cheeseburger at Five Guys.

as long as it's the animal i'm buying, i could care less. If it tastes great, i'll keep buying it.

I recently switched from being vegetarian to a meat eater. I went on eatwild.com to find a place to buy sustainable and morally raised meat products. I live out in the country and the nearest Whole Foods is probably an hour and a half drive so I was really pleased to find a grass fed beef ranch less than 5 miles from my house. The beef is yummy, the owners are super nice (they gave me some free short ribs to try), and I get a discount for picking up at the farm. Oh, NFI but the name is Q7 Ranch and they do have a great website, and an online store with free shipping.

I tried a local CSA recently. I loved the idea, but found that the 'mix' was often not really things that were going to work for me for a month. I don't eat a ton of meat, but my CSA delivery consisting of beef bones (for stock), liver, turkey thighs, and four kinds of brats didn't really hit the nail on the head. There are other local farmers that I think do a better job of their mixes, and even let you pick and choose, but it is pretty cost prohibitive, to be sure.

We buy grassed beef in "bulk"; we used to buy a half or whole beef but the producer we use now sells it a little differently, offering a bulk pack of 100 or 200 pounds for around $7 a pound. Yes, about half of that is ground, but the rest is steaks and roasts.

Local, pastured chicken is now available to us, making it a better choice than the organic Mary's chicken we were buying at WF (a trek for us).

Like TallSarah posted, we've found that the grocery budget evened out some when we started buying humane meat (we too were vegetarian). Using as much of the animal as possible and cooking everything we can from scratch really helps the budget.

The cheap stuff that sat in a feed lot and was pumped full of hormones makes me violently ill. The 'expensive, grass fed, hormone free, lived in a dream home and had daily manicures' stuff does not. Still, I'd rather just not bother with meat.

I can't help but think of that Portlandia episode when they ask where the chicken came from, and the waitress tells them that the chicken's name was Colin.

I have never bought the expensive, ethically responsible stuff only because of the price. I don't even buy organic milk because of the price. Don't get me wrong...I want to eat like that. I want to eat organic meat and milk. I saw some organic milk on sale the other day for like $6/gallon...that's not too bad. I think I might be getting to the point where I am comparing prices more and if there's something that is pretty close to the "regular" meat price, then I would buy it.

I was a vegetarian for about 10 years and even now I don't eat meat too often - partially because I don't really know what to do with it when I'm cooking it! When I do buy it, it is always humanely and locally raised. I'm lucky that in the DC area I've got a lot of options to find it: the farmer's market I patronize has a vendor that sells chickens and meats that are free range and grass pastured, and they welcome folks to visit the farm and see how the animals live. Another market I patronize on occasion carries meats from Polyface Farm, whose practices were discussed at length in the Omnivore's Dilemma. I've also got a neighborhood butcher down the street who sells pasture-raised and free range meats. Yes, it's pricier - the 4 lb. chicken I bought at market last weekend was $20. But roasted with some veggies it made dinner for two, plus enough meat left over for chicken enchiladas the next day, plus the carcass for stock. And I'd rather eat local, high-quality meat less frequently than buy the cheaper feed lot raised animals living in miserable conditions and pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.

We are lucky to live in a rural area with parents who are farmers, so it's easy for us to be connected with our meat. Some of it cost more (or berkishire pork) and some of it costs less (um, we get beef for free from our parents) so for us it works out fine. We probably eat 90% local meat. It seems that in a lot of cases the cost is reasonable if you buy a large amount, we have a large and small deep freeze in the basement.

I have definitely recently become more conscious of this lately. Humanely raised is my top priority, so I've been buying as much as I can from smaller local farms.

However, as I'm fairly new to all this I have a question: I notice a lot of people *seem* to use "organic" as interchangeable with "humane" (and excuse me if I'm understanding people's usage...). But is that really the case? I mean, I can see that an animal that's *not* pumped full of antiobics, hormones, etc. has a better life. But an organic diet/healthcare doesn't necessarily mean they're not living in small, cramped, dirty cages, etc....does it?

I mean, I would love to know that I can buy Trader Joe's organic meats and feel confident that the animals were well-treated...but somehow I don't think it's that simple... Would love if anyone could shed some more light on this! Thanks.

Correction to 2nd paragraph: "excuse me if I'm MISunderstanding"... : )

Well, living in Portland, I'm in danger of being kicked out if I don't question where my meat is from. :-) We have meat about once every two weeks or so, and I buy from Pastaworks, who sources the meat they sell from local farms. Every restaurant that I go to here buys from local farms (and advertises it), so I don't have to think about it.

The scope of me questioning where it came from is to say "it came from a grocery store" beyond that I really don't care.

It's hard to imagine not caring where your meat came from. Eating mistreated unhappy meat feels like a weight on my heart and I'm in no way, shape or form a hippy vegetarian. I'm an ethical person with a dilemma in my head. I can't understand how the majority of consumers don't think twice about the life they took buying that meat. How could you not want all animals to be treated with care and respect? Isn't that basic? Don't consumers have a conscience? I understand it's easy not to think about it, to buy meat as far away from it's natural state as possible, that way we aren't reminded of what it took to satisfy our own needs.

If you "don't care" you didn't think. Or your heart needs some fine-tuning because all life deserves respect.

I think with all that's in the news about health and our food system, asking where any of our food comes from is an important question to ask.

I sometimes question it but in the rural South, your options are limited. I come from a family with a hunting/fishing/foraging ethic so some of our meat is harvested that way. We have been eating venison at my house for two weeks straight now. It’s local, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, free-range and the deer herd here is ever-growing. Plus it tastes great with sides made from locally grown vegetables.

@JMORRI26

“There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.”
― Aldo Leopold

I have to admit that I get myself a little miffed over that episode of Portlandia. I'm not really sure why it should be a punchline that I am concerned about the food that goes into my body, but okay. All kidding aside, we actually have access to some pretty awesome farmers here. I've bought two cow shares now that have included a variety of cuts (not just ground), and have priced out at $2-3/lb. for locally-produced, grass-fed beef. If you do a little research, the farmers are out there. You don't have to just go to Whole Foods and spend $10/lb. for good quality meat. I think you could be a far more environmentally-conscious eater by supporting and eating veggies and meat from local farms. Vegetarians hardly have the moral upper hand, here, especially if the vegetables they're buying are coming from hundreds of miles away.

About a year ago I had my own little food epiphany, and decided that I would/could no longer eat conventionally processed "factory farm" CAFO-style meat. It was a little hard to change my habits at first, but it was literally like a switch had flipped in my brain, so overall it wasn't that challenging. The most difficult part was probably deciding when it was ok to bend my rules a little. Letting good food go to waste is worse, to me anyways, than occasionally bending/breaking my self-imposed first-world-problem diet. Worst of all would be letting my rules impede or negatively effect my relationships with other people. When my friend's wonderful Korean mother makes up a dish of Jap Chae for a graduation party, am I going to refuse it because the meat she purchased isn't "good enough" for me?? Hell no! I'm eating that shit, not only because she was awesome enough to make it and offer it to everyone, but also because it is freaking delicious!
The other half of this is eating with someone who doesn't share your concerns. I'm not going to try to "convert" my fiance - he's a grown man, and he can make his own decisions about what he eats, just like I can. It was sometimes difficult for him to adjust to my new eating habits, and I had to work hard as well to maintain our food harmony. Do I sometimes wish he felt the way I do? Sure. But eating is a very personal experience, and if he does change his diet it will be on his terms and in his own time.

@muddymudskipper, Sorry, but that quote doesn't do much for me. Just as I don't judge those who source out organic, locally raised meats, I would hope that others wouldn't judge me for not. It was an honest question posed with an honest answer.

Local, identifiable source almost always when we're buying/preparing for ourselves (which, as many have mentioned, means buying less meat in general). When someone else is cooking we keep our mouths shut and eat up. If we're cooking and someone compliments us on the meat we tell them about our locally sourcing butcher around the corner, and throw in a few words about the importance of knowing where your meat comes from. I tried at some point to urge my parents to avoid the questionable cheap meat at the grocery store, but gave up eventually.

I only draw the line at the gross cheap frozen hamburgers frequently served at BBQs - anyone remember that NYT article about the girl who was paralyzed from one? It turns out that the beef in the average frozen burger patty comes from 7 different locations, some as far as Uruguay. No way.

Thanks to muddymudskipper for the Leopold quote. Sand County Almanac was and still is one of the most important books of our time. The disrespect we show towards our lands and where our food comes from will bite us in the behind some day. Once I began growing my own food it became clear to me 2 things: one, it is much harder than it looks. Two, there is an ethical way and an evil way of producing food. Neither is easy, but the consumer reigns. Let's make the right choices, or at least try to grow our own food if we can't be bothered.

It's very important to me that we buy and eat meat that has been humanely and responsibly raised. I almost went vegetarian when I learned the horrors and filth of CAFO meat, but when I realized I could satisfy my ethical concerns and still have the nutrients and culinary experience meat offers, we switched (pretty much cold turkey) to local and grassfed. We are part of a meat CSA now, and get most of the rest from a local co-op. And yes, it's more expensive, and yes, we eat less meat to make up for it. But it's very important to us that it be good meat raised by decent farmers. And it tastes a million times better too!

Ah, I found it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html?pagewanted=all

Even if you consider organic, locally sourced meat a hippie thing, you might want to read this. Local meat sourcing isn't just about animal welfare and the environment. The lack of safety controls on big beef/chicken can be extremely dangerous to your health.

I always buy grass-fed, organic, ethically treated meat. And that's mostly beef and lamb, with some pork. I'm really skeptical about the feasibility of humanely/healthily raising chickens on a large scale at all, and they don't have as good of a nutritional profile. I don't know what the average amount of meat is that most people are eating less than; I'm mostly Primal so I think we eat a fair amount of meat, but my household is all poor graduate students, and it still works out. I think I'm probably okay with spending a larger proportion of my income on food than most people are, since I don't have kids, a car, or a mortgage.

I live in Seattle, and most of the restaurants we go to say where their meat comes from, which I appreciate. I wouldn't interrogate a host on where their meat comes from or anything, but it's important to me to vote with my wallet.

@Brooklynnina -

It really can vary. Ideally, an "organic" label on meat would mean more humane - for instance, organic beef may actually mean the animal lived outdoors, eating pasture rather than grain, because a cow cannot live on grain without being given antibiotics (the grain diet changes the digestive system's pH, enabling the growth of pathogens). However, depending on the product, "organic" may just mean that antibiotics haven't been administered within a certain period of time before the animal was killed/milked/whatever, so it's hard to know how the animal was raised & what it was fed before that time (I believe that applies to organic milk). Also, with poultry, organic likely means the chickens live indoors and are just fed organic grain - poultry cannot be given hormones or antibiotics regardless of how it's raised, so seeing "no antibiotics or hormones" on chicken is purely marketing.

You're better off looking for grass-fed beef & truly free-range chicken (be careful, though, because there are still lots of loopholes in how something can be marketed - for instance, "cage-free" chicken/eggs often means the chickens still live indoors, but they are all loose in a big building rather than in cages; "free-range" beef may have had grass as only a portion of the diet).

You sound like you're mostly concerned with the issue of animal welfare, but I also wanted to add that the meat/eggs/milk from pasture-raised animals is much, much healthier for us as well -- these products contain healthier fats, including some omega-3 fatty acids (yes, the stuff that large agriculture companies want us to believe only comes from fish. Oh, don't even get me started on most farm-raised fish -- not only is it bad for the environment, but it doesn't even contain nearly the amount of omega-3s found in wild salmon, because of what the farmed fish are fed...)

I live in Southern California and have a lot of good options. We only purchase "happy" meat and wild, sustainable fish. It isn't cheap so we buy in bulk directly from farmers and supplement with Whole Foods and a look natural butcher. We eat less animal and fish protein but of much better quality. And our guests do too.

In recent local news, the Supreme Court forced CA to comply with federal animal slaughtering rules. Yes, a sick pig that cannot walk to the slaughterhouse, can you be sold to you for food. Disgusting.

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2012/01/the-supreme-court-and-the-slaughterhouse-graphic-content-warning.html

We live in a village at the edge of a larger city, and so are surrounded by farms. We have switched to buying only locally-raised natural (not organic) meats from our village butcher. They are committed to animal welfare, and supporting local farmers. All the meat is identified as to which farm it came from, and breed, and you can visit the farms if you want. Most are within 10 miles of the store. Their meats are amazingly delicious; we couldn't go back to grocery store meat after this if we tried.

As others have said, because you pay a premium for this sort of product, you find you use less of it, for budgetary reasons. The butcher makes a point of having cheaper cuts of meat, and helping teach people how to cook them, which is a great benefit.

@Brooklynnina The question about the distinction between organic and higher welfare is a good one to ask. Here in the UK at least, organic will mean higher welfare. For a food to be labelled organic here automatically means the animal was free-range, i.e. not caged. A bit of research into your local organic standards will give some insight - for example, organic doesn't automatically mean antibiotic free.

It strikes me as well that lots of the debate here is just about animal welfare. As an eater, I do think lots of organic products taste better too, perhaps because the meat / vegetables / whatever is grown more naturally, e.g. longer, because it's not pumped full of drugs and other stuff. The difference between a naturally fed, free range organic chicken and one raised crammed in a dark shed with no room to move is vast, as is the difference between, say, home grown or organic tomatoes and the flavourless standard supermarket variety. But, I do appreciate I am fortunate to be able to make the choice, and that not everyone is in the position to do so.

Ditto NOELLE153, we also do pretty much exactly as you described when it comes to meat.

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments! Lots of good stuff to think about here....