Direct “From the Ranch” American Grass Fed Beef == Rip Off
I’ve just about had it. This company (who both my friend Elaine and I thought would be good) American Grass Fed Beef (http://www.americangrassfedbeef
What we did tonight was the ‘petite’ which is the portion of the cow between the shoulders (I’m pretty sure) that’s supposed to be especially tender. It’s shaped like a pork loin, so I cut it into small filets, and used a meat thermometer to make sure they didn’t go over 145 degrees (medium rare). Guess what? They were slightly chewable, but they had absolutely no flavor. In the end, we decided to give these to the dogs as well because we asked ourselves why were we eating them- they were so unpleasurable to eat, we just stopped. After this episode, I have a theory- sure the meat we get is from grass fed cows, but what they DON’T say, is that the cows are probably too old (and thus tough) to give to restaurants and or grocery stores, so they sell these older cattle to suckers like me. I only wish I could get my money back.
Anyway, if you come across this blog entry by searching for “American Grass Fed Beef”, save your money, and just get your beef from a store that gets their cattle from ethical ranches. Of course if you’re more concerned about where the beef comes from as opposed to flavor and texture, then this may be okay to you. My wife just said “There aren’t enough words to describe how that meat sucks.” So, if American Grass Fed Beef reads this? Call me- I’d love to send some shame your way. At least I’ve learned to just get my beef or what not from Costco- their meat has always been wonderful. Now to figure out what to do with all the hamburger I have in the freezer. Ugh.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I want to be completely transparent and say that we sell organic grassfed beef and American Grassfed is a competitor to us, but one we have always respected. They have done a lot for promoting grass fed beef, and have a good reputation, but I have recently seen some other comments like yours, and a number of their customers have started buying from us. I think what has happened is that they have grown fairly large and started buying other people’s cattle rather than raising their own. A number of the other “big” grassfed companies have done the same–there is a demand for grassfed beef and they’ve tried to ramp up quickly to fill it at a good profit, and quality has suffered all around.
We’ve felt the temptation to do the same (it is certainly the way to make more money–be the distributor rather than the producer!) but we believed we would not be able to maintain the quality our customers currently enjoy. We are opting to stay small–just what we can personally manage as a family.
This poor quality grassfed beef bothers us because we believe that grassfed agriculture is a way to truly make a difference in the way America does agriculture and if people’s experience with it mirrors yours, we’ll never convert people from grain-finished beef. Good grassfed beef should be the best beef you have ever had in your life!
One thing people should know when they buy beef by the quarter or half is that approximately 50% of the yield will be ground beef. If you’re getting substantially more than that, there is a problem (unless, of course, you’ve chosen to grind up all your roasts and steaks).