So is it worth it? Is there any savings to buying a whole or side of animal?
First Step
I tromped down to the freezer, and yanked all the packs I’d previously put there to freeze, back out. My inner cheap-ass required it. Required I weigh it. Required I do some math. 28.8kg, my scale says. So roughly 63 lbs. $155 [$130 for farmer, $25 for ‘kill and chill’]. $2.45/lb.
Second Step
Is $2.45/lb good? I peruse some online-flyers for a few box-store-grocers. $2.29 for blade steak. Blade roasts: $3. Loin seems to go for $4-6. Tenderloin: $5-6. So far so good.
Third Step
A heritage breed of locally produced pork, raised in a fashion where they are free to roam and forage outdoors would likely be less comparable to a Walmart product and moreso to another farmer’s-market-available-small-producing-carefully-raised-product. I thought a peer comparison might be more sensible. So I got in touch with one. First, they don’t sell whole sides, but offered I could buy a side of pig at retail at the markets. How sweet! And? Chops $9/lb. Tenderloin $15, Back Ribs $11.45, GROUND $7.89, Ham, $8.91. Not an entirely fair comparison [cut/wrap costs, etc], but close enough. This kind of sticker shock is what has, over the past few years, turned our morning shopping at the market to a morning walk through the market instead.
Conclusion
Because I use a wide variety of retail cuts anyway, the math instantly made me very, very chuffed. In my mind, I obtained superior product to the box-store pork I normally consumed, for significantly less cost. My inner cheap-ass and my inner food snob are having a rare moment of mutual happiness.
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