While we were working on cutting our grocery bill in half [1], I ran across an interesting concept: buying a cow. You can buy a cow directly from a local farmer and get a huge quantity of high quality meat, skipping the grocery store altogether.
I brought up the discussion at a recent ladies night out (I can’t remember how on earth the conversation headed in this direction!) and was surprised to find that many of my neighbors buy cows every year.
One of my neighbors even offered that we could go in on her cow this year. They were splitting the cow between 4 families and each family pays $400. We have the freezer space, so storing the meat would be possible.
I’m curious enough about the process that I’d like to hear more about it. When a family gets 1/4 of a cow, how many pounds of meat is that? And how does it break down between steaks, roasts, and ground beef? How does the price compare to regular butcher prices?
At this point, I still have more questions than answers, but found how to buy a side of beef [2] helpful. If you have experience in cow buying, I’d love to hear about it!
Have you ever bought a cow? What do I need to know about it?
Real Estate
- Is It Time to Refinance Our Mortgage? [3]
- How To Avoid Becoming House Rich & Cash Poor [4]
- Should You Buy a House? [5]
Investing
- Analyzing Financial Statements – The Balance Sheet [6]
- My Experience with a 401K Rollover [7]
- Roth IRA Rules Let You Save More for Retirement Than a Traditional IRA [8]