So my visit to the local meat packer was a success ... sort of .... well yeah it was.
Yes they have good quality meat available in the Comox Valley and yes it is antibiotic and hormone free ... I think ... they said yes but they also looked a tad confused by my question ... or surprised ... or I dunno ... but it did sound like the answer was definitive so I'll take them at their word. The selection however was a bit skimpy, even though what they were offering on this particular day did look nice. It probably depends on any given day what cuts you will find ... not all that convenient I suppose, if you are looking for a particular cut, although, I suppose they might be able to find whatever you are looking for it you ask, even if it's not in the display case. I prefer to pick and choose my meats by sight however, I am not real fond of asking for a cut and having it handed to me without my being able to gauge it's quality for myself.
I guess they are more geared toward supplying restaurants and local food markets more than retailing themselves. I was probably expecting too much. When I asked about chicken backs and necks to make my home made chicken stock for instance, they said "Oh yes we have that" .. the nice lady then went into the back and came out with a 20 pound box full of them ... for $17. Good deal, but my freezer is already full and I only wanted 3 pounds ... so I thanked her and bought a few chicken breasts. I must confess, they do look like nicer chicken breasts than I usually buy from the big grocery store.
On the way home, I saw a small country market grocer that I had never shopped at before beside the highway so I stopped in. Glad I did. As a store it was pretty standard for a small grocer ... until I got to the meat counter. The nice folks who work there were buzzing all over the place and were more than happy to answer my questions. The lady gave me some reading material about their meat suppliers ... all local, including some beef from the meat packers I had been to earlier but it was more than that. I learned about their pork supplier ... all pasture raised pork, grass fed no hormones or antibiotic, humane living and butchering practices ... I am sold. Their chicken is also relatively local, island raise anyway, and the same deal, pasture raised chickens able to scratch in the dirt and eat bugs the way chickens were meant to do for the most part although there is a little grey area left for me according to what I saw on their website. It's possible some of the *free range* chickens they produce might still have been confined to a barn even though they weren't specifically confined in a cage ... I dunno ... some of the stories I have heard about so called "free range" chickens still curdle my brain ... sigh, well it did sound like MOST of their chickens came from small family farms where the chickens were allowed outside. I guess that will have to do.
I also finally found some honest to god REAL roasting chickens .. the kind I was moaning about yesterday ... I guess they were there all the time, I just never bothered to go looking for them, and you WON'T find them at your local big box grocery store no matter how nice it looks. Big fat birds that had my mouth watering for the taste of roasted chicken ... I'll be going back real soon to get one for a nice Sunday dinner next time the family gathers together for a weekend.
I ALSO found bagged in the freezer section 3.5 pound bags of both chicken AND turkey necks and backs. I never even THOUGHT about looking for turkey bones ... oh and in the pet food aisle? In a little chest freezer beside the bags of Alpo? Beef soup bones and even lamb bones ... I guess they sell more of them to dog owners for snacks but they assured me they were absolutely what I wanted to make beef or lamb based soup. I am in heaven.
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