US food sources declining becoming non edible .

Anyone else notice that our meats are becoming chewy with gristle Like it's the bottom of the barrel scraps ?

I have been buying pre made burgers for a couple of years just so I can throw one in the Instapot and have a 15 min burger for lunch while I keep working , Here in the last few months they are not even edible full of bits that feel like i'm eating cardboard , Same with packs of ground beef used to make meals with is just full of bone and gristle - Even chicken is horrible same thing either rubber or like tonight Had to spit out gristle in a boneless breast I cooked .

WTF is going on are we running low on meat products or is this crap coming from China ?

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

The good stuff is being sent to China.

Livestock and Meat International Trade Data

China approves U.S. beef, pork establishments for export

Ground beef is a meat they can cut with junk so they do to keep cost down just buy fresh ground beef in bulk and freeze it

Chicken is salt brined to increase weight the bones that happens possibly more so now with labor cost

Food has never been a pretty market as I often say it's best not to think about it to much or you'll never eat

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

It's very much worth it to find a local or semi-local farmer that will sell you a half cow. Yes it's a bit expensive up front, plus a new freezer if you don't have one, but it's so much more worth it in terms of quality. I do the same with our chicken, only buying from a farm about an hour away. The 40-pound box is $70 or so, depending on the cut of chicken you want; the only downside is no whole birds for sale.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Where are you that the meat you are getting is of such low quality?

I'm in northern California, just outside the capital, and the meat and chicken I get is quite good, and reasonably priced.


I buy most of my beef from the Asian international supermarket just down the road from me. I usually buy ribeye roasts, and often cut them down into inch and a half steaks; three or four 1lb ribeye steaks for about $7 each from each roast for less than $30. They also have a really good fish market in store...even live catfish. Can't be fresher!

I buy lamb chops, and occasionally rusk, at the halal market around the corner...delicious!


Chicken, and all my other groceries, are purchased at various chain and private markets near me (there a family-owned market in the "Little Italy" section of town, about 10 miles away, where I stock up on crumpets!)

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Anyone else notice that our meats are becoming chewy with gristle Like it's the bottom of the barrel scraps

depends on where you buy it, butcher shops tend to have good selection of quality meat. box stores and outlet stores not so much.
but i will say you might find some butchers that don't care just like all businesses.

buy meats from a butcher, and everything else from the others.

I haven't noticed bad meat either. There are lots of meat markets if you're willing to pay the price. Costco used to have decent premade beef patties. I guess it depends on what you're actually buying and who manufactures it. Buying a portion of beef is a great idea but storage can be an issue. That's why many people go to local meat markets. But you could always grind your own. Buy the whole meats and process yourself.

Maybe try some different brands.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Where are you buying from? Different retailers buy from different supply chains. Are you still buying from the same retailers? Are you still buying the same grades of meat? Different grades have different standards for fat and other content.

China is a net importer of beef. In recent years, their export of beef has been essentially zero.

a reply to: Boomer1947

Unfortunately Kroger -Aldi - and Walmart at the moment ......... Yeah now I typed that I get it but it wasn't to bad 6 months ago . We started having most food delivered during covid and just have not got out of the habit .

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

I was having this conversation with my brother. Nothing is as good since 2020. I sometimes treat myself to a cooked turkey breast from Whole Foods. It was mushy the last time.

The meat I buy is expensive since I want to trust where it's coming from and what's in it.

I love your avatar and right on topic.

I wouldn't trust meat from cattle raised in a feed lot filled with growth hormones, steroids and methylenedisalicylate
It's even worse for chickens.

agriking.com...

grist.org...



If you don't trust the US govt. how can you trust the FDA?


Do you think its about corporations providing food for the masses or....making as much profit as possible at the expense of the consumer.

DENY IGNORANCE

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
Anyone else notice that our meats are becoming chewy with gristle Like it's the bottom of the barrel scraps ?

I have been buying pre made burgers for a couple of years just so I can throw one in the Instapot and have a 15 min burger for lunch while I keep working , Here in the last few months they are not even edible full of bits that feel like i'm eating cardboard , Same with packs of ground beef used to make meals with is just full of bone and gristle - Even chicken is horrible same thing either rubber or like tonight Had to spit out gristle in a boneless breast I cooked .

WTF is going on are we running low on meat products or is this crap coming from China ?

Never had the issue to this day.

Must be where you live and buy from.

buy your meat direct from a farm or ranch.

Its a bit more expensive but healthier and tastier in my opinion making the increased price worth.

You get the added benefit of supporting a local producer versus a giant corporation that only worries about the bottom line.

originally posted by: soulrevival
a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Nothing is as good since 2020.

Wow dude… subtle.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Anyone else notice that our meats are becoming chewy with gristle Like it's the bottom of the barrel scraps ?

Where do you live?

Meat has been fine here in NY. I've been eating mostly beef & pork lately but I just bought some chicken and it's in the fridge.

Dunderbeck's Machine by Ed Harrigan (modified version)

Verse 1
There was a good old German man his name was Dunderbeck.
He was very fond of poodle dogs and sour krout and spec.
He had a great big butcher shop, the nicest ever seen.
He got himself a patent to make sausages by steam.

Chorus
Oh, Dunderbeck oh Dunderbeck, how could you be so mean?
You were sorry you invented that wonderful machine.
Them pussy cats and long tail rats, no more they will be seen.
You grind them up to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine.

ATS Thread

I don't notice any problem with our beef, we buy a half head of beef from a farmer we know, certified one hundred percent grass fed and organic. The thing is they are really good at choosing the grasses they grow for the cows, good selections of the grass means great tasting meat. Plus they do give their cows organic mineral supplements. The cows never get sick, got lots of energy, and they only see a vet when mandated to keep their certification.

Meats great, and I get to say how much fat in the burger when it is processed, I get it about eighty five percent which is perfect. It costs about seven bucks a pound for burger and better, and three fifty for lesser quality cuts like short ribs, heart, liver, meaty soup bones, and a couple of bucks a pound I figure for the marrow bones. I kind of lump classes of cuts together to evaluate costs.

We will get a half a head till the farmer gives up raising beef cattle. Both the wife and I will never go back to buying store beef anymore, if this farmer quits, we have alternatives we can buy beef from. The organic grassfed beef at stores does not taste as good as the stuff we get. But then again, any pasture fed beef even if finished on grains for the last few weeks tastes better than that organic grassfed beef in the stores. I have had hundred percent grain fed beef from some farmers locally, that has no taste either. It is because they are feeding too much corn which is cheap I suppose. Some people do not like the flavor of naturally aged grass fed beef, I think it is because they are adding stuff by marinading it or spicing it with spices to get extra flavor...which it naturally has. A little salt, pepper, and some garlic salt is all you need with good beef.

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat
a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Anyone else notice that our meats are becoming chewy with gristle Like it's the bottom of the barrel scraps ?

Where do you live?

Meat has been fine here in NY. I've been eating mostly beef & pork lately but I just bought some chicken and it's in the fridge.

The thing I noticed is that many people think that the tasteless beef they buy is normal. That is all they have mostly eaten. Good naturally aged 2 week+ beef tastes really strong to them. Myself, I would rather have a steak you cut with a knife than one of those tasteless corn fed steaks that you can cut with a fork. I can eat a whole four pound roast from the store and still crave more, four to six ounces of good beef satisfies me easily, it provides more nutrients and shuts off my craving. Most people think that to be good beef, people will gobble it up but when studying this and testing on myself, and my family, everyone loves the beef but eats way less if it has lots of flavor to it. We will eat till our craving is fulfilled, good meat is actually cheaper because you do not need as much. What is good meat? surely not angus, and certainly not what we find in the stores. Some brands of beef seem to be a little better at the stores, We sometimes do try some to let us appreciate what we have. I like the Swift premium at one store a little better than the certified black angus at two other local stores but neither of those even comes close to the taste of our half cow raised by a farmer we know locally and processed at a local slaughter house where they do an excellent job of processing it.

I guess you can still find stores that sell naturally aged pasture raised local meats in some areas where there are lots of farmers and ample slaughter houses. But most all the stores locally get wet aged crap which is fed a diet to give it tender steaks which do not provide certain nutrients to help is stay strong....so you need to eat three times as much.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

As omnivores our food sources have a long way down until you can consider them inedible...

There is obviously a difference in quality that should be represented by its price.

originally posted by: Hypntick
a reply to: Ravenwatcher

It's very much worth it to find a local or semi-local farmer that will sell you a half cow. Yes it's a bit expensive up front, plus a new freezer if you don't have one, but it's so much more worth it in terms of quality. I do the same with our chicken, only buying from a farm about an hour away. The 40-pound box is $70 or so, depending on the cut of chicken you want; the only downside is no whole birds for sale.

Sorry, I laughed reading this, but I have to comment as this solution was taking me by surprise.
I mean no malice.

But, here is a guy who buys ready made burgers in order to have an easy life and a quick meal, cooking itself while he keeps working, just wondering if meat got worse.

Your suggestion for this guy?
Buy half a cow. Keep in freezer, use saw to cut what you need, wait for the slab to defrost. Debone and stick into a mincer, make patties...THEN put it into the instapot. Easy peasy😅

I know you were talking about meat quality, but I found it funny. 🍻