Hunting for CSAs (community-supported agriculture)

[fitfool]

Yes I know that most of the meat I buy in the grocery store comes from animals that lived miserable lives. I've heard the stories of egg-laying chickens crammed into cages, barely able to take even a few steps their entire lives. Ditto for the tales of pigs in overcrowded pens biting each other's tails off. The environmental devastation from pig shit was new to me. (Gee, thanks _53 for posting a link to that. You nearly ruined my boyfriend's appetite for the bacon-wrapped pork chops I was serving up!)

There's no way I'm going vegetarian. Humans are omnivores and I accept that we kill to get our meat. Besides, I could never give up bacon. So I went to farmer's markets, thinking that I'd get my meat from small farms where the cows grazed in open fields, the chickens scratched about in the dirt, and the pigs wallowed in mud. But that meat cost 2 to 5 times as much as the cheap meat on sale at the grocery store. The whole chicken I could get for as little as 79 cents/pound? Try $5/lb! Reeling from sticker shock, I shrugged and said, "Those reports are from nutso PETA extremists anyhow. They're exaggerating." And how seriously am I supposed to take a group that says keeping pets is another form of animal exploitation? Spittle-spewing zealots. But I also told myself that when I wasn't so strapped for cash, I would revisit the issue.


And little by little I have. I've switched to buying the cage-free eggs that cost $2.49-$3.29/dozen depending on store instead of just $1.10 or so. (I'm guessing on the regular eggs.) I've been expanding my repertoire of vegetable dishes and thus don't need to buy meat quite as often. Meat is still the central dish in most of my meals but I try to cook up enough vegetables and starches that I can have some leftover meat for subsequent meals. But that's about it. The sale prices for meat are too tempting. I can feed myself pretty tasty meals quite economically if I stick to buying the items that are on sale.

$2.50/lb for ground turkey.
$3/lb for boneless pork chops
$2/lb for boneless chicken breasts
80 cents/lb for whole chickens
(Are these prices typical?)

But recently, roadriverrail posted about Michael Pollan's views on eating meat and that reminded me to revisit the issue. My finances are on sounder footing now. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford the higher prices, if I should so choose. Realistically, I'll probably end up either eating less meat than I currently do or supplementing with some cheap grocery meat. Maybe not. I'll continue eating meat in restaurants too. Baby steps.

The Boston area has choices for locally produced meat. One plan lets me buy a sampler pack of various frozen cuts of pork for $125. I don't even know if I can fit 15 pounds of meat at once in my freezer since I share the fridge. Another place has a subscription service of 10 pounds of meat per month for $7/lb. When I think about paying $7/lb for ground meat and sausage my frugal sensibilities want to club my ethical sensibilities senseless. The Meat CSA subscription could include things like chicken, beef, pork, and lamb. Maybe even throw in some eggs. Have I mentioned the shocking price of the eggs? $3-$5/dozen is what I've been finding online. I might stick to buying the cage-free eggs at the grocery store. Some reviews swear they taste so much better fresh but I don't know if my taste buds will really detect the difference or care. I guess I could buy 1 dozen just to compare and see.

And then I've been looking at vegetable CSA shares. The cheapest ones I've found are about $250 to $300 for the season. (Another common price point around Boston is about $500-600.) Assuming a 5-month (22 week) harvest season of June through October, that's $11.50-$13.75 each week in vegetables. Looking over my last grocery bill, I did spend $11 in just vegetables and overpriced fresh herbs so that doesn't sound too unreasonable.

Hey wait a minute...
$350 5 months of Meat subscription (10 lb/month @ $70/month)
$250 5 months vegetables CSA
----
$600 5 months meat and veggies (22 weeks for June through October)

That comes out to $27.50/week for meat and veggies for the season. I would still need fruit, dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), pasta, rice, nuts, prosciutto, smoked salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, wine and hard cider but...





my overall grocery bill might be cheaper when I commit to buying the expensive stuff. That would be really weird.

Edited to add: Follow-up post with list of Boston-area CSAs

Comments

[versimilitant.livejournal.com]

My name is Versimilitant and I'm a farmer's market junkie.
(Hi Versimilitant)

When you buy naturally raised meat (grass fed cows, pasture raised/forage allowed pig, truly free range chickens) you will find that the meat is denser and more flavorful AND more filling. The meat you are getting is packed with more nutrients as a result of the natural diet. A little bit goes so much farther.

Ditto with the eggs. The eggs I get from Mr. Yoder are raised in a pasture in a large open cage with no bottom. Every two days he moves the cage to a new part of the pasture. The chickens can run around, eat bugs, worms and seeds, like chickens are supposed to. The yolks are bright orange from all the omega 3s-- as much as in salmon. One egg is more filling that 3 store bought. And the TASTE is unreal. (Just try one in Pad Thai!) You'll never want a store-bought egg again.

It is definately an issue of quality over quantiy, but you will find that you don't need the quantity. We only stuff ourselves becaus conventionally raised animal products are so unsatisfying.

Wait until you taste cheese made from grass-fed/organically raised cows...

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Oh that's good to hear that the meat is still more flavorful. I had read that the meat was leaner since the animals actually got some exercise but that made me wary since I do like the fatty, tender meat that I get now. I eat pretty reasonably already....so a little part of me worries that I won't get enough food with the CSAs but I figure I'll try it one year and see.

[mforbes321.livejournal.com]

That's neat that you did the research and then concluded that it might be cheaper. Didn't see that coming!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I was surprised too. I'm thinking it might end up cost me about the same overall amount for grocery bills but that the distribution will skew towards vegetables, away from the quantity of meat I usually eat. We'll see. I'll be keep track of spending because I'm a little weird that way. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

[roadriverrail.livejournal.com]

I'll tell you the other thing that's been so useful about CSA membership. We paid those fees up front rather than week-by-week. In my own frugality practices, I will naturally scale back when I have large lump-sums coming up but I don't necessarily make good week-by-week purchases. So, there was a fixed price I handled well followed by months of "free food". It's been a miracle to our budget.

I don't have hard numbers, but it's my impression that, at worst, our grocery bill has been no worse going with a CSA.

It's also worth noting that it's good to lock in a food price now, because they're going to keep going up anyway, so you're making your own bet against inflation for a while. You'll be getting food you've already paid for while the prices at the grocer go up.

In addition to that, if you find meat more expensive, there's always the choice to simply eat less of it. I've found that I can scale back to one meaty meal a week without noticing the difference at all. In fact, it makes me love meat more because the day I eat it is so celebratory.

Oh...as for farm-fresh eggs...you'd be amazed. Our friend ijk got egg shares with our CSA and the yolks are the most beautiful orange I've ever seen.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

That's a good point about spending the grocery bill all at once up front. I've accepted that I'll be scaling back meat consumption. I generally cook for 2 people, so at 10 pounds a month, I think that will be enough to cover us for 2-3 meals per week. I'm hoping it doesn't change our meat consumption too much since I don't want to inflict my food choices on someone else (though of course my boyfriend is free to pick up takeout for his own dinner). OK...I'm starting to look forward to trying some farm-fresh eggs.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

hrm...both of the meat CSAs I found are full until the summer. In the meantime, I think I'll start buying meat at Whole Foods. Their meat is free range, right?

[bardcat.livejournal.com]

right on sister!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

*grin* Can I get an Amen?

[raincollector.livejournal.com]

This is fascinating. Makes me curious to look for things like this near me, though I eat so little meat (because I'm too lazy to cook it) that probably only the vegetable membership would be useful.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, I have the opposite problem. I have to make a conscious effort to cook more vegetables since I think all that peeling and cutting is more labor intensive than just whipping up a meat dish.

[yesimthegirl.livejournal.com]

Yes! You would definitely detect the taste difference between fresh eggs and store bought eggs. I think I can taste the difference between organic vs. the grocery stores regular eggs. Eggs and milk. I've been looking at joining a CSA as well. Not sure how CSA prices in Seattle compare to those in Boston, but your meat prices look typical for what I spend here. However, I've just planted my veggies for the summer so hopefully that will reduce my grocery costs. This is something to think about.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

You can start planting already? It's still cold here. I think the growing season is shorter than it was where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I grew up with a huge backyard garden that we shared with our neighbor. One of the CSAs I'm considering lets you pick your own vegetables for some items. I could pick corn again! Oh I'd be so happy. When I cook eggs, I generally just scramble them or use them in baking cookies and muffins. If I'm baking them in something else, it seems like the superior egg flavor wouldn't really come out. I could be wrong. I think I'll do some comparison tests. Any suggestions on good egg dishes for benchmarking? Michael had insisted on organic milk. I don't think I had detected a difference in flavor with organic milk (although I hadn't tried a side-by-side comparison) so I've switched back to regular milk.

[brokenchains.livejournal.com]

Hi, my name is Re and I am a proud egg racist/bigot.

I discriminate against white eggs and all typical grocery store eggs of any colour. Eggs that have been vaccinated and put through all the hormones (and their mothers) make my stomach go in to knots and I am painfully somewhere sitting for a long time. (trying to not make it TMI.) Organic eggs taste different and their yolks are darker and I do not get sick from them.

Why I am racist is I also grew up eating fresh chicken eggs in Alaska. Our chickens produced brown and blue with black speckles, both still taste much better than white (organic or not) eggs. My boyfriend use to think I was just really picky until I proved the different to him.

All those prices look about the same as here in Northern Washington.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I've heard people talk about being able to taste the difference between meat that's had tons of hormones and antibiotics pumped into them and meat that's hasn't but I always wondered if that was just in their imagination. I guess I'll find out. Does the color of the shell affect the flavor? At least with regular grocery store eggs, I can't tell the difference between an egg that has a white shell vs. brown. I, am, however, looking forward to seeing eggs of all different colors. Aesthetically, I just think they look nicer. Thanks for weighing in on the price comparison.

do it

[soloadventure.livejournal.com]

i think my parents and I are going to split a CSA this year. And I'm a member of a grassfed group but haven't ordered, yet. Thursday is my order window, and I'll let you know what i think about it.

the difference in taste alone is worth it, especially for a foodie like you.

Re: do it

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I'm curious to see if I'll be able to detect the difference in taste. As much as I enjoy great food, I seem to also be capable of enjoying junk food too. This works out well in that even if a meal isn't spectacular, I can generally enjoy it. (but I did notice that the last time I ate a fast food burger, I didn't find it satisfying. I found that a little alarming. But I still adored the fries.) Let me know what you think of your CSA!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

CSA programs have various setups. Most of the ones I've found out here will specify some drop-off locations. Once a week, you go to your specified drop-off point within a certain window (for example, Wednesdays 3-7pm) and pick up a box of assorted vegetables. Then you go home and cram it all into your fridge so you can look up what mizuna and kohlrabi are and what you're supposed to do with it. If it's the height of the harvest season, you then take tomatoes and zucchini in to work and beg your co-workers to take some. Some of them make you go out to the farm to pick up your veggies and some will deliver to your home.

I found one thread talking about some CSAs in the Los Angeles area: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/355476
CSAs in California (scroll down to the California section)
--
L.O.V.E.
Looks like they deliver to your home? I can't tell. Their website is rather lacking.
Delivery http://lovedelivery.homedel.com/Order.asp
I'm jealous of some of the things I see in their sample boxes. Avocadoes, mangoes...
(310) 821-5683 info@lovedelivery.com http://lovedelivery.com/
--
Tierra Miguel Foundation CSA
http://www.localharvest.org/csadrops.jsp?id=3359
You pick up at a dropoff point.
--
Organic Express
organicexpress.com
Not a CSA. Delivers organic fruit & veggies to your home.
--
Paradise O
http://paradiseo.com/
Not a CSA. Delivers organic fruit & veggies to your home. No delivery charge
--
Farm Fresh Ranch Market
NOT a CSA or even a home delivery service.
Regular grocery store but reports a reputation of cheap prices.

[jessacord.livejournal.com]

I guess we're really lucky here in the Bay area. There are a lot of CSA's that deliver seasonal produce, although I don't know of any offhand that deliver meat. Many restaurants in SF support sustainably and humanely raised meat and make it a point to state so on their menu. Some even go so far as to identify the source of each ingredient (carrots from Farmer Brown's Organic Farm in Tomales Bay, etc). Will your food be delivered or are you picking it up? By buying now, you may also be beating any fuel price increases and saving additional money in transportation. :o) Your research is really impressive and definitely news feature-worthy.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I only found one CSA in the Boston area that had a home delivery option and that was an additional fee. I loved the idea that the veggies would just show up each week but I think I'll go with the cheapest option first to see how I like it for this year. That's great that the restaurants make a point of identifying where their meat comes from. I assume that's going to refer to certain types of restaurants though, right? Does that practice spread to ethnic holes in the wall? Most of the places I really love eating at have been Chinese restaurants and I assume they're probably buying the cheapest meat they can get their hands on. The 2 vegetable CSAs that I'm leaning towards do not deliver. One has a drop-off location about 1.5 miles from me. The other makes me pick it up at the farm 5.5 miles away. I'm leaning towards the farm one since it's the cheapest. That would be cool to write this up and get it published. I used to write for a local newspaper when I was in high school.

[razz.livejournal.com]

Good for you for looking into it and coming to such sound conclusions! In my opinion, making these choices really does make a difference. I've looked into CSAs, too, but I've found that I actually do save money just going to the farmers' market. Plus, I like to handpick my produce and talk to the local growers.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Really makes a difference? In what way? It seems like a tiny difference to me. Just one person buying a little less mass-produced meat. (possibly 2 people since I generally cook for me and my boyfriend) Or do you mean a difference in flavor? I could see that.

[shalinerd.livejournal.com]

Two of my friends in Philly got CSA shares this winter and also found that it didn't come out so expensive. They said once they were getting this box full of food delivered each week, they were more inclined to eat dinner at home and take lunch to work rather than eating out, and saved money that way (though maybe you already do that). Plus they liked the challenge each week of finding new things to do with whatever came in the box. And the food really did taste fresh. The people whose farm they were getting shares from were really grateful and excited about it, too. Apparently they planted some new stuff this winter that they normally would've thought too risky, because now they felt partly insured.

The one problem for my friends was that winter shares end up being mostly root vegetables, and they got really sick of squash and potatoes. After already spending that amount on produce, they'd feel guilty buying anything more from the store, like greens. But variety should be less of a problem for a June-October share. They also had trouble getting through things like a dozen eggs weekly on their own (each of them lives with just a boyfriend/husband). One friend is forever trying to feed us deviled eggs. You seem to bake often though, and can probably find good uses for things like that...

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Yeah...for me it will be cooking mostly for just 2 people. I'm restricting my search to places that have an option for smaller shares. I saw some winter shares but had worried that I might get bored of butternut squash (but never bored of potatoes!). I don't go through a dozen eggs weekly now but I might be able to ramp up consumption of eggs. I don't think any of subscription options include weekly eggs though. Thanks for telling me about your friends' experiences with CSAs. That's a good point that it would be a good incentive to eat at home instead of going out. I'm really looking forward to seeing whether or not I can taste the difference with fresher vegetables.

[peachthief.livejournal.com]

I loved having membership in a CSA - every week my share was packed with new and interesting veggies which challenged me to try new things and the quantities were so large that I was challenged to learn new preserving methods! Making fresh tomato sauce and freezing it, making and jarring my own pickles, etc. was lots of fun - and the veggies were so fresh and flavorful, definitely worth it!

When we move this year we're looking at getting a new CSA membership and also buying a goat share, a cow share, and a chicken share. Ultimately we want to be growing most of our own produce and raising our own meat - but that's a long term goal. In the meantime consider the reduction in greenhouse gases and petroleum usage that comes along with buying local and organically grown foods - every little bit helps.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

You're so hard core! I don't have the freezer space to keep a lot of stuff in the freezer but I'm looking forward to trying out a larger variety of vegetables. You have goat options! I want to try cooking goat. I'm jealous.

[zadok-allen.livejournal.com]

Looks like they've already sold you on the eggs, but I just have to throw in my 2 cents also. We raised chickens on our farm when I was growing up - they had acres of yard and field in which to roam and the only time they were cooped up was at night to keep them safe from the foxes and feral dogs. They stayed fat and happy off whatever they found (grubs from the garden were their favorite - god, they'd fall on those things like a school of pirhana) and the occassional handful of cracked corn.

The difference in the taste of the eggs is like comparing home-grown tomatoes to those pale, anemic abominations they call tomatoes that are sold at the super market. DEFINITELY worth a few extra bucks.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

ooh...that's what really sold me on it. I grew up with a big backyard garden and we had our own corn, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, snow peas, and the list goes on but those were my favorites. I am so excited by the idea that I'll be able to go to the CSA farm this summer and pick my own corn (not sure if they'll let you pick your own tomatoes or not). But if the eggs offer that much of a taste difference, that would indeed be worth it to me. Well...maybe not in baking. Does it matter what kind of eggs I'm using if I'm going to be making muffins and cookies? Or does the taste only noticeable in things like fried eggs and quiche?

[nancyblue.livejournal.com]

I think that if you try this and also try cutting down on meat consumption that you will see amazing differences. I always thought that when people talked about their changing tastebuds when they went organic/free range, they were fooling themselves. Nope. Since we've been eating this way I really notice the difference when I eat crappy food. I remember having a chicken dish at a luncheon and all I could taste were the chemicals. I have that experience a lot now. When we occasionally splurge on some organic and free range meat at Whole Foods the flavor and consistency is completely worth the wait and the price. When I eat meat now it's a special experience. For the record, I've had a harder time giving up eggs. I need the iron and protein, so I'll get myself egg substitute and maybe have an omelette out or poached eggs a couple of times a week. And free range eggs are much nicer.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I think we're leaning towards having meat with our current frequency but eating less of it at a time. My boyfriend wasn't interested in going vegetarian for some of our meals so I told him I would call him at work and warn him whenever I was planning a vegetarian meal so that he could pick up something else for him to eat. Do you generally get your meat and eggs from Whole Foods? Are the eggs at Whole Foods better tasting? I just picked up a dozen today from Whole Foods so I guess I'll find out soon.

[springsign.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I was surprised. We'll see if it's really cheaper. I have a tendency to splurge at the grocery store.

[devina.livejournal.com]

Late to the party, as always! But here's my experience. We started with a 10lb/month meat share which we split with my parents to make sure everybody liked what we were getting. After our 6 months was up, we went to 25lbs/month.

In order to make sure we don't waste anything, and we use our limited supply fully without having to go buy supermarket meat, I plan out our meals two weeks at a time. I make big batches whenever possible, and leftovers become quick meals another week, and/or lunch for me. We pick up perishables once a week, so we get fresh veggies and nothing goes to waste. The share often includes a whole chicken, which makes at least 3 meals plus stock. (I save all our bones and carcasses in the freezer, and veggie waste bits, and make stock every few weeks, too.) The meat gets stretched, so we're eating less of it and more vegetables and beans. I've found it to be more economical than how we used to eat.

The month of meat is $82. The half gallon of raw milk we consume a week is $33/month. I probably spend an average of about $30/week on groceries, including staples that need stocking up, deli meats and bread for my husband, and veggies. So, figure $250/month conservatively. There are two of us, and that gets us all but 1 meal a week. (I build in a meal out every week so neither of us feels like we can't do that anymore.) We used to double that easily when we were buying all processed and prepackaged foods.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I make chicken stock too with bones and veggie bits too. I love the feeling of getting every last scrap of use out of the chicken. I feel like I owe it to the bird to not waste anything I could possibly use. Thanks for sharing your experience with the meat CSA. I'm curious to see how my food spending will go this summer.