The inspiration behind the Carnivore Bag design was traditional farming – small family farms, selling some product to market and the rest for the subsistence of their family. For centuries, farmers have harvested their hogs and cattle in the fall, cutting the meat when the weather is cold, eating the center cuts first, canning cubed and ground meat, and curing and smoking whole muscles to provide meat for remainder of the year. Because they worked so hard for it, nothing was wasted. Even the fat was turned into lamp oil, candles, soaps and lotions. The modern adaptation of this is “freezer beef” and “freezer pork,” in which a consumer contracts with a farmer to buy an entire animal or a side of an animal, pays for it all at once, and stores it in his or her freezer for the year. This takes a lot of money upfront and freezer space. So our concept is simple. Subscribers will get a meat-only option that essentially lets them split a hog, a steer, and a variety of other barnyard animals with their neighbors, just as old-time farmers would. The product will be delivered on an every-other-week basis – East side one week, West side the next.
What do you get?
- Each subscriber will receive:
- 1/8 of a steer, approx. 40#
- ¼ of a hog, approx. 40#
- The equivalent of 7 chickens, approx. 25#
- 1 duck, approx. 6#
- A Pantry Item each week – stock/bone broth, cooking fat, milk, eggs, etc.
Why is it a good value?
Anyone who has bought freezer beef or pork before knows the benefits and the challenges. The benefits are clear: everything, including ribeye steaks, is the same price. In this case, the price per lb of the steer is $4.00 per lb, including kill, cut and package. That means steaks are $4 per lb, but so are bones, ground meat, and wasted trim. The challenge usually of buying freezer beef or pork is figuring out what to do with it. Common challenges include bones and trim. That’s why we are providing chef-crafted stocks for soup, sauces, and braising. We are also preparing custom-sausages and even rendering fat.
What will you get week to week?
Each bag will include 5 items per week: 1 beef item, 2 pork items, 1 poultry item, and 1 bonus item, such as stock, lard, eggs, or even milk. Some weeks are more valuable than others, such as when you get 2 ribeye steaks. Because it is logistically impossible to give all customers steaks or roasts at the same time (due to the total quantity of animals needed per item), customers will be divided into groups and each group will receive a different set of bag contents each week. This means your friend who picks up at the same location as you may receive different items on a given week, but don’t worry, by the end of the season, everyone will have received the same number of items in total. Keep scrolling to see the full list of items you’ll get throughout the full season.
