Raw Beef UK

Question
Hi Geoff, all the info you have on this site is so useful, thanks alot! Im having a problem though. Im starting following a diet similar to yours, but im having trouble finding beef. I live in South London/Surrey, and cannot find a source of organic beef! Do you have any idea what i can do i feel like im  going to starve. all the butchers ive spoken to only sell free range beef. is this ok? or do you know anywhere else i can get my beef. i need it weekly, and in the form of steaks, probably delivered... since your n london i was wondering if u could help... it wud mean the world to me..thanks

Answer
First of all, try very hard to avoid buying from  supermarkets and only go for butchers as a secondary option to direct delivery from farms or the use of farmers' markets - otherwise you'll end up either getting hold of low-quality meats and/or paying far too much because of the added retail-costs. And virtually all supermarket/butchers' meats are adulterated with preservatives or irradiated etc.

Free-range beef is better than intensively-farmed beef, but it's much better to go for organic/100% grassfed beef as "free-range" can mean almost anything, these days - (Lamb/mutton is usually grassfed, which is handy). That said, there are cases where a nonorganic small-time farmer produces much better quality meats than any of the bigger organic producers - this is unsurprising as small-time farmers simply haven't got the money to spend on chemicals and other intensive-farming practices(and no money to spend on the expensive process of converting their land to organic status) whereas the bigger so-called "organic" combines can work out what sort of dodgy practices they can get away with without overtly breaking organic rules etc. Certainly, if you find a source that is only "free-range" or "naturally-reared" but where the meat is 100% grassfed, it should be fine.
(In Italy, where I go on holiday from time to time, there is no organic-meat industry really, except for organic chicken and(very low-grade) organic/free-range eggs, so I usually visit a cavalheria(horse-butcher's) where I can get hold of grassfed horsemeat, which tastes way better than the intensively-farmed(and more expensive beef in another butcher's shop nearby)).

Here's a big list of UK organic-food-related websites and tips re buying organic food etc.(some have an additional  facility where you put in your postcode and then click the search-function and they come up with the nearest small farms etc. within 20 miles etc.):-

http://www.wewantrealfood.co.uk/single.htm?ipg=6857

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cheap/20040901a1.asp

http://www.alternativemeats.co.uk/asp/

http://www.littlelocalfood.com/

http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/

http://www.smallholders.org/index.php?linkto=main.php


The grassfed meat-sources within the UK are numerous. Here's a very small selection of them in one list, just click on the relevant farm-link to get the contact-details.

http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/resources/meat/index.shtml

Other than that, just search online under "grassfed beef farms surrey" etc. on www.google.co.uk, and you should find several listed. I found these, for example on a random search:-

http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/Products/organic-farm

http://tinyurl.com/4wwy56

http://www.sussexfarmfoods.co.uk/localfarmers.asp

The UK is usually better than the US, in that organic usually means grassfed, but do check as some farms feed their animals grains instead of hay in the winter etc. You'll find that most (organic/grassfed)farms will deliver direct to your door, unless you're based in Northern Ireland or on the Scottish or Channel Islands.

I find the London Farmers Market Association to be the best option, for most of my food-shopping, myself(assuming you can get into London, easily at weekends):-

http://www.lfm.org.uk/

Other than shopping once a week or fortnight at the farmer's markets, I get my raw suet and raw marrow delivered direct to my door at various intervals from various (grassfed/organic) farms - usually, as I don't necessarily need to be present to receive the package, I tell the farmers to just leave a note with the courier, to place it discreetly a little to the side of the door, and when I come back it's still there - the marrow/suet comes packed in ice-packs within a plastic box, so it's perfectly OK.

I'm able to buy things like wild hare carcasses at my nearest LFM market  as well as raw, wildcaught oysters, venison liver, wild mallard duck carcasses/raw mutton etc. Usually, things like organ-meats or raw lobsters have to be ordered specially beforehand, so you have to chat with the guy at the stall, first - he/she will either tell you to come back next week or fortnight etc. for the particular order, or they'll tell you to ask someone at the farm via the phone.
. There are two LFM markets in south London(ie  Twickenham and Wimbeldon Park Farmers' markets).

All these LFM markets were set up by Nina Planck who was a Weston-Price-follower from the US who decided to give UK farmers the option to bypass the supermarkets - this way farmers are (finally) able to make a profit while customers get much better value for money. Unfortunately, the LFM markets website has deliberately removed the previous producers' lists so you can't figure out which farms sell what at each farmer's market unless you go there.

One tip:- Because no one wants them, raw organ-meats can be difficult to find, but given the lack of consumer interest in them, they're very cheap, indeed much cheaper than many muscle-meats. Also, I've found that my food-bills increase dramatically if I eat too much raw fruit/and veg. Going low-carb does reduce the appetite, which reduces costs. Though, obviously, you should work out what level of carbs your body does best with. Also buy cheap meats like rump steaks, you don't need to buy fillet-steak, really. And make sure to get enough (animal-)fats.

Another option is to visit local ethnic markets. I've managed to get hold of  some quite good-quality  goat-meat from Brixton market, for example.

Well, that should provide you with enough info to get started. Organic beef is quite common in the UK, and organic, 100% grassfed beef is a lot easier to find than, for example, organic,100%grassfed pork, due to UK regulations.

HTH,
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