raw meat stuff

Question
Hi there, i also live in the UK and have been following the Aajonus diet for a few months. The problem is i'm buying lots of supermarket meat. i'm very scared that i'm ingesting irradiated meat on a regular basis, perhaps you could tell me a few of your food sources? i know about some local farmers markets, i think you recommend these. I mostly eat raw fish because i don't trust supermarket/butchers meat.
anyway it would be cool to have someone else to speak to in the UK that also eats this way. c ya

Answer
You're quite right to be concerned about irradiated meat as many supermarkets blithely get away with all sorts of skulduggery. Tesco's and Sainsbury's are the worst, but only Planet Organic(and to a much lesser extent, Waitrose) can be trusted re high standards for organic food. Waitrose and Planet Organic are the only ones willing to use the Soil Association brand which is the only reliable organic labelling system - the other supermarkets use lesser labels which allow substantial  chemical spraying of fruit/veg etc.

I can't find the full contact details on the web as Yahoo Groups is inaccessible right now, so I'm going to have to give you a couple of  phone numbers to call to see which areas they visit. The farms in question are both within 250-300km of London, but go to many additional markets around England apart from the London Farmers' Market Association ones , so you may be lucky if you're not too far away from London:-

07094663320 or 07944054946 -Food Fore Thought Farm -  Ask for Tod. He can provide all sorts of organic meat(pig/ox/lamb/pork/venison etc.), not necessarily all grass-fed, though, such as the organic pork(you'll have to check with him as to what is grass-fed or not). Unlike many more unreliable organic producers, he's able to provide most offal/organ-meats with the exception of suet and marrow. (From my own and others' experience, raw organ-meats, especially the fattier ones such as tongue/marrow/suet, are way healthier than the nutrient-poorer raw  muscle-meat).

For getting hold of (ox) suet, marrow , tongue,liver,  kidney, heart and other offal(except brain/adrenals), as well as the usual muscle-meats, contact:-

Theresa Whittle
Address: Holmes Oak Farm, Collins End, Goring Heath, Reading  
Postcode: RG8 7RJ
Phone: 01491 682568
Fax: 01491 681694
Email: [email protected]

The above farm sells 100% grass-fed organic ox meat. They're usually absent in August, but will return in September.

Both farms should be able to deliver to your door, if you pay extra delivery costs, so don't worry too much if they don't go to any nearby farmers' markets.

The best way to get cheap, high-quality food in the UK is to live in the country next to 3 or 4 organic farms. I knwo one or two people who've done that, and are quite happy with the arrangement. Since one is picking up the food direct from the farm, there are no delivery costs to pay either so it's much the cheapest option.

Here's an ideal website for finding the location of organic farms/shops etc.:-

http://www.whyorganic.org/

You'll have to register before you can search the organic directory listed elsewhere on the webpage, but just click on the box to avoid getting special offers.

Here's another main website with more subdirectories under it. This would be useful if you're happy with delivery of farm-food to your home. The catch with this method is that the farms are often unreliable, with delays of one or two days being very  common, and you have to take into account delivery costs(c,.?-?0 for each delivery). They usually leave the parcel outside your door with the necessary icepacks, but that shouldn't be a problem for you unless you're plagued by theft in your local area.

http://www.organicliving.ukf.net/stores.htm

http://www.alotoforganics.co.uk/cats/organic-meat.php

Here's a directory with contact details of some  grass-fed meat producers in the UK:-

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

I ought to mention that the other organic farms on the above website  were extremely inflexible, when I tried e-mailing or phoning  them. Only Lower Hurst Farm website was happy to deliver organ-meats to my door as well as muscle-meats. They charge ? per kilo of (grass-fed organic etc.) beef heart, ?.50 per kilo of bone-marrow(albeit including the bone), ? per kilo of suet, and they rarely have any beef kidney as it's used for steak and kidney puddings - it's ? post and packaging for all deliveries. Other offal, except brain should be obtainable as well, along with the usual  muscle-meats - I also ought to mention that their grass-fed organ-meats tasted much better than any equivalent grass-fed organic meats  I've bought in London. They should be phoned(9am-1pm only!) rather than e-mailed(farmers always seem to prefer the more human contact provided by the phone, but routinely ignore e-mails). You can call later than 1pm, but it'll take at least a day or two for them to call back, and you won't necessarily be available then. One catch with Lower Hurst Farm is that they're only able to provide nonprefrozen meat once a month. At all other times, it has to be prefrozen. I find that raw fats, such as marrow, suet and tongue are much less affected by freezing than less fatty meats, like kidney/heart, so I'm happy with this arrangement as long as I buy only the raw fats from them and buy kidney/heart etc. elsewhere, but you may not be.

Another option is the National Association of Farmers' Markest website, where you can find all relevant farmers' markest in your local county:-

http://www.farmersmarkets.net/

Most of the markets listed there won't be organic, but you can call the organisers up and ask if they have any organic stalls, or if they know of any semi-organic markets within your area. So far, London is the mecca for organic farmer's markets but other parts of the country should soon have their own organic farmers' markets as well. (Bear in mind that whatever the farmers' market, very few farmers bring organ-meats along each week, so if  you want organ-meats, you'll have to ask the farmers at the stall(if it's a reliable market, one of the farmer's family should be present) to bring the organ-meats at the next appearance of the market.

Oh, one other thing, if you can find a farmer at a local farmers' market who hunts in his spare time(most hunters are farmers), then you may be able to get hold of wild boar or wild venison, and you'll certainly be able to get hold of wild hare, and very likely wild mallard,  from them. Here's a website which provides some wild game:-

http://www.manorfarmgame.co.uk/

(Unfortunately Manor Farm  don't provide organ-meats/offal separately. Last time I checked the site, it was possible to order a whole half-deer(minus the offal) so, if your freezer is large enough, you might want to consider this option(though you may, understandably,  frown on the idea of freezing food, of course).

Organic butchers are reasonably reliable, by the way, re quality,  but in terms of price they're nothing like as cheap as getting food direct from the farmer.

And  I've finally found the relevant webpage where I posted many of my previous sources:-

http://primaldiet.blogspot.com/

Hope This Helps,
Geoff  

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