The grass-fed, free-range beef from Australia is going on sale again at ShopRite. The deep discount, $3 off per pound with a Price Plus Club, will be available tomorrow through next Saturday (Oct. 4-10). The final price, $3.99 a pound, is not the lowest of the year; I bought some for $2.99 a pound.
The color photo in the ShopRite circular shows slices from the Nature's Reserve "whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon," prepared medium rare. In truth, you'll have to do a lot of trimming to get the steaks to look like that. The tenderloins come in a plastic sleeve with some blood, and weigh 6 to 8 pounds. The beef, raised without antibiotics and growth hormones, is chewy with a pronounced beefy flavor.
I cut a bunch of small steaks from my tenderloin and sliced the rest thin for Korean barbecue (it went into a freezer bag with Korean marinade you can get at H Mart).
ShopRite will also be discounting USDA Select whole beef tenderloin for $4.99 a pound with the store card. This is a rare case where a naturally raised product is sold for less than the conventionally raised one, complete with antibiotics and growth hormones. Imagine the Australian cattle roaming grassy fields and the USDA animals confined in feeding pens in an effort to get them to market as soon as possible.
The color photo in the ShopRite circular shows slices from the Nature's Reserve "whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon," prepared medium rare. In truth, you'll have to do a lot of trimming to get the steaks to look like that. The tenderloins come in a plastic sleeve with some blood, and weigh 6 to 8 pounds. The beef, raised without antibiotics and growth hormones, is chewy with a pronounced beefy flavor.
I cut a bunch of small steaks from my tenderloin and sliced the rest thin for Korean barbecue (it went into a freezer bag with Korean marinade you can get at H Mart).
ShopRite will also be discounting USDA Select whole beef tenderloin for $4.99 a pound with the store card. This is a rare case where a naturally raised product is sold for less than the conventionally raised one, complete with antibiotics and growth hormones. Imagine the Australian cattle roaming grassy fields and the USDA animals confined in feeding pens in an effort to get them to market as soon as possible.
I have just seen the documentary Food Inc and now it has changed my eating and I only eat organic. Thanks for this info and I did go to Shoprite and buy the grass fed beef. I too found it strange that the regular beef was selling for more.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear about your change of heart. "Food Inc." is a real eye opener, adding to other films and books about how our food is raised -- and it's far from a pretty picture.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know that is grass fed?
ReplyDeleteThat's how it is advertised by ShopRite: Free range and grass fed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you can consult a Web page about Nature's Reserve trademark:
http://www.trademarkia.com/natures-reserve-all-natural-free-range-beef-never-confined-in-a-pen-no-additives--minimally-processed--product-of-australia-78309965.html
The term "grass" does not appear anywhere on the linked page that you supplied. My ShopRite flyer does not include the word "grass" anywhere. Does Free Range imply Grass Fed? Is that absolute? I don't think so. The blog's title seems appropriate in this case.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what flier you have. I haven't seen Nature's Reserve beef from Australia on sale recently.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The word "grass" or "grass fed" doesn't appear on the page I referred you to, but if the cattle are never confined what else would they be eating?
I have tried to reach Australian beef and lamb producers at their Washington, D.C., office last summer and more recently without success.
I am not so sure that they do not eat grains. I don't know if there is an Australian definition but the USDA doesn't define free range in terms of beef, pork or other nonpoultry animals. So if you see this term on these products, it has no standard meaning. Keeping the barn door open might imply "free". I would not be skeptical if the packaging had "grass fed" printed on it.
ReplyDeleteYou can go to the following Web site for a discussion of pasture management and grass feeding of Australian beef and lamb:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mla.com.au/Livestock-production/Grazing-and-pasture-management
they are grass fed since cattle dont really eat much corn on the stalk and these are free range...cattle eat grass if you ever saw a farm
ReplyDelete