One of the most intimidating parts of ordering freezer beef is determining the right beef cuts to order for your family. Even growing up with my parents ordering our half cow, from my great-uncle, I was uneasy about the choices I made. The options and choices are truly mind blowing. The biggest mistake I made was NOT telling our butcher that I absolutely did not want any minute (cube) steaks, I'm not a fan of their texture. I would've much rather had more steaks, or more ground beef.
How many pounds of meat you actually get depends on how many cuts are boneless vs bone-in. Do you want more ground beef or do you want more options to try new things. One of the benefits of ordering whole, or half, cow is the cost is spread out so you can try that brisket, skirt or flank steaks. Not to mention, you don't have to worry about the skyrocketing prices at the supermarket.
One thing I wish I had at the time was a list of cuts with options (like if I wanted to choose roast, steak, ground beef, or cube steak). To help make it easier for you I've found a list of commonly ordered cuts with the options to make ordering the right beef cuts for you and your family easier.
For steaks, the most common thickness is 1" with two (2) steaks per pack. Just remember, the thicker the steak the less there'll be. For ground beef we typically get ours lean since our grass-fed/finished beef don't have a lot of fat, we don't want any from outside added. We typically get all of our ground beef in 1-pound packs. Most recipes call for 1 pound and if it calls for more we can just grab that many more packs.
I'll be doing an extra blog post this month talking more about different options & how many different sub-cuts you can get from each (ie how many roast & steaks can I get from a shoulder).
Your Mock Cut Sheet
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