robin_d - Do you remember when McDonald's french fries were so good? They formerly used a small amount of beef fat in the shortening. I try to avoid junk food, but I would make an exception for those fries! I can only imagine how good they would be in all beef fat. We did get our half cow last year, and have enjoyed the meat very much. Unfortunately, my request for the fat and all the bones for stock was passed from me to DH to the butcher. The result was that I got the usual soup bones, but all the long bones and fat were disposed of. The butcher did tell DH that we could have all the bones we wanted any time, because most people don't want them. One of these days I'll take him up on the offer, and I'll ask for all that connective tissue as well. Since the butchers normally pay to get rid of these, I imagine other butchers would be glad to get rid of them as well. Fat is one thing that I don't like to store in plastic, as it absorbs molecules of plastic quite easily. I imagine this absorption no longer occurs once frozen, but would be even faster than normal when the fat is warm. I realize that this isn't a concern for most people! ".........When you buy beef to be butchered, you pay for the hanging weight of the side/whole/quarter on the hook after the obvious parts are disposed of. Hooves, head, etc., and it's sectioned. That's how our local butchers do it, anyway. It's your call within bounds what you want off it and how you want it since you have paid for it by the weight........" calliope - that's the system used around here as well. We also paid a slight fee for the wrapping, that was either based on the pound or the number of pieces wrapped - I forget which. One reason I didn't go back and get some fat from another cow was that I particularly wanted the healthier fat from a grass-fed animal. It occurs to me now that I can call up the farmer who sold us the cow and ask when they are taking another animal in to be butchered. Of course the 100 mile drive was also a factor! Fortunately there are some great German restaurants in the town where our butcher is located, so it makes a nice outing.

Excuse the typos. Im on my iphone Im in milwaukee and winters i typically get chickadees cardinals downy woodpecker Sparrows (avoid adding Millet to suet) and the occasional Junco. Haven't seen chickadees this year as of yet, possibly Due to warmer winter. Purchased a squirrel proof suet feeder from menards. Saves Me lots of suet, I just give squirrels a spoon of Peanut butter every day as they're hungry too use chunky peanut butter. Lard and white or wheat flour I also add the following ingredients until mix Turns into easy texture to press into 9x18 cake pan, freeze Then cut to size with spatula. Rolled Oats Cream of wheat Wheat germ Corn meal Crushed fritos (Attracts juncos) Crushed cereals Chopped dried fruits - apples cranberries raisins Nuts- sunflower walnut peanut crushed Syrup or molasses or honey or all three Sugar Sometimes I add strained bacon grease w/lard I added millet once and it attracted a lot of sparrows Which tend to chase other birds away so I stopped Using millet. I tried rendering the real suet once and birds Preferred the p-butter suet mix, happy me it's much Easier. Getting a platform feeder will attract a wider variety Of birds. Juncos like to feed closer to the ground So I put suet crumbs in a pie pan on top of my Central air unit near my suet feeder, but they also Visit my hanging feeder that I keep near brush so they Have shelter from predators. I hang suet feeder On shepherds hook outside my window. At our cottage about two hours north With the same suet I get a lot of juncos Chickadees red bellied woodpecker. Downy woodpecker Nuthatch and cardinals. Do a search for Sialis + bird suet and you'll find A number of recipes there. I sort of "wing" it and Add a bunch of ingredients until I get the desired Texture. No pun intended.

We eat a lot of ground beef and I buy it here at Smith's(Kroger).I always get the 85/15 and pay $1.98 a lb. for the family pack most of the time.They always have really good specials and sometime if I get there at the right time the meat ground that day is marked down even more.I stock up then.They also have great specials sometime on steak.usually Sirloin and London broil and I stock up on those too. What I can't stand is getting those tiny little pieces of bone in a bite of meat.Ruins the whole burger for me.Don't have much of a problem with that with Smith's. Someone had organic,grass fed beef on the local Craigs list a while back.You could get a half,1/4 or whole beef.I called about it and it would have cost about $9.00 a pound! Would have been nice but who can afford that! Wish I had a way to grind my own.With the london broil and sirloin specials I can get,it would save a lot of money.

At our Krogers, I just bought 2 bags of chicken hind quarters for 69 cents a pound in 10 pound bags. I have found hind quarters in such bags in a nearby IGA for as low as 49 cents a pound. Not organic, but perfect for what I wanted--dog food. This time, I cut off the thighs for DH and me (ending up with about 22 nice-sized thighs) and ground the raw legs and meaty parts of the backs (including the bones) for dog food. I freeze them in 1/3 cup balls and add one a day to our dog's dry food. She strongly approves. I seasoned our thighs and let them sit in the fridge for 24 hours, then, for the first time ever, I cooked chicken in the sous vide. Each thigh went into a cheapo fold over sandwich bag to help keep the vacuum bag clean and preserve the liquids with each thigh. Thanks, Dcarch for the verbal push! Most of them went into the freezer, but I kept enough out for two meals. They are delicious. Moist and flavorful. Before serving I will brown them quickly in a very hot skillet, add the drippings and some wine to the skillet and cook it down, pour it over the thighs, and enjoy. Or I may use the meat in a salad. Or. . . .?