Good, healthy, cheap sources of protein?

[Anonymous]

I enjoy eating meat and I believe (maybe wrongly) that meat provides certain nutrients and health benefits that you can't get from other sources of food.

Nonetheless, I find the prices for organic, non-hormone, antibiotic free, etc meat at Whole Foods and other places to be too expensive for me. At the same time, I'm a meat snob and can't bring myself to buy the 1.99/lb meat at Giant, Safeway etc (fear of hormones and so on, though I have no idea if it is actually worth it to buy the more expensive meat).

If you feel the same way I do, can you 1) recommend places to buy cheap, healthy meat, such as a reliable and inexpensive CSA or other food co-op situation ? And 2) give any ideas on other good sources of cheap proteins, like beans and lentils?

Thanks for any ideas/thoughts.

[Anonymous]

The amish market in Germantown has cheap meat, cold cuts and sausages and they are supposedly farm raised, (although I suspect that they are now just buying meat from wholesalers). I recommend going early in the day because their cases are not refrigerated and I have gotten, uh, bad digestive reactions from meat bought later in the day.

[Anonymous]

eggs

[Anonymous]

beans

[Anonymous]

We get our beef from this farm and they also have a meat CSA: http://www.chicamarun.com/meatcsa.html

It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than Whole Foods.

[Anonymous]

Lentils, beans, fermented soy products (like natto) but NOT tofu (it's got too many phytoestrogenic compounds to be safe for daily ingestion), peanut butter, almonds, walnuts, cheese, milk.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for the replies! any other suggestions welcome...

[Anonymous]

There are a ton of options for non-meat sources of protein, although I agree that (good quality) meat does pack a special nutritional punch. Splurge on it to serve once a week, otherwise explore all those bean and whole grain hippy foods, and you will find tons of non-meat protein there.

For example, try:
Eggs, quinoa, any kind of nuts or nut butters, mung beans, lentils, brown rice & beans (black or pinto), greek yogurt (use instead of sour cream on your rice and beans!), whole barley, cheese, pumpkin seeds, whole wheatberries (great in salads.). Just go to the bulk grain section of any natural food store, start browsing, and try something new every week.

[Anonymous]

We eat this almost once a week:

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/egyptian-koshary/Detail.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get our beef from this farm and they also have a meat CSA: http://www.chicamarun.com/meatcsa.html

It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than Whole Foods.

oooh...had no idea this kind of this existed. but are they organic? do they deliver?

[Anonymous]

refried beans and rice with salsa, cheese, lettuce and spices. Eat once a week.

[Anonymous]

I buy organic chicken and ground beef from Costco.

I also use lentils, black beans, and am now making a stew with pinto beans that is flavored with chicken, but has less than recipe called for to lower cost.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/slow-cooked-tex-mex-chicken-and-beans?comments_page=2&#conversation-container%0A

[Anonymous]

Costco is increasingly carrying more organic meat, and I expect the breadth of their selection to continue to improve.