How Much Space for Side of Beef

Ordering a side of beef is a user-friendly way to fill up your freezer with high-quality local beef without breaking the banking concern.

I dearest the peace of mind that a couple hundred pounds of meat in the freezer provides.  Nigh years nosotros enhance all our own meat, and every fall we will our freezers to about bursting.  After that, we salt cure or can anything that won't fit.

This year, the simply matter we're raising is ii preschoolers and an one-time toothless cat, and that'southward all nosotros can handle for sanity'due south sake.  Notwithstanding, having humanely raised local meat in the freezer is incredibly important to us, so we spent the summertime tracking down the tastiest meat in the expanse, sampling as much as possible.

The flavor of meat can vary significantly based on the breed of fauna, it's feed and how it'due south raised.  It'southward important to sample before committing to a bulk purchase, and we tried meat from a number of farms that simply wasn't to our taste.

One time yous settle on a farm and develop a relationship with the farmer, at that place'due south no more economic fashion to fill the freezer than a bulk purchase.

In the by, nosotros've raised all our own meat, including pork, chevon (goat), and all manner of poultry.  We'd process and preserve everything on the homestead, and so I'k no stranger to cut up a side of meat.

Nonetheless, ordering a side of beef is pretty complicated.  I looked at that cut sheet and scratched my head, before settling in to do a bit of research.

How Many Pounds of Beef is in a Side?

Generally, beef is ordered as a quarter, half or whole animal.  The full size of the animal varies based on breed, historic period, and how it was raised.

On average, a whole animal weighs around one,000 pounds at slaughter.  Roughly 40% of the total weight is inedible portions, including the intestines, hibernate, etc.  That ways an average moo-cow has a "hanging weight" of 600 lbs.

Generally, meat is sold past "hanging weight," but that's earlier any trimming that happens at the butcher shop.  The butcher volition trim out sinew, tendons, and other parts, removing about 25% of the hanging weight (or another 150lbs).

What'south left is well-nigh 450 lbs of meat in a whole cow (or 225 lbs per side).

Cutting choices volition vary obviously just as a rough rule of pollex, the hanging weight will translate into 25% waste, 25% hamburger, 25% steaks, and 25% roasts.

That means a side of beef will include (approximately):

• 75 lbs hamburger
• 75 lbs steak
• 75 lbs roasts

Our family tends to eat roasts more than than steak, and then nosotros're requesting that most of the lower quality (less tender) cuts exist left as roasts, rather than cut into individual steaks.  You can likewise request more of the meat as hamburger, which would touch on the ratios too.

How Much Does a Side of Beef Toll?

The cost of a side of beefiness varies widely depending on where you lot alive and how the animals are raised.  Mostly, organic grass-fed beef will toll more than, every bit will beef on the east coast where costs are college than the cattle rich western plains.

Buying a side of beef is usually done by hanging weight, which means the animate being is slaughtered and cleaned, but still contains non-meat portions like tendon and bone (around 25%).

The grass-fed beefiness subcontract we selected charges $v.25 per pound hanging weight.  If the whole animal has a hanging weight of 600 lbs, a side then has a hanging weight of 300lbs and would cost $1575.

As mentioned above, the bodily cut weight will be roughly 225, and then we're effectively paying $7 per pound for every beef cut.  That's an exceptionally good deal given that basis beefiness currently sells for $8 to $ix a pound locally (even for conventional mill-farmed beef), and steaks $xv to $25 per pound.

(The toll per pound will likely be much lower in the rest of the state, we just alive in an surface area with higher nutrient costs in general.  Please check with your local farmer for the exact price per pound numbers.  Regardless, it's going to be much less than ownership beef by the individual cutting.)

How Much Freezer Space is Needed for a Side of Beef?

A well-packed freezer can ordinarily hold 35 to twoscore pounds of meat in a cubic foot of space.  Foreign shapes formed by a lot of os in cuts (ie. Standing Rib Roasts, etc) will mean yous need more freezer infinite.

A side of beefiness should crave roughly 5 to vii cubic anxiety of freezer infinite.  Some farms advise that you have at least 8 cubic anxiety of freezer infinite bachelor for a side of beef.

That said, if about of the bones are removed and it's packed efficiently, it tin can fit in much less space.  We're ordering from Templeton Farm hither in Key Vermont, and they accept very specific infinite estimates for their sides of beef:

"Customers who purchase a "one-half" volition receive three boxes of meat, ii of the boxes will measure 18″ long past 12″ wide by 9″ tall, which equates to i.13 cubic feet each of storage infinite required or a total of 2.6 cubic feet, each of these boxes will weight almost 90 pounds, the third box measures eighteen″ long by 12.5″ wide past six.v″ tall which equates to .85 cubic feet and weighs about 45 pounds. For the three boxes, our customers volition receive approximately 200 pounds of meat requiring 3.5 cubic feet of freezer space."

In our case, we're requesting all the bones, suet, and organ meat as well, which means we'll demand a skillful bit of extra space until all that tin be processed into canned soup stock, lather, candles, and such.

Our off-grid setup has two DC freezers that run off our batteries, with and they're 8.5 cubic anxiety each.  We also take a big 14.5 cubic human foot freezer from when nosotros were processing pigs at abode.  Plenty of freezer space for a side of beef, withal leaving space for the whole pig, lambs, 12 ducks and x chickens still to be added before the wintertime.  (Can yous tell we like meat?)

Talk to your farmer and get a specific space estimate before ordering a side of beef.

Cut Canvass for a Side of Beef

Filling out a cut sail for a side of beef can be incredibly intimidating, and honestly, might exist enough to plough yous away from the whole project.  Talk to your farmer, and encounter if they'll talk y'all through it.  With a scrap of guidance, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to fill out.

Cut sheets will be dissimilar for every farm, and believe it or non, meat is actually butchered in different ways in dissimilar parts of the country.  For case, a cut chosen "Flap Steak" is common here in New England, but elsewhere in the state, information technology'due south just tossed in with the hamburger.  Out west, Tri-Tip is pop, but it can be difficult to find in the Due east.

Hither is my cutting sheet for a family of iv.  I'll walk you through each section shortly:

Steak Thickness, Roast Size, and Package Size

The outset section is uncomplicated and simply asks for a preference for steak thickness, roast size, and package size.

As a default, steaks are cut 1" thick, but you can asking thinner (3/4") or thicker (1 1/four").

Package size depends on how you'll use it, and we chose one pound packs of hamburger, stew meat, and kabob meat.  Pack sizes are often available as one 1/ii or ii for families, and you can normally request majority packs of 3, five, or x pounds if needed.

Roasts tin be cut smaller, just they're generally cut as 3-4 pounds each.

Forepart Quarter Beef Cuts

Our cut sheet has three sections on the front quarter: Chuck, Rib, and Shoulder.  This part of the cow also includes the brisket or breast of the animate being.

All are heavily used muscles and tend to exist the "low and wearisome" cuts.  Most people cut this department in roasts, stew beef, or hamburger, but information technology also makes traditionally inexpensive steak cuts.  In that location are, however, some really nice steak cuts in the rib section.

Beef Chuck ~ Made up of the neck, shoulder blade, and upper arm.  These are more often than not tough, but intensely flavorful cuts of meat.  It'southward most often left as roasts because it has a lot of connective tissue and benefits from a long, slow cook.  I've selected roasts hither, but information technology also makes fine hamburger or stew beef if you'd like fewer roasts.  If you select steaks, this is made into inexpensive steaks generally sold under the names flat iron steak and Denver steak.

Rib ~ As you might imagine, this includes the meat on and around the ribs.  There's actually a proficient bit of meat along the spine higher up the ribs, which is most of the bulk of this cutting.  A prime number rib roast or continuing rib roast is a large cutting that includes several pounds of meat in a higher place the ribs, along with the ribs attached.  Information technology makes a slap-up special occasion dinner and feeds a crowd.  Skipping that cut means yous'll have more individual steaks, as either rib steaks (with os attached) or Delmonico Steaks (same cut but no bone).

We skipped the prime number rib since we rarely have dinner visitor, and went with Delmonico steaks which have the bone removed.  Information technology takes upwards less freezer infinite, and we'll put the bones to soup stock anyway.

Curt ribs or whole sides of beef ribs are also in this part of the animal, and these days many people skip them and add together the meat to hamburger.  They're pretty fatty, and if you add them, your hamburger mix volition exist less lean.  Nosotros love ribs, and I've selected short ribs.

Shoulder ~ Generally cutting into roasts for slow cooking, but it can as well be cut into braising steaks for slow cooking.

Brisket ~ Oft left as one big roast, the brisket can be intensely flavorful if cooked properly (sometimes for 12+ hours).  I'll always option brisket, simply I dearest to cook.  If you're more into quick weeknight meals, have this cut ground into hamburger instead.

Rear Quarter Beef Cuts

The rear quarter has quite a few choices and is traditionally fabricated into both roasts and steaks.  Our cutting sheet included sections for loin, tenderloin, sirloin, sirloin tip, pinnacle circular, bottom circular and eye of round.

Loin ~ Some of the all-time quality steaks come from the beef loin.  T-Bone and porterhouse steaks are nearly the same, containing two different muscles and a T-shaped os.  There are several in bated, and the T-bones are cut from the front end with less loin muscle and porterhouse near the rear with a larger loin musculus.

A single side of beef has both T-bone and Porterhouse cuts of varying sizes.  If the bone is removed, you get a strip steak.  Really the choice here is between bone-in or bone out, and the size of the steaks.

Tenderloin ~ Arguably the best cut of beef, and a single side of beefiness only has a few pounds of tenderloin.  This tin can be left whole every bit a roast, or cut into tenderloin steaks.

Sirloin ~ This section of the cow can go either style, as flavorful roasts or mid-grade steaks.  There are no fancy expensive cuts of meat in the sirloin, and the option here is actually whether y'all'd similar more roasts or steaks in your side of beefiness.  I'd rather accept more roasts, and skip mid-grade steak cuts.

In that location are too a few lesser-known cuts in this department, one called flap steak or barrel flap steak (not bad name, I know) and another called tri-tip.

The flap steak is a New England thing, and it's just ground into hamburger in the residue of the country.  It'south a depression-quality cut, simply some people have an zipper to it (so request it specifically if that's your matter).

Tri-tip is difficult to find in New England, but it'south a prized cut out west as a fancy grilling cut.  It can be tricky if you lot don't know how to cook information technology, so asking information technology if you know what you're doing (and skip it otherwise).

Sirloin Tip ~ Though it has "sirloin" in the name, the sirloin tip is a much tougher cut of meat.  It tin be cut into steaks but is most often left as a roast for slow cooking or ground into hamburger.

Top Round ~ A tough cut of meat that is usually left as a roast.  If you select steaks here, look to demand to pound the meat to tenderize it.

Bottom Round ~ Even tougher than the tiptop round, this is a tiresome cooking cutting.  My cut sheet didn't even requite the option to cut this into steaks, it'southward simply listed as a choice because you lot can elect to have it left as a roast or ground into hamburger.

Eye of Round ~ Another dull cooking cut of meat, it's oftentimes left as roasts or cut into stew beefiness.  It'south besides made into the more than economic steaks, and hamburgers.

In this section, we chose to porterhouse and t-bone steaks for commemoration dinners.  We left the tenderloin as a loin roast (rather than cutting it into steaks) for our holiday meal and chose roasts for all the tougher deadening cooking cuts for winter pot roasts.

Specialty Cuts and Oddments

The right side of our cut canvass has yeah/no checkboxes for basic, organ meats, and specialty steaks.

If you select "no," the butcher or farmer volition only go along the soup basic/organs/suet/etc.  Note that you've paid for information technology in the hanging weight either fashion, but if you lot can't employ them there's no need to bring them dwelling.

For the specialty cuts, the sail is asking if you'd similar them included or footing into hamburger.  This is all a affair of personal preference, and I chose to go on them because I've never tried most of them.  We have a large meat grinder at habitation that we use to brand homemade sausage anyhow, so hamburger is always an option later on.

All of these are tougher cuts and "economy" steaks, including flank steak, brim steak, flat atomic number 26 steak, brisket, and short ribs.

Eolith & Pickup

Since yous're in essence special ordering a side of beef cut to your personal specifications, it's just reasonable that the farmer is going to require a eolith.  That may not be the style most of their customers adopt their beef, and if y'all dorsum out they may be in a bind.

Our farmer requested a $350 deposit to take the order, with the balance due at pickup.

Understand that this is not a quick procedure, and one time the beefiness is slaughtered, it volition have to hang for several weeks in a meat locker before it is butchered into cuts.  Even if yous're ordering in the fall near slaughter fourth dimension, don't expect delivery for a month or more.

Information technology's mid-August now, and we'll take delivery of our side of beef in early October.

Be certain to check back for tutorials on cooking through a side of beefiness this winter!

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