Ben and I have decided we must be getting old, because we are no longer willing to stay up late for the sake of finishing a movie. We much prefer watching a 45 minute TV episode instead of a two hour movie.
As a result, I have never watched as few movies as I did in this last year. I had a really difficult time even remembering what I had watched, but when I thought really hard about it, I realized there was one movie in particular which impacted me enough to remember it a year later.
It’s called Food, Inc., and it’s a documentary about how food is produced. It’s described as “…An unflattering look inside America’s corporate controlled food industry.” (source)
I would not describe it as pleasurable viewing, but if you want something to change your life, then you’ve got the right movie.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to feel the same way about grocery shopping again. Especially about buying meat.
It came at the perfect time, really, because I’d known for awhile that we should start buying different meat, but nothing had motivated me enough to take the plunge.
My body does not deal well with antibiotics, and so it makes sense that I should also be avoiding meat which has been pumped full of antibiotics. Knowing this, and actually doing something about it were two different things.
But then Ben and I watched this documentary, and saw a lot of things we had never wished to see. It was so eye-opening, we never ate regular meat again. I cooked meatless meals for a few days, until we could figure out where to get our hands on some organic meat, and we’ve never gone back.
If you are like me, and you would like to be eating healthier meat, but don’t know where to buy it, I can tell you what I know:
Chicken: Make connections with a Hutterite colony and buy a bunch of whole chickens. Apparently that’s the cheapest option. It’s the only one we’ve tried so far.
Beef: We love getting beef from Bouw Farm. We’re about to get another big box of delicious beef, and I can’t wait to start barbequing!
Other: While we’ve been waiting for our cow to get butchered, we picked up some beef, as well as a few chicken breasts for barbequing this summer, from Marcello’s Meats. It’s more expensive than the other two options I mentioned, but it’s convenient, and you don’t have to buy large amounts.
Vita Health also sells organic meat, but I’ve never tried any.
Along with encouraging us to change our meat-buying habits, this documentary also motivated me to think more about gardening and farmer’s markets – knowing where my food comes from, and buying stuff close to home. I took Anika and Kaylia to the St. Norbert Farmer’s Market for the first time a few weeks ago, and everybody had such a good time. There wasn’t a lot of fresh produce at that point yet, but I was able to pick up some lettuce, spinach, rhubarb, and honey. We all want to go back again sometime soon!
That’s a lot of change from one documentary. Watch it at your own risk!;)]
Any good movies you’ve seen recently? Something good enough to stay up past my bedtime to watch?!
Ordinary Days 
Similar at our house. And we used to buy from the Hutterites, as it’s cheaper, but when we did some asking around, they also use the antibiotics, hormones, etc… Perhaps it depends which Hutterite colony?
Thanks for bringing this up! I’ve been told the chickens from the Hutterites are great quality, but it is definitely good to check into what you’re actually getting. I wonder how much it differs from colony to colony, or if it’s the info that differs! Will be asking more questions in the future!
This wouldn’t pertain to you guys because you homeschool but i recently watched bully and it was heartbreaking i cried through the whole thing. But it was important to watch with my two oldest kids to show the impact you can have on somebody’s life.
Chris and I were very impacted by this movie as well! My sister-in-law’s family owns a cattle ranch so we are able to get our meat from them. It’s kind of cool that my brother can tell me what color the steer was and what his temperament was like! Also, we are getting a bunch of chickens from a girl in our church who is raising them as a fundraiser for the youth missions trip. We took Parker there to visit them when they were chicks. So fun!
I LOVE knowing exactly where my food comes from! And yes, the St. Norbert farmer’s market is great!
The chicken fundraiser sounds great! Wish I’d known about it! But I don’t know if I’d want to know too many details about the life lived by the meat I’m eating…that might be getting too personal for me! I like to forget that I’m actually eating animal.
I am curious to know how much you paid per pound, and how you got it, etc. I’ve been buying chickens thru the Hutterites, and looking for a good beef source as well.