# Two freezers + 490 pounds of stuff = ...



## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Two NOT completely filled freezers!!

I ordered and picked up the following last Saturday morning:

3 cases of Pork Heart 180 pounds for $124.20
1 case of Beef Heart 50 pounds for $37.50
2 cases of Turkey Necks 60 pounds for $41.40
3 cases of Chicken Backs 120 pounds for $38.40
2 cases Chicken Leg Quarters 80 pounds for $47.20

Total weight: 490 pounds
Total cost: $290
Average cost per pound: $.59

I left everything sitting out in hopes it would defrost, especially with the warmer weather. Last night (4 days later) not much was defrosted - even with the weather in the 70s one day.

So I set aside a case of pork hearts, beef hearts, one turkey necks and one chicken backs and the rest (minus the chicken leg quarters which didn't come frozen solid) and put the rest in the freezer as it.

My smaller freezer is now about 75% full with whole cases. 

Tonight I have plans to bag the stuff I left out (that hopefully has defrosted).

Once all that is done I need to shuffle some cases. The small freezer is the MM freezer and the large one hold RMBs, OM and any misc stuff - like tripe.

I should end up with both freezers being about 50% full.

As my inventory starts to go down I will be moving everything to the smaller freezer as the big one is in need of defrosting and a good cleaning. I power down, defrost and bleach out each freezer 1-2 times each year (stuff leaks alot).


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Awesome. I'd love to go raw but I don't have the money or space (< more importantly) for the overhead! Someday when we have a freezer... *sigh*


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Can't find pork heart, beef heart easily here. 

Turkey necks, I'm paying about $5 more a case than you as well as on the backs. I can get lqtrs for about $18 a case now (used to be 12)

do you do chicken necks at all? cost me the same as backs. 

sounds like a good haul!


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## KCandMace (Apr 8, 2008)

Wow! I am jealous. Soon enough I get to join in the hunt for bargains.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: Angela_WCan't find pork heart, beef heart easily here.
> 
> Turkey necks, I'm paying about $5 more a case than you as well as on the backs. I can get lqtrs for about $18 a case now (used to be 12)
> 
> ...


Leg Q's went up to $.59 per pound this month. Ugh.

I can get chicken necks, both with or without the skin. I find the backs are meatier and work better for my range of dog sizes. The big guys do the whole backs with no problems, the middle guys can do a back if it's cut down the spine and the Shrimp (Kaynya) gets a back half cut in half.


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## ChancetheGSD (Dec 19, 2007)

O_O If I could get that much for that cheap I'd have NO problem going raw! My biggest thing is I can't afford to pay $2+ per day to feed Chance. Stuff is expensive here.









Where do you buy everything?


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

I get leg quarters at a meat market, and the other backs/necks/etc I get from a local slaughter house/processing place for cattle/hunters.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

There are so many people starting to go RAW, that the resources are getting more expensive. Good but bad for our wallets! That and I can't get my beef blend lately, they have been out of it for over a month due to people not buying 1/4 or 1/2 cows. I am now using a pork blend for my ground mixture. And Onyx has chicken allergies, so it is getting harder to feed within my budget. K I'll stop whining now~time for a glass of wine!


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

I found a local meat packing warehouse that supplies bulk product to store and restaurants.

For $20 you can get access to over 37,000 meat purveyors all over the country by joining http://www.ipindex.com/

Or, go to Yahoo Groups and search for a raw feeding group in your area. They will know the best places to find stuff.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

with the purveyors, can you order direct from them and pick up?


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: Angela_Wwith the purveyors, can you order direct from them and pick up?


Some, yes. Some do not deal directly with the public but you can sometimes get around that by forming a fake company.

The purveyor we use is about 3.5 hours from us. With a certain size order they will deliver for free.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Actually, I have a retail sales number for the state







so maybe that would work. Ok off to see if I can find cheaper sources as I need to get meat this wk anyway


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

never mind, join ipi link doesn't work. Tried in 2 browsers.


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## Rhena (Jan 30, 2009)

Man, Lauri, you give me something to aspire to! 

(It's sort of sad, but so far half the fun of feeding raw for me is getting the costs as low as possible!)


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## Rhena (Jan 30, 2009)

Lauri, I just realized that you're in SE WI. If your purveyor is in the right direction 3.5 hours from you, they might be close to me in the Twin Cities?


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

well it order for the join link to work you have to remove the s from https: back to http: it will bring up the page then, now to wait 7-10 days for the login.


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## Little Red (Jan 10, 2009)

What a show off Lauri! LOL









Sorry if you have already mentioned this, but what kind of knife do you use for chopping up all the meats? I was thinking of purchasing an electric knife because even for cutting up a week's worth (for 3 dogs) it becomes tedious.
(I am such a wimp compared to you!)


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

We have a meat cleaver!


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## Little Red (Jan 10, 2009)

> Originally Posted By: mspiker03We have a meat cleaver!


That's what I was afraid of! lol


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: RhenaLauri, I just realized that you're in SE WI. If your purveyor is in the right direction 3.5 hours from you, they might be close to me in the Twin Cities?


Here is their link: http://www.uwprovision.com/

Looks like they do not deliver to MN but they DO go anywhere in WI.

You might want to join the RawFed WI Yahoo group (http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawFedCanines-WI/) and see if anyone in the northern part of the state would be willing to do a group order. That's what we do down here.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: little redSorry if you have already mentioned this, but what kind of knife do you use for chopping up all the meats? I was thinking of purchasing an electric knife because even for cutting up a week's worth (for 3 dogs) it becomes tedious.
> (I am such a wimp compared to you!)


What I do is stuff about 2-3 days worth of stuff into one bag - do as little cutting as possible.

For example, I go through about 2.5 pounds of RMBs per day. Last night I packaged the 80 pounds of leg quarters that were thawed. We tried to jam 5 LQs in each ziplock bag. Each LQ was just over 1 lb so that gave us about 2 days worth of stuff per bag.

I LOVE getting pork hearts because they are smaller than beef hearts and you can toss 2-3 in each bag. Beef hearts normally need to be cut into sections to bag.

I use a large, sharp (important!!) straight knife to cut things for packaging.

To cut things for feeding I use either a basic pair of kitchen shears (that can cut bone) or a pair of Fiscar scissors (that will cut tin!!) to cut up the muscle meat.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Lauri, I don't think IPI is in business anymore. Can't join on website, email never returned and their phone number is for somebody's campaign headquarters. So if anyone is a member of ipi and can do listing for me, I'd appreciate it!


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Angela,

The guy on the machine, Randy Little, is the Admin contact for the website according to Whois:

http://who.godaddy.com/WhoIsVerify.aspx?domain=ipindex.com&prog_id=godaddy

They give a different phone number in that link - I'd try that one and see if they are still in business.


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## sleachy (Aug 10, 2001)

Toozer wants to come to your house for dinner!


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## Iannotti (May 17, 2009)

How long does all of that last...I tried buying simple things like chicken necks where I live, the butcher at the supermarket looked at me like i was crazy.....


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## Dannay (Oct 31, 2006)

Did you ever have luck joining the site? I would like to search for purveyors in my area, but want to be sure that the site is going to work


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

I haven't called and left a message. I know you can't sign up online.


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