# Need Help Finding Meat!!!



## Titan_ (Aug 10, 2017)

I live in a small town called Needles, California. I feed my Titan a raw diet using The Honest Kitchen's Preference base mix. He is a 1 3/4 year old male with an average activity level who weighs about 75 - 80 pounds. We feed him about 1 cup of the base mix a day along with about 1 - 1.5 pounds of meat a day. For one month he needs about 45 pounds of meat, but the thing is that we need to find a cheap source. Can someone please help me and try to find cheap sources of meat nearby. Feel free to search the town up.

P.S. I am also new to this forum


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## Hellish (Jul 29, 2017)

I have a modest size chest freezer, and I help myself once a month to the 10 lb. bags of chicken leg quarters at Walmart that equate with 0.58 cents per pound in my area. Then we cruise the managers specials/markdowns for organ meats, etc. at the supermarket. Tucson has supermarket chains that cater to traditional Mexican food stuffs so the protein options are pretty diverse.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Look for discounted meats in the supermarket. Ask on CL for old meat. Freezer burn is OK. Call a custom butcher. Ask hunters for old freezer meat or for left overs.


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

Titan_ said:


> I live in a small town called Needles, California. I feed my Titan a raw diet using The Honest Kitchen's Preference base mix. He is a 1 3/4 year old male with an average activity level who weighs about 75 - 80 pounds. We feed him about 1 cup of the base mix a day along with about 1 - 1.5 pounds of meat a day. For one month he needs about 45 pounds of meat, but the thing is that we need to find a cheap source. Can someone please help me and try to find cheap sources of meat nearby. Feel free to search the town up.
> 
> P.S. I am also new to this forum


Ever think of buying a whole cow?


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

cloudpump said:


> Ever think of buying a whole cow?


Grind up the entire cow and you have a balanced meal the rest of the year! :grin2:


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

Is it still legal to hunt game animals in California? If so try taxidermist, I have one that gives me a lot of shoulder meat. I have to cut it off the bone and grind but it's free. 
Go to a butcher, one that has an on site kill shop. They should be able to hook you up with some cheap organ meat. 
Get in touch with the sheriff's office. They should have a call list for deer hit on the road. ( someone hits a deer, they call you to come pick up the deer.) you will either have to learn how to process a deer or have someone do it for you. At the very least how to field dress a deer.
You can also go to dairy farmers. Occasionally they may have a dairy cow fall and split its hips or damage it enough that it can no longer be milked. Around here a lot of times it will be put down and just buried. Offer them some cash for the cow instead.


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## astrovan2487 (May 29, 2014)

I'd put out an ad in the local paper asking for unwanted meat, even freezer burnt is fine. Sometimes when people are moving and have a freezer of meat they probably throw it away. Offer to give a few bucks for it. The best way to get cheap meat is if you are a hunter (a good one), though if you actually factor in the time spent obtaining the meat then you are out money by a long shot, you have to enjoy it as a hobby to make any sense. Processing your own deer meat (or any animal at all) takes a lot of time, space, and equipment. Most people just pay someone to do it. I would bet that if we all had to process our own meat there would be a lot more vegetarians. When I get a deer it usually takes a good 8 hours of work from the time it is field dressed to where it is individually wrapped and in the freezer and I am set up to do it. I know of people that go to deer processing places and get their scraps, often for free. Most of the time these places are very small businesses so you may be able to talk to the owner and offer some money to get a deal for all the scraps.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

If you are feeding 1 1/2 lbs of meat a day and not a balanced diet of meat/bones/organs, you need to feed 1 1/2 cups of THK to be balanced. A 2:1 ratio is the max you can go (2 cups of meat to 1 cup of THK dry) and still be balanced. That's going to up the costs, sadly (I'm there myself). I buy from a supplier that trucks in food once a month, but the cheapest grind (chicken) is still around 1.50 a lb. I cut costs by only feeding 1/2 lb a day and then make up the difference with his chicken leg quarters (about a lb avg per day). This past week they were on sale for $.39/lb and this week they are $.37/lb so I'm going to buy some more (bought 60 lbs last week). Walmart sells a package of chicken hearts/gizzards for around $1.37/lb, and ground turkey for around $1.98/lb.

I then use turkey necks, sardines, occasional pork, and duck necks to add in other proteins.


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

astrovan2487 said:


> I would bet that if we all had to process our own meat there would be a lot more vegetarians. .


 There is probably a lot of truth to this statement. However, where I come from, more people can process their own meat than cannot. It is a lot of work so a lot of people will just pay to have it processed. 
however, If the OP or anyone for that matter is serious about free or cheap meat. then being able to field dress an animal should be a skill they have. People hit deer all the time. If the sheriff calls with a dead animal. Which if you're on their list it will supply a lot of free meat. I would not wait to field dress it. And the sheriff's office isn't gonna do it for you.


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## Titan_ (Aug 10, 2017)

Thank you all for your responses, im thinking ill just get about 20 pounds of chicken and 20 pounds of some other meat and get scraps from my grocery store butcher for 49 cents a pound.


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## Titan_ (Aug 10, 2017)

So Galathiel you're saying i would have to feed the same amount of meat and THK for it to be balanced?


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

Actually no, 1 1/2 lbs of meat is 3 cups ... so you need to feed at least 1 1/2 CUPS of THK base to make it the 2:1 ratio.


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