I’ve always wanted to buy meat direct from a farm, but I thought that was reserved for people with chest freezers in the basement. We have neither chest freezer or a basement.
We are really lucky here in New Zealand to have many independent farms who offer meat to the public. If you follow Bunny Eats Design on Facebook, you might have noticed me recently gloating about the 20 or so kilos of beef we have in the freezer.
The skinny
Steve and Pip delivered the meat from their 1300 acres in Wairarapa direct to our home. It really doesn’t get much easier. Eketahuna Country Meats raise their own deer, lamb and Angus beef.
Eketahuna Country Meats offer:
- Angus beef (whole $1300, 20kg packs $300, half or quarter*)
- Lamb (whole $220*)
- Pork (whole $600, half $300*)
Someone who has been buying beef this way for years gave me a wise tip: Don’t eat all the steak first. With 9 packs of mince and 7 packs of sausages in our lot, I can see why.
The Koala and I paid $300 which got us 20kg of Angus beef divided into:
- Porterhouse steak x 2 packs
- Eye Fillet steak x 1 pack
- Rump steak x 1 pack
- Schnitzel x 2 packs
- Topside roast x 1 pack
- Diced stewing steak x 1 pack
- Blade steak x 1 pack
- Cross cut steak x 1 pack
- Corned silverside x 1 pack
- Lean mince x 9 packs
- Sausages x 7 packs
The meat is frozen, vacuum packed in a range of sizes and average 0.7kg per pack. Perfect. Steve and Pip clearly know their stuff.
Next up
I have my eye on swine next. While Eketahuna don’t farm the pigs, they are from an SPCA Blue Tick accredited farm. After processing, a 30kg half a pig, you will get 20kg of pork including 6kg of premium smoked bacon plus other cuts. 6kg of bacon! The Koala and I would be in bacon heaven.
Steve and Pip make the trip from Wellington to Auckland a few times a year and will be making the trip again sometime in November/December. They stop at various spots along the way so if you are on the route, get in contact for their next trip.
Visit their website at www.eketahunacountrymeats.co.nz or stay up to date via their Facebook page.
*Prices are approximate and may vary depending on the weight of your beast.
Bunny Eats Design 
That is great! Oh, you are going to have some fun. Do you have/seen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Meat Cookbook? Great ideas.
No, I haven’t seen the meat book. I do enjoy cooking with meat though. Especially new ways of cooking the same old cuts!
Actually you’re lucky to live there and have that incredible meat close by. Here in Spain New Zealand meat is considered as the finest and best (of course its hard to get and very expensive once it reaches here). Actually I met a man once (in the party of a friend) who is from New Zealand and lives here and imports meat from there…
Hi Sofia, yes we do count our lucky stars that we have great meat here. I wonder how much mark up it receives in transit? The less middlemen the better so buying directly from that guy would be great instead of paying all the hands inbetween.
That’s awesome! It sounds like you got a great haul at a fabulous price. And I can’t wait for you to get the 6 kgs of bacon. Think of the delicious possibilities! A friend of mine from university runs a meat pool twice a year and I’ve started buying from her. She sells beef, pork and goat and they’re all raised locally, grass fed, and treated in an ethical, humane manner. I bought 35 pounds of beef and 25 pounds of pork last year. It was amazing how much better the meat tasted than the stuff in the grocery store (which I don’t buy anymore). I love supporting local farmers.
The meat pool sounds great! I think as supermarket meet gets more and more dubious, those that love meat will turn to the source to get better quality meat for less. It makes a lot of sense.
Wowsers! That is an awesome deal! I have been looking at Green Meadows Beef which have done a great job on the marketing front but can’t quite justify their prices. I’m definitely going to check out these guys! Thanks for the heads up – I do love our little country so 🙂
Hi Mands, Green Meadows 20kg pack is a little more expensive than these guys but not by heaps. I think the best thing is that you get lots of different cuts, including cuts that are often $40+ per kilo. I’d never usually get those prime cuts so that’s a nice justification.
Totally agree. And also, like your post title says, when you know your meat has had a happy life, where it’s come from & that it’s not mass produced & pumped full of chemicals – totally worth the extra money if you can afford it 🙂
That’s awesome! I love all the alternative ways of buying food you’ve been presenting – very useful!