This is my third installment in our series about making your food dollar stretch. Today I want to ask you to rethink meat.

For many Americans, meat is the primary source of protein in their diets. Although I’m a long-time vegetarian (and aspiring vegan), I’m not going to inundate you with the host of ethical reasons to give up meat. You’re here because you’re concerned about money. So let’s talk about the dollars and cents of eating meat.

The cost of meat is rising because the cost of corn is rising. In my first post of the series, I discussed that this was due to the rising cost of fuel, the production of corn for fuel, and the recent flooding in the Midwest. Those costs are being passed onto you, the consumer. I normally don’t venture down the meat aisle, but on my last trip to Trader Joe’s I decided to do a little research to find out just how bad it really is. The cost of boneless, skinless chicken breast was a whopping $6.69 per pound! After the sticker shock, I thought it best not to take a look at the beef.

In the book Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture, Jeremy Rifkin tells us that America’s obsession with corn-fed beef dates back the 1800’s, when animal husbandry and agriculture became inexplicably linked. The British investors who funded the US ranching industry preferred their meat to be marbled with fat, which could not be achieved by allowing the cows to roam freely on grass. So before the cows were slaughtered, ranchers would ship the cows to stockyards where they would be fed a diet of corn in order to fatten them up.

This practice continues today because of the USDA meat grading system. When an inspector grades a slaughtered cow, he or she makes a cut between the 12th and 13th rib to look at the amount of fat, the texture, and the color of the muscle. It’s a fairly subjective system, and yet it alone determines the price of beef. And since consumers want to eat ‘œPrime’ or ‘œSelect’ grades of meat, corn and beef will remain married until we see a change in the federal grading system.

This has some pretty hefty consequences:

Today, a century after the British successfully combined the free grass of the plains with the surplus of corn of the Midwestern grain belt, 106 million acres of US agricultural land is used to grow 220 million metric tons of grain for cattle and other livestock. In the United States, livestock, again mostly cattle, consume almost twice as much grain as is eaten by the entire population. Globally about 600 million tons of grain are fed to livestock, much of it to cattle. If worldwide agricultural production were shifted from livestock feed to grains for direct human consumption, more than a billion people on the planet could be fed.

The grain-fed beef complex has forced a fundamental change in the dynamics of human social relations at the most basic of all social levels. The question is now one of survival itself, of who eats and who doesn’t, of how the millions of acres of available land on the planet are used, and for whom. (p. 98-99)

‘œOK, Serena,’ you say. ‘œI’m willing to concede that grain should be feeding people, not cows. But what if I eat grass-fed beef instead? Wouldn’t that be OK?’

Not really. Since this isn’t a dirty hippie blog, I’ll leave out all of the reasons why ‘œfree range’ cattle ranching is bad for the environment, and the fact that the ‘œWestward expansion’ of America that was fueled by the cattle industry resulted in the genocide of Native Americans. Instead, I’ll appeal directly to your pocketbook. Much of that ‘œfree-range’ cattle ranching is done on public lands, with the taxpayers footing the bill. I’ll quote Rifkin again:

Even fewer American are aware that today cattlemen and cattle companies across the great western range enjoy access to millions of acres of public land and that they are virtually subsidized by the American taxpayer in their endeavors. (p. 108-109)

In fact, according to an article in the New York Times:

‘œToday, 23,000 ranchers in the 11 Western states run cattle on about 270 million public acres — an area the size of the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine to Florida. . . Western ranchers contribute only 2 percent to the nation’s total red-meat production, yet last year the Forest Service spent $34.5 million on its range management program and took in only $10.9 million in grazing fees.’

That’s a lot of cheddar, ya’ll. I can think of about 34.5 million other uses for that money that would be better for our country, but I’ll stop here for today with my tirade against beef.

That being said, how can you start to replace beef in your diet? This is, after all, a personal finance blog, and the purpose of this series is to help you stretch your food dollar. One simple way to get protein in your diet is to increase your consumption of beans. Beans have lots of protein and fiber, and they’re low in fat, so they’re good for your health. Here’s a recipe that has both of the qualities that I look for in a date . . . it’s cheap and easy. (I kid! Or do I?)

Vegetarian Chili with Cornbread (Makes 4 servings)
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) navy beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) corn, drained
1 can (24 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ yellow onion, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ tsp chili powder (this can be adjusted according to your heat tolerance level)
½ tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
2 green onions, thinly sliced
½ cup shredded cheese

1. In a large saucepan, sauté onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until garlic starts to turn yellow. Add chili powder and oregano and sauté for just a few seconds in order to release the essential oils in the spices.
2. Add beans, corn, tomatoes, and bay leaf. Mix until all ingredients until incorporated. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Cook for approximately 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Remove bay leaf before serving.
3. Garnish each bowl of chili with green onions and cheese.

If you watch the sales at your supermarket, you can usually get cans of beans and corn for 50 ȼ ‘“ 79ȼ. That puts the entire cost of this meal around $7. If you serve it with a loaf of cornbread, the cost for the meal is around $9, which breaks down to $2.25 per serving. (I usually use the Jiffy boxed cornbread mix. I can get it for 33ȼ a box if I watch the sales, and one box makes 9 servings.)

If you have a favorite recipe that calls for beef, consider using the tofu crumbles that are similar to ground beef. There are two brands that I like, St. Yves and Morningstar. Both are readily available at most supermarkets, and the cost of a package is typically between $2 – $3.

And just in case you think I’m just a dirty hippie (which I am), here’s a recent article from the Sun-Sentinel that provides several tips for getting more for your money if you think that you just can’t live without beef. And circling back to my original example about chicken, you could always reduce the cost by going with bone-in, skin-on cuts of meat. All it takes is a good boning knife at home and an extra minute or two to remove the skin and bones, and you have the exact same product at a much lower price.