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Monday, April 25, 2011

Monday Nutrition Tip of the Week: Think Out of the (Grocery) Box

WFAA Channel 8 in Dallas has a segment on their morning news called "Money Saving Mom" with Laura Thornquist. Most of the time Laura tells you how you can get a free taco from Jack In the Box or that wearing a purple polka dot shirt on Thursday at Ben & Jerry's will get you free sprinkles on your ice cream cone.

But a few months ago she called out a deal from a company called Zaycon Foods. They were offering natural, hormone-free chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound; the only catch was that you had to buy 40 pounds of it. "$1.99 a pound!" I thought. "That's incredible! The chicken filled with raging hormones at Walmart is, like, at least $3.99 a pound!"


So I got on the Internet immediately and started checking out this Zaycon company. Turns out they are based out of Washington state, and they are like the Groupon of meat sales.


Here's how it works:



(table from the Zaycon Foods website) 
 COMBINED    
     BUYING
     POWER
2) DIRECT      
     FARM-TO-      
     CONSUMER
3) SOLD BY
     THE CASE
4) SELECT
     PRODUCTS
5) SALES EVENT
     MODEL
We combine the buying power of many families together, enabling us to negotiate huge savings on food purchases for your family 
We bring products direct from the farm / processor (or as nearly as direct as possible). The products are as fresh as if you had your own farm, but without all the chores
We sell food products only by the case. No extra costs for handling. And no more empty shelves in your pantry 
We sell only what we eat ourselves—high quality, healthy food. Our focus is on a select number of commonly consumed food items such as fresh meats like chicken, beef, turkey, pork and fish
Our unique sales event approach turns traditional food purchasing on its ear. Convenient, quick, organized—about 2 minutes and you never even need to get out of your car 

I placed an order for the chicken, showed up in the specified church parking lot at the assigned day and time, and a 40-pound box of chicken breasts was placed in my car by a nice man who checked my order confirmation. I went home, opened the box, and was greeted by heaps of positively gigantic chicken breasts.

(Funny aside: it was at that time I sent Zach a text that said: "I have big, beautiful breasts...Chicken breasts, that is!")

I played amateur butcher for about 45 minutes that night, butterflying the breasts and putting them in Ziploc bags so that they could be frozen. When it was time to eat the chicken, I ended up cutting the breasts horizontally because they are so big and I wanted them to cook quickly. I grilled them up, and they were delicious.

A few weeks ago I got a message from Zaycon indicating that they were having a ground beef event. I placed another order, this time with the intention of splitting it with my sister (we still have some venison in the freezer, so I don't currently need 40 pounds of ground beef).

I picked it up Saturday, and it looks great. It's certified to be "pink-slime" free (which is a nice bonus), and the meat is about as fresh as it gets.

If you're not happy with what you're getting at the grocery store, search for other options. There are farmer's markets, you can grow your own garden, you can hook up with companies like Zaycon who are committed to bringing people good food at good prices.

I highly recommend getting on Zaycon Food's email list so that you know when they are coming to town. I've been really pleased with their service and their products. Here is a special link that indicates that I referred you!

https://www.zayconfoods.com/refer/zf11780 

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