Cheers To Hyvee

If you don't know, May is my favorite month.

First and foremost, it's my birthday month.

It's also my family's month (get it, May?).

And now, it's my 6-month-wedding-anniversary month.

And maybe a little less know, it's also National Beef Month. :)

Kidding. It's a national holiday, I hope you all knew about it first.

Anyways, I don't have to continue to profess my love for beef on this blog. I think you get from the title, cattle are important part of my life and in turn, so is everything about the beef industry.


So in honor of beef month, I am giving a shout-out to my friends behind the meat counter at Hyvee.

Like most girls who grew up on a farm, I have never bought meat from the grocery store, except hot dogs and chicken breast. Why buy beef when I can get it from my parent's freezer? I think have cooked with store-bought hamburger maybe once in my life.

You don't tell me how blessed I am. I love eating our farm-raised beef...and our pork and usually, even our chicken.

This week, I made my first trip to the Hyvee grocery store in Faribault and was completely impressed with their meat counter. I honestly couldn't walk away without buying something. And I have a freezer full of meat...imagine how a normal consumer would be? I came home with twice-baked potatoes, cheddar & bacon brats and some barbeque pork chops – my husband is going to be a happy camper when I make all that for supper!

I loved that the guy behind the counter was super friendly, their prices were reasonable and they literally had endless options. Plus, everything was presented so well. I give them an A+. We need more meat counters like that in our grocery stores.

And another plus, Hyvee was one of the reasonable retailers out there during the unwarranted media attack on BPI's lean, finely textured beef. Instead of pulling all #LFTB from their shelves, they decided to label it and give their consumers a choice, and in turn, they provided a leaner, cheaper safe meat choice for consumers on a budget.

So cheers to Hyvee. Thanks for making my first meat counter experience a good one. You can bet I will be back!

What about you? Do you have a good local grocery store that you love to buy your meat from? Or are you a Hyvee fan? And what makes one better than the other? I think as producers we need to continue to make the meat counter experience better for consumers, because face it, we need to continue to improve beef demand for so many reasons.


And by the way, if you are a food blogger -- or just a really good cook -- I know of certain magazine hosting an awesome recipe contest this month with a new contest each week. (Find all the info here.) The prize? Some cash money for a new pair of boots from Stetson. Here's their site -- I'm sure you will be drooling shortly.

Happy Beef Month!