Just to clarify, proteins can be found in a range of foods, including green veggies like spinach, beans, tofu, lentils, quinoa, and nuts. This is how vegans get their proteins. While this may be the topic of a future post, I have never experimented with veganism and have only managed a vegetarian diet for a few days before the smell of bacon became too much to resist. In this post I am solely interested in animal-based proteins like meat, eggs, milk, and cheese. I will leave seafood for a future post as well.
Grocery stores like Whole Foods are great, because they will tell you exactly where your meats and dairy products come from. However, for those of us not blessed with a Whole Foods right around the corner, we have to make do with our generic grocery store. A few things to watch for when buying meat: local, organic, grass-fed and hormone-free. The organic certification requires that the meat be hormone free, but don't be fooled by labels that say "all natural." "Natural" unlike "organic" is not a term that is regulated, so producers slap it on there as a marketing tool. This is true for all labels, not just meats.
Cage-free is a term that is not as strictly controlled and it really only means that the chickens are kept outside of a cage, but may still be crowded into a dark barn in multiple stories. Free-range is also a term that is only partially regulated, it can mean anything from the chickens spending a few minutes outside per day to the chickens spending all day outside.
For milk and cheese, organic is also the best thing to look for. Again, this does not mean that those products are local.
Butcher Shops
Have a local butcher? Talk to them about where they source their meat from. It may or may not be local, and it may or may not be organic or grass-fed, but you won't know until you ask. Chances are good that it is at least local.
Farmer's Markets, Farm Stands
If you live in an area with a thriving farmer's market, you may be in luck. The closest farmer's market to us has several local farmers that will bring meat and dairy products to the market. Speak with your local farmers and learn how they keep their animals. It may be stereotypical, but I tend to trust the Menonites and Amish most to treat their animals humanely, but a trip out to the farm to see how the animals are kept may be in order, if you are really concerned. Small farmers also have a harder time justifying the cost of the organic seal, so there's a chance that their animals are grown organically or are at least grass-fed, so talking to them is usually the best bet. You may even be able to find some of the less popular meats, like bison.
Do you want to make your own cheeses or butter? In some states it is illegal to buy raw milk in grocery stores or even straight from a farmer. One way to get around this is to purchase a share in a dairy cow. These arrangements are usually made through a local farmer and give you access to the products of the cow directly.
Another form of cow sharing is for meat cattle. Again arrangements usually happen through a local farmer or via online sign-ups, and they deliver 1/8 to a full cow's worth of meat at butchering time. In this case, it is definitely a good idea to go visit the farm and potentially even the animal you will be getting your meat from, just to make sure that the animal is properly cared for and is grass-fed. My in-laws have been getting a 1/4 share for a few years now, and stock the meat in their chest freezer. It's some of the best meat you will find, even frozen.
Hunting
I have never hunted before, so I'm not an expert on this by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you are not gun shy and don't have a problem killing your own meat, more power to you. I don't believe in hunting for trophies or pelts, but if you're killing animals for meat, especially those that are overpopulated, I say go for it. If you are interested in starting up, make sure you know your hunting seasons, permitting requirements, gun v. bow, safety equipment, etc. Also, be sure you take someone along who knows how to butcher the animal correctly, or find a local butcher who may be willing to take apart the animal for you. Some people also set snares or traps, but I know even less about that aspect of hunting.
Backyard farming
Before considering this option, make sure you know what your local policies are. Some cities and suburbs allow you to keep meat or egg hens in your backyard (although they may have separate restrictions on roosters) or rabbit hutches. Some backyard farmers even keep goats, sheep, or pigs, again depending on local policies. Quail, pheasants, ducks, geese, and other small fowl are also options. Local policies can range from the type and number of animals, to requirements for how far shelters (coops, hutches, etc.) must be built from the property lines. Even if there are no specific laws, make sure to keep the noise, odors, and flies from annoying your neighbors. My grandmother used to raise hares in hutches for meat in the middle of the city, and a colleague has egg laying hens in her backyard. For more information on backyard farming, a great article can be found here.
