• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    What’s crazy is that ground beef is practically a waste product. You can get it for under $4/lb in Houston. Hell, come by certain grocery stores at the end of the day and they’re trashing buckets of it.

    $6.12 for something that’s filling up garbage cans and landfills to the tune of 429.2 million lbs in 2022 alone? Seems like Americans are getting price gouged.

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      536,000 cows, forced to sit in their own shit for 18 months just to be unceremoniously slaughtered and thrown right in the trash, like some fucked up torture treadmill

      • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com
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        1 day ago

        like some fucked up torture treadmill

        Welcome to industrial animal agriculture. I stopped eating animal products 7 years ago. My only regret is not making this change earlier.

        And before someone says “just buy from small local farms”: I live in an urban area. Unless I burn gas driving all over fuck, the industrial animal ag products are what is in the stores. Easier for me to just go plant-based.

        • Druid@lemmy.zip
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          21 hours ago

          Just curious because you’re specifically using the term plant-based: are you eating plant-based or are you vegan? If not the latter, how come?

          No judgements whatsoever - just curious

          • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com
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            10 hours ago

            I use the “plant-based” label because people get weird about the v-word, and quite frankly I’m only super-strict about meat and egg so don’t think I’ve really earned the title. I avoid dairy, but it shows up in a lot of unexpected places so I give myself some leeway with micro-ingredients. Why? Because it’s more effort than I’m willing to put in. I know that won’t be a satisfactory answer to diehards, but it is an honest one.

            Or perhaps you are asking if it is only about food? I don’t use non-food animal products either (e.g. leather, wool, down).

            My last paragraph is really more rhetorical because it’s a very predictable “whatabout.” While not wanting to bother with the effort certainly is true (in-line with my attitude on dairy micro-ingredients), having easier availability to small local farms wouldn’t change anything in this regard. I’d still stick to a plant-based lifestyle. If anything, it’s something I might have used as a crutch while phasing out animal products. But I am past that now.

            • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
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              2 hours ago

              I avoid dairy, but it shows up in a lot of unexpected places so I give myself some leeway with micro-ingredients. Why? Because it’s more effort than I’m willing to put in. I know that won’t be a satisfactory answer to diehards, but it is an honest one.

              This is part of the problem with the “v-word” movement. There are so many purity tests when, in the end, it is literally impossible to avoid all suffering. Industrial agriculture kills untold gobs of animals and insects. Almond farming uses shit tons of water that would otherwise feed a healthy habitat. Having a cat or dog means participating in the animal products industry as well.

              This doesn’t mean “give up”, but it does require the admission that there is no ultimate piety that can be achieved - despite what some would have you believe. They are either willfully ignorant or lying to further an agenda. All we can do in our position in modern society is try our best to minimize suffering, with the understanding that there will always be some.

            • Druid@lemmy.zip
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              9 hours ago

              Wait, are the micro-ingredients you’re referring to the traces of dairy you get with most foods you buy? Like even food that’s specifically labelled as vegan? Not quite sure what else you could mean since these products would still be considered vegan since they’re not made up of or consist of animal products.

              But yea, it’s tough to keep scanning ingredients list for potential non-vegan ingredients. It’s relatively easy for food for me nowadays but stuff like soaps, face wash, laundry detergent and stuff like that that’s not always explicitly labelled as vegan can be tricky to navigate around. Nail polish is easy because I found a brand that’s specifically vegan and cruelty-free. :)

              You’ll get there some day (if you want that). We all start out small and it takes some effort, but it’s manageable in the end. 💚

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          While plant based is the better answer, you could look up “meat csa near me”

        • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          “Just buy from small local farms,” a phrase spoken exclusively by people who do not just buy from small local farms.

          7 is a good year, on average most of the cells in your body have already been replaced. You’re almost entirely made of plant material at this point lol

          • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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            1 hour ago

            7 is a good year, on average most of the cells in your body have already been replaced. You’re almost entirely made of plant material at this point lol

            Animals only eat plants, so they’re plants, so I’m really eating plants

            /S

    • Univ3rse@lemmynsfw.com
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      1 day ago

      It really is incredible how much land is used, pollution created, and environmental devastation caused to create more waste for landfills, furthering the aforementioned problems. Meanwhile, folks starve next door and around the globe. Coming down from the trees was a terrible decision.

    • The Octonaut@mander.xyz
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      1 day ago

      Steak mince vs ground beef are different things.

      One is basically offal, the other could have been a steak. Unless they’re using the term incorrectly, the price should be different.