Snack tip for healthy snacking

I'm big on getting one's necessary nutrients from food sources rather than sucking down a protein shake or some other supplement drink. Unfortunately that can become quite pricey and sometimes our options seem limited. Well, let me offer you another solution: beef jerky! No, I'm not talking about that heavily processed crap you can buy from the store. I'm talking about making your own. Yes, you must make an up front investment (I'll get to that) but I promise you it will pay itself off over time.

Grass-fed beef is my favorite meat, and probably one of the best meats out there nutrient wise if not the best. Google for yourself. Unfortunately grass fed beef can be pricey, and for those of you who thought you have to buy top round or sirloin meats to make sliced jerky then allow me to introduce you to my new toy:

The Weston Original Jerky Gun! This allows you to use ground meat for jerky making. While grass fed ground beef is pricey ($4.49/lb at Whole Foods for lean), it is actually a complete steal when you compare it to what you get from a $10 bag of store bought jerky. I picked up 2.6lbs of lean grass fed ground beef for a little over $11. This gun holds just under 2lbs of meat, and is easy to load and even easier to clean. The whole process is simple: grab a bowl, grab your ground meat, mix in spices of your choosing, and shove into the gun. Boom. Ready for squeezing out pressed jerky strips onto your dehydrator's trays. 3-4 hours later (depending on your dehydrator) you have fresh beef jerky with no preservatives or other crap. How do I get my jerky to last a long time? I store it in the freezer, and only take out the sticks I will consume that day. Depending on the size of the sticks, that is probably 4-6 total.

Onto the dehydrator. I used to have the old shitty Rosco round dehydrator that you can purchase at Target for like $20 or something (3 tray only, not 5 tray). It worked, but it would take 10-14 hours or so and you have to constantly rotate the trays to dry the meat evenly. Super annoying. So, I decided to pony up and buy the NESCO/American Harvest square dehydrator.  I couldn't be happier with this purchase. The thing has worked like a champ so far. Due to the design and how the fan works you do not have to rotate the trays. There is also a temperature control on it. If I had any complaints at all it would be that this is not a smoker. Unfortunately I live in a condo, and smoking meats would irritate my neighbors (or make them stage a raid to steal my awesome smoked meats) and it's quite the laborious process.

On top of meats, you can dehydrate pretty much anything you want. Even your ballsack if you're into that kind of thing. I strongly urge any of you with a dialed in diet, which calls for the wonderfulness of grass fed beef, to put forth the $90 or so on the two aforementioned items.  Hell, if you have Amazon Prime you can have both by tomorrow for next to nothing on shipping costs. It will more than pay for itself, and grass fed beef is essentially the meat of the gods. I read on that wikipedia somewhere.

Stay hard.