You could probably buy fresh meat from a local small butcher. The butcher we got our cow from is either owned by the farmer or processing it. They have local farm raised pig and beef, they don't have local chicken's, from US Foods. Fresh is better but it doesn't work for us. Our deer and cow meat are vacuumed sealed. Even meat that's a year old vacuum sealed is fresher than what's in mass grocery stores. My family kills the deer and a local place processes it. My husband used to process the deer but it doesn't cost that much and with his work schedule it works for him.