Checkoff-Funded Recipe Packet Gives Media Great Ideas for Beef Stories

Fall entertaining with beef got a boost in top metropolitan markets recently when the national beef checkoff funded a packet of recipes for food media that featured new ways to serve beef in convenient meals.  The fall media packet, which contained one veal and two beef recipes, was distributed to the 30 top U.S. markets, as well as to state beef councils who could customize and/or further distribute the material in their states.

The packet was produced on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).

The recipes included Puff Pastry-Topped Beef Pot Pie, a quick and easy version of a classic one-dish meal, and Italian Veal & Pepper Stew, which can take the chill away from a crisp autumn day.  The Beef Pot Pie is made with boneless top sirloin steak.

The packet noted that a survey that found that young people make four dinners a month for themselves, and almost as many for their families, so didn’t ignore this important audience.  The packet promoted a Hot Dog Smiley Face Sandwich, a fun recipe that kids can make as an after-school snack or a fast dinner.  The sandwich is made with an all beef hot dog.

The packet also included a “Kids in the Kitchen” page containing ideas for fun foods made with beef that young people can help to prepare and eat, as well as a news release for food pages that addresses kids who prepare food.

Distributed in August, the materials from the packet are now being reprinted in newspapers throughout the country.

These efforts are funded, in part, by beef producers through the $1-per-head checkoff. These kinds of programs at the national level are managed for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The Cattlemen’s Beef Board is a 110-member board appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement the provisions of the federal order establishing the checkoff and evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff programs.

Producer-directed and consumer-focused, NCBA is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.