I eat as much as 3lbs daily... my wife eats about a pound... my son is in a "chicken only" phase right now.

I purchase in quarters and eighths, which after trim and hang weight come out to be 120-130lbs / 60-70lbs respectively.

If you bought a half, that would potentially come out to 300lbs. That would last me 5 months or so (taking into consideration all the non-beef (lamb/pork/duck) that I also eat).

That much beef lasts a year for some families because they aren't eating a lot of meat, and they're mixing in chicken and fish and other meat with it. So it depends on A) how much meat you eat, and B) how often you'll eat beef as opposed to other meats. You just have to do the math based on your needs, as Leanne did above. My wife and I -- serious meat eaters -- would typically eat 1.5 pounds total per meal, so if you did that twice a week, the whole thing would last you about half a year.

Another way to look at it: Fitday says chuck roast (to pick a cut at random) has 700 calories/pound. So if you ate nothing but beef, one adult would need 3 pounds or so per day, and go through the whole thing in a month.

We purchased our first side of beef a year ago; it took 3 of us nine months to mostly finish it off, but we eat it on average of 4 times a week for dinner (and leftovers for lunch). The other nights are pork, chicken or fish or some other type of seafood (I'm partial to shellfish, myself). We also rarely eat out, so it really depends on how often you eat beef, and eat at/from home.

Not long in my house......