Friday, June 7, 2013
Cooking Tip: The Meat Stock Market
I almost never buy meat to cook it fresh the same night. I try to go to the store as little as possible because it takes time and energy. I like to save all my energy for cleaning my house. When I say "cleaning my house" I really mean wasting time on the internet. Kidding!
Jason takes care of our investments, and I play the meat stock market. Buy low, eat high! When I see hamburger on sale (a good price in NM is $1.99/pound) I buy a bunch. Last year I saw $1.69/pound a pound and bought 30 pounds. It was expensive to buy such a large quantity, but then I didn't have to buy meat for quite a while. I freeze it in Ziploc sandwich baggies and then defrost it as I need it. Here's what it looks like:
I used to freeze it in 1 pound portions, but my family doesn't eat a lot of ground beef so I freeze is in 3/4 pound portions and it works great for recipes that call for 1 pound. It's also good for my budget! So for that 30 pounds of meat, I had 40 baggies of beef.
I use a cooking scale to measure out portions, but if you don't have a scale you can just divide up your meat by eye. If you buy a 5 pound tube of hamburger, you can divide it into 5 baggies (or more for smaller portions). Then put it in a sandwich baggie and smash it flat. It defrosts better if you spread it out in the bag. Avoid freezing a baseball shaped piece of meat, it's a pain to defrost. Try to get out all the air to cut down on freezer burn.
If you don't have a full sized freezer and 6 people in your home, you probably don't want 30 pounds of frozen meat. Just buy meat in smaller portions. Even with a small freezer, you can make space for 5-10 sandwich baggies of meat.
To cook it, put it on a plate and microwave it for about 2 minutes, flipping it over halfway. It will be mostly thawed, maybe icy in the middle, but still raw. Then plop it in a skillet and cook it up.
You can also use this method for cuts of chicken. I also freeze whole roasts in gallon size Ziploc bags. When I want to cook a roast I just put it frozen into my crockpot and cook as directed in my recipe.
I don't freeze fish or expensive cuts of beef like steak. Those are the meats I like to cook same day since they are best fresh.
When I get low on hamburger I start to watch sale prices. When the price goes down, buy buy buy!
Jason takes care of our investments, and I play the meat stock market. Buy low, eat high! When I see hamburger on sale (a good price in NM is $1.99/pound) I buy a bunch. Last year I saw $1.69/pound a pound and bought 30 pounds. It was expensive to buy such a large quantity, but then I didn't have to buy meat for quite a while. I freeze it in Ziploc sandwich baggies and then defrost it as I need it. Here's what it looks like:
I used to freeze it in 1 pound portions, but my family doesn't eat a lot of ground beef so I freeze is in 3/4 pound portions and it works great for recipes that call for 1 pound. It's also good for my budget! So for that 30 pounds of meat, I had 40 baggies of beef.
I use a cooking scale to measure out portions, but if you don't have a scale you can just divide up your meat by eye. If you buy a 5 pound tube of hamburger, you can divide it into 5 baggies (or more for smaller portions). Then put it in a sandwich baggie and smash it flat. It defrosts better if you spread it out in the bag. Avoid freezing a baseball shaped piece of meat, it's a pain to defrost. Try to get out all the air to cut down on freezer burn.
If you don't have a full sized freezer and 6 people in your home, you probably don't want 30 pounds of frozen meat. Just buy meat in smaller portions. Even with a small freezer, you can make space for 5-10 sandwich baggies of meat.
To cook it, put it on a plate and microwave it for about 2 minutes, flipping it over halfway. It will be mostly thawed, maybe icy in the middle, but still raw. Then plop it in a skillet and cook it up.
You can also use this method for cuts of chicken. I also freeze whole roasts in gallon size Ziploc bags. When I want to cook a roast I just put it frozen into my crockpot and cook as directed in my recipe.
I don't freeze fish or expensive cuts of beef like steak. Those are the meats I like to cook same day since they are best fresh.
When I get low on hamburger I start to watch sale prices. When the price goes down, buy buy buy!
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This is genius. Where do you usually get fish? Mitch and I want to start eating fish once a week...it's apparently good for preventing dementia. I'm excited because I love fish! Wait...do you guys like fish? And I mean the frozen kind.
ReplyDeleteHeidi likes to get frozen fish at CostCo. I just bought fresh salmon at Albertsons and it was great. The butchers there are always super nice to me. I think you just need to find a store that is very clean with a meat department you trust. Ask your friends where they like to buy fish!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary on the frozen hamburger idea.
ReplyDeleteFish can be frozen as well, but I think the freezer shelf life is much shorter, so keep track of your freezer times when you freeze fish. Probably no more than 3 months, and wrapped very well, is best.