I am fortunate to live in a city that still has a proper market. Late Saturday afternoon the hubby and I go down to our friend the "magical meat man" who holds dutch auctions where you get fabulous cuts at great prices... there is one catch: you must buy in... BULK.
There are other warehouse stores that sell this way or family packs but the fact is buying in bulk does save significantly and for us about 50% off the cost of meat, the most expensive part of a meal. There is also a second catch... these meats need to be cooked within three days.
As piggly wiggly as hubby and I can be we can not eat 4lbs of sausage in three days... and usually we buy a lot more than just sausage. Some of our magical meat man favorites are the thick pork chops, lamb steaks, aged steaks and many many more. So we usually end up filling "grandma cart" (note hubby refuses to be seen carting this around... unless it is packed full of meat, which it is every Saturday fortnight)
So after we load up grandma cart, battle the other grandma carts around the market, through the central train station and the most daunting task... down the stairs at our home train stop, we need to store the food.
First- It is actually more energy conservative to have a full freezer (blah blah blah math about specific heat of water and its easier to keep the solid mass frozen blah blah blah). So how can you pack a freezer full but make those foods acceptable? Here are a few easy steps for storage:
1- Clear a 2x2ft space on the counter to work and gather cling wrap and decent aluminum foil (the cheap one just isn't worth buying)
2- Tear off 1-1.5ft of cling wrap for each portion of food and wrap tightly. For the two of us I typically bundle pork chops in 4-6s etc. You can choose to wrap single servings or enough to make a dinner serving and leftovers.
3-Wrap each portion in a 1-1.5ft piece of tin foil
4- LABEL!!! (probably the most important) I keep a roll of cheap white sticker labels and a red sharpie in the kitchen just for this. Label the type of food, how many and when I put it in.
I will confess that in a past life I condemned poor food items to the freezer for life only to be given a death by bin when they were freezer burned or unknown foods. I have never lost a food item this way due to freezer burn or identity crisis and it has saved us countless trips to the local market which is far more expensive.
So get to know your local butcher if you have one and see what you can get on discount or make those trips to the warehouse stores work a bit more for you than just the non-perishables!
There are other warehouse stores that sell this way or family packs but the fact is buying in bulk does save significantly and for us about 50% off the cost of meat, the most expensive part of a meal. There is also a second catch... these meats need to be cooked within three days.
As piggly wiggly as hubby and I can be we can not eat 4lbs of sausage in three days... and usually we buy a lot more than just sausage. Some of our magical meat man favorites are the thick pork chops, lamb steaks, aged steaks and many many more. So we usually end up filling "grandma cart" (note hubby refuses to be seen carting this around... unless it is packed full of meat, which it is every Saturday fortnight)
So after we load up grandma cart, battle the other grandma carts around the market, through the central train station and the most daunting task... down the stairs at our home train stop, we need to store the food.
First- It is actually more energy conservative to have a full freezer (blah blah blah math about specific heat of water and its easier to keep the solid mass frozen blah blah blah). So how can you pack a freezer full but make those foods acceptable? Here are a few easy steps for storage:
1- Clear a 2x2ft space on the counter to work and gather cling wrap and decent aluminum foil (the cheap one just isn't worth buying)
2- Tear off 1-1.5ft of cling wrap for each portion of food and wrap tightly. For the two of us I typically bundle pork chops in 4-6s etc. You can choose to wrap single servings or enough to make a dinner serving and leftovers.
3-Wrap each portion in a 1-1.5ft piece of tin foil
4- LABEL!!! (probably the most important) I keep a roll of cheap white sticker labels and a red sharpie in the kitchen just for this. Label the type of food, how many and when I put it in.
I will confess that in a past life I condemned poor food items to the freezer for life only to be given a death by bin when they were freezer burned or unknown foods. I have never lost a food item this way due to freezer burn or identity crisis and it has saved us countless trips to the local market which is far more expensive.
So get to know your local butcher if you have one and see what you can get on discount or make those trips to the warehouse stores work a bit more for you than just the non-perishables!
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