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| Hi
I save by cutting up my own meat. First I mostly buy meat on sale. When pork loin roasts are on sale I buy the whole (or several) loins. I cut butterfly pork chops off the large end and save the narrow end for roasts. I buy boneless roasts (i prefer outside round or surloin). I save some for roasts and some I cut up into stewing beef. It's much better than the stewing beef you buy. By the way you will get a nice tender roast if you cook it frozen @325. Don't add liquid until all the juices have evaporated. The outside thaws and browns while the inside is still frozen so it keeps all it's juices. I add an extra 10 minutes per pound for small roasts and 5 for large ones I buy round steak and cut some in strips for stirfry or sukiaki and some I save in pieces for stuffed steak or swiss steak. I buy chickens on sale and cut them up into breasts, thighs and drumsticks and put the rest and skin in a pot and boil them. I pick out the meat and strain the broth and discard bones and skin. I put the meat with some broth in small dollar store plastic containers. This is great for hot chicken sandwiches or stews or soups After I've done the cutting up I wrap each big piece of meat separately in tin foil or freezer paper and then put them in freezer bags--these can be washed in soap and water, rinsed, dried and reused. Then they are frozen. This way I can take out however many pieces I want. The stewing beef and sliced round steak go into plastic bags with enough for a meal. I hope someone can use some of this. It has helped me save money for many years |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ilene_in_neok (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 13:21
| Oilpainter, you have a good tip here. I used to buy round steak and make very, very lean hamburger. Nowadays, I haven't been able to get a good price on round steak but it used to always be as cheap per pound as regular-fat hamburger. I also make my own hamburger patties. There are lots of pattie makers out there, I bought a metal one for $5 at Atwood's, and then found some nice Tupperware ones where you press the ground beef into the container and then a second container snaps onto the first one. So far I've bought three sets of these at garage sales and I like them very much. Anytime you can "cut out the middle-man" you are going to save money. You can also make your own bulk sausage if you have a grinder. There are lots of recipes on the Internet and you can make it a lot leaner for the same money or less. I don't buy bacon very often, but when I do, I buy the "ends and pieces" in the ten pound box. I'll take each strip of bacon and roll it into a little roll, set a bunch of them on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then pour them into a ziplock bag so I can take out as few as I want. |
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- Posted by makin_pennies_scream (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 13:39
| Wow, great information here on the bacon, never occurred to me to roll them up to freeze, I too buy big ol 10lbs boxes at times. (yum o bacon grease) I always cook my roasts, steaks and chicken breasts frozen. First started by accident way back when I had a job and forgot to take something out for dinner, same with the roast, just throw it in the crock pot frozen, cuz think about it, you leave work at 7:30 and dont' get home till 5, thats too long to cook mine were burning even with extra liquid added. Now I cook them frozen, 10 hours, juicy, and not burnt. Kind of slows down the cooking time and ready when I get home... Ever since I started cooking them from the frozen state, family doesn't mind cheap meat. |
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| How long does it take for a rolled up strip of bacon to defrost? I've been freezing the long strips which makes it easy to cook as few or as many as I want. But it sure would be convenient to roll them. |
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- Posted by oilpainter (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 18:04
| mwheel Don't defrost put them in a pan with a tiny bit of water pop on a lid and let them steam apart. then straighten them out and cook |
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| Oilpainter, thanks for responding; I appreciate it. |
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- Posted by ilene_in_neok (My Page) on Mon, Aug 10, 09 at 9:47
| mwheel, you don't even really need to add water. Just toss them in the skillet, put the heat on low at first and cover with a lid. They straighten out in no time. |
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| Thanks again for the wonderful hint about rolling bacon strips, then freezing them, and the responses about how to defrost them. Since I like to cook bacon in the microwave, last week I put in three or four of the rolled up strips and defrosted them for 25 seconds. Voila! They unpeeled easily and I cooked them as usual, between paper towels. Unless I want the grease for seasoning, I LOVE this "no muss, no fuss" way of cooking bacon. BTW, they look so cute all rolled up in the freezer bag! Thanks again for responding to my query. |
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- Posted by adellabedella (My Page) on Wed, Aug 19, 09 at 20:33
| I'm not sure how much bacon you cook at a time so this may or may not work for you. I tend to cook the whole package. To save on papertowels, I use a bacon cooker where you drape the slices of bacon over t-shaped 'bars' and the grease drips down into a pan. Instead of using a lot of papertowels to catch the grease, I only use two to keep the splatters from going all over the place. Here's one that Overstock has listed, but I'm sure you could find it elsewhere. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Mak'n Bacon
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| What an interesting "gadget"! I usually cook only four or five slices--enough for two BLTs--:>), but since it isn't very expensive, I may get one and try it. However, don't you still have to dispose of the bacon grease? That's what I like about the paper towels, I just fold them up and put them in the garbage bag. Thanks for the infor. |
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