Bulk Beef Purchase 2012

We buy beef on the hoof each year.  What this means is the cow is bought as a calf, raised by one of our farming friend then when fully grown we arrange to have the cow taken to the abattoir where it is processed.  The cow  is raised grass fed and hormone free.  We normally keep half of the processed cow ourselves then either the other half or the two quarters to to whoever went in with us on the cow.  If the others don't want the soup bones, heart, tongue or liver we get them.  If left with the abattoir they would simply sell them.

This year's purchase was a half of the cow which worked out to 339 lb.  We paid $630 to our farming friend for our half of the cow, then we paid $225.44 to the abattoir for butchering & disposal, cut & wrap plus HST.  This is the first year we have had to pay HST on the abattoir charges as it went into effect July 1, 2011 but abattoir charges are considered a service so are now taxable.  The total cost for meat and processing was $855.44 which works out to $2.52/lb.

Some question whether we actually save money buying beef in bulk.  The answer is yes AND we are getting a higher quality of beef than we can buy in the grocery stores.  Currently extra lean ground beef is on sale for $2.97/lb (regular $4.59/lb), top sirloin is on sale for $6.99/lb (regular $9.99/lb) and prime rib $8.99/lb.  Regardless of the cut of beef, our cost per pound works out to $2.52/lb, 45¢/lb less expensive than the sale price for extra lean ground beef.  The price per pound is up almost 20¢ per lb from last year but part of that increase is the HST.  This year, we did end up with the extra soup bones, liver, heart and tongue because no one else wanted them.  That isn't factored into the total weight of the half of beef. 

We could not make this type of bulk meat purchase without freezers.  We have two chest freezers and two freezer compartments, both side-by-side.  There are three problems with freezers.  First they are susceptible to food loss due to power outages.  This is less of a problem now that we are urban but still possible because sometimes freezers just stop working.  We actually had a brand new as in not even a month old freezer fail on us while we were on vacation.  Talk about a mess!  In general, a freezer will keep foods froze for up to 4 days if not opened.  It is very important to include a rider for your freezer on your household insurance policy to cover any food loss.  Second, foods not properly packaged for the freezer are subject to freezer burn.  This affects the flavour and texture of the food.  I know of no way to reverse freezer burn.  The food basically has to be tossed.  This abattoir uses freezer paper secured with a special freezer tape unlike the other abattoir we have dealt with that used elastics to secure the packages.  The elastics allow air in.  If packaging foods for home freezing, use a vacuum sealer if at all possible.  Third, from the moment food goes into the freezer it does cost you to store it via electricity usage.  Some home canners simply can a bulk meat purchase like this eliminating freezer costs and while I will can a very small portion (about 40 lb plus stock from some of the soup bones) of this purchase, we like our steaks and roasts.  Lessen electricity costs by using an EnergyStar® certified freezer and keep it full.

Pork Loin (1) - Equipment and Prepping

We went to Sam's Club a couple of days ago and you know I always have to check out the meat counter for a good deal.  This year the deals have been very much pork related.  I can't remember a year where we have eaten so much pork and that's with us buying a pig on the hoof!  I spotted a pork loin and while it was not the rock bottom prices we have been paying I bought it anyways.  Over the next few posts I will chronicle what I did with this pork loin in series with the posts numbered as (X).  This is the first of the series.

The pork loin came in at 8.57 lb for $1.77 per lb for a total of $15.17.  I gathered the equipment needed for putting up this pork loin (1).  Equipment included kitchen scales, curing salt, sugar, KitchenAid stand mixer, FoodSaver vacuum sealer, vacuum sealer bags and miscellaneous equipment.   I slit one end of the package to drain out any liquid/blood (2).  I use a 50% ethanol solution (3) to clean up any splatters or liquid spills.  This solution immediately denatures any biological components that could contaminate other foods and surfaces in the kitchen.  Once the meat was drained, I placed in on a large cutting board.  Note that there is a thick end and narrow end to the pork loin (4).  This helps determine what the pork loin will be used for if not cooking whole.
 

I had fairly definite plans as to what I wanted to use the pork loin for.  I cut the pork loin into 3 sections - tip, middle and butt end.  I planned on using the tip for ground pork, the middle for peameal bacon and the largest portion for for boneless pork chops.  When cut this way it would result in 9 meals for 2 plus left-overs at cost of $1.68 for the meat for 2.  Left-overs of course would increase the number of meals per pork loin so over all I felt this was a good deal.

I decided to break what I did with the pork loin into 4 posts.  Watch for pork loin (2) the post following thing week's Frugal Kitchens 101.  The topic will be a recap of making peameal bacon.

Bulk Beef, Road Trip and Chicken Stock Revisited

Saturday finally arrived. After several weeks of eating from the freezers the day to pick up our beef arrived. I should point out that bulk meat purchases are the norm for us and they usually come with a phone call from one of our farming friends to say they are butchering a cow or pig and do we want any. So it was with this purchase. It was a good deal so we had to act and right then. My only concern was the meat was going to an abattoir's we have not dealt with before. When making a bulk meat purchase the cutting is an additional fee and the cutting options as well as pick-up is left to the buyer not the farmer. With all of the arrangements made, we headed out on a road trip Saturday morning.

The Beef

The total dressed weight for the whole cow was 820 lb. Initially two of our kids were taking 1/4 each and we were taking 1/2 but then one kid's friend wanted in on the deal and one kid decided that was a bit too much red meat. Sound confusing? What ended up happening and good thing for us is one kid and the friend took 1/4 each, the kid's inlaws took 1/4 and we took 1/4. The abbatoir divided the meat for us. It was cut to our specs of 1 inch thick steaks, 5 lb roasts, 1 lb packages of burger and keeping the soup bones. We had to bring boxes for the pick-up.

It was a bitter cold but bright sunny winter day when we left home for the hour drive to the abbatoir's where we picked up the entire dressed meat. The photo is of two of the bins in the trunk. Four smaller boxes went into the trunk and the back seat was filled with the other half of the meat. Each couple ended up with a bin as shown and two boxes of meat (205 lb total) at a cost of $1.89/lb plus $0.60/lb cutting and wrapping costs. It was a bit higher price total than we normally pay but still a great savings. After leaving the abbatoir's we headed to a truck stop some 40 minutes away to meet up with our kids and grandbaby where after eating (see below) we divided the meat in half. They headed back to drop of their small freezer and half of that meat at their friends then headed home while we made our way back to our home stopping to drop off half of the meat at our kid's inlaws. Ok that should be as clear as mud :)

Eggs & Pepperettes

I have to tell you, I love farm fresh eggs! I buy mine from a farmer not far from us who free ranges so the eggs are wonderful. Well, I knew we were getting low on eggs at home and it is the norm for country abbatoirs to have eggs for sale so I wasn't disappointed. I picked up 30 white and 19 browns for a very good price of $5 figuring my kids would take some but they didn't so that left me with 5 ½ doz eggs with what I had at home. No problem as another kid with spouse and soon to be grandbaby was home when we arrived home so I thought they would take some. Nope! So I have lots of eggs to use up.

I couldn't resist the fresh pepperettes either. One of these days I'm going to make my own pepperettes because not only are they perfect for snacking they are great for entertaining. I just had to try one after getting the car loaded. They were tender and beefy, just perfect hitting back with a nice peppery after taste. Yummy!

On the Road Food

As mentioned our first stop was meeting up with our kids and grandbaby to divide the meat. We stopped at a Flying J as it was a convenient meeting spot for both of us. We decided to get lunch while we were there so the five of us settled in. The adults enjoyed the generous buffet while grandbaby ate from everyone's plate.

I think I've mentioned before here that we would rather stop and get a buffet meal than a fast food meal when on the road. One of the reasons is for the price you end up with better food for the most part. Saturday's offering was fried and barbeque chicken. I chose the barbeque chicken with roasted potatoes, stuffing, steamed carrots and green beans along with a tossed salad for a starter and fruit bowl for dessert. For $10.99 is was a very substantial meal. My only complaint was they used margarine on the carrots and beans but that was indicated on the labels above the dishes. I don't use margarine so I would have liked to see these vegetables offered plain for the customer to add what they wanted.

Mesclun Salad

Normally our heavy meal is at dinner somewhere between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm usually just after 6 pm. Eating a heavy meal as we did at lunch time had me thinking light foods for dinner. Seriously, we were both stuffed so come dinner time we didn't feel like eating much. A mesclun salad was just perfect because it was light and filling at the same time.

Mesclun mix is my number one favourite green mixture for sandwiches, salads and growing. The mixture differs from grower to grower but normally consists of lettuces, mustards, dandelion, cresses and parsley. If you want bang for your buck, mesclun mix sometimes called spring salad mix in the grocery store is the way to go!

I like keeping mesclun salad simple because the greens add a lot of flavour themselves. This was a dinner salad so I added tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, carrots, green onion (not shown), hard boiled egg slices (not shown), cheddar cheese cubes and simple fresh lemon juice for the dressing. Lemon juice makes all the flavours sparkle!

Concentrated Chicken Stock

Chicken stock is something I make from scratch and keep on hand. My basic method can be found here. Now chicken stock or any stock for that matter can be made fresh for immediate use, froze or my preferred method is to can. I like canning my stocks because it becomes a convenient food ingredient for me at a later date. However, concentrating the stock is an ideal way for preserving stock for those with limited storage.

My freezers are so stuffed a flea would have a hard time finding a spot in them. Getting the freezers ready for the beef purchase meant a few thing had to come out and one of them was the chicken bones I save for making stock. The problem was I really didn't have time to can the stock and I needed to free up freezer space so concentrating the stock made very good sense.

Method: Concentrating stock is not difficult. Start with your favourite stock recipe or use my basic stock recipe from the link above. Take it to the point of draining but not defatting. Bring the stock to a boil then reduce to a low simmer. Simmer until the stock is about 1/3 the volume of the original. Cool. Remove the fat layer on top. The bottom layer should be as pictured like gelatin.

This is a concentrated stock of which you do not need a lot of to add a good impact of flavour. Spoon the gelatin into ice cube trays (about 1 oz) or into muffin tins (about 4 oz). Freeze then vacuum seal in individual packages (preferred method) or pack into a zipper style freezer bag to use as needed. Because this is concentrated stock you only need one cube or puck (muffin) depending on the size of dish you are making. The main bonus of course is the flavour punch but because this is concentrated it eliminates water that would have to be boiled out for some dishes. So even if you can or freeze chicken stock keeping concentrated chicken stock on hand is a very good idea.