Need help filling my new freezer

[thumper]

Let me start by saying "Hey!"

I'm sure this is an odd request as most of you have been filling those freezers for years and know exactly what you want to put in them. I on the other hand have only days ago purchased my very first 20 Cuft upright freezer. It has been plugged in and empty for days. I've talked to my local meat guy who I've been buying from for years and he told me to make a list of what I want. No package deals there. His prices are grocery store prices or higher on some things, I always take advantage of his sales and the quality is much better so I don't mind the prices as much.

Here's the problem I just want to get the best deal. I'd appreciate any input on what to put on the list. I'm flexible on the cuts and quantity so this is not a definate must have list.

Here's my list so far:

Hamburger 50lb
roast? 3
T-bone 10
Cube steak 10
pork chops 10
sausage 5 lb
london broil 4
chickens 8
bacon 15 lb

Any recommendations? Questions I should ask when I go back with my list?


Thanks
Patti

[Bird]

Patti, I really don't think anyone can help you; it's too much of a personal decision on what you and your family like to prepare and eat. To my own personal way of thinking, the only reasons for a freezer are: (1) if you can eat cheaper by buying large quantities, or producing your own, and (2) to enable you to make less frequent trips to the store. So what works for me might not be good for you at all.

When we lived in the country, 20 miles from the nearest grocery store and 50 miles from the nearest Sam's Club, we used to stock up on meats we found on sale; steaks, pork chops, and roasts. We also had a large vegetable garden, as well as pecan and plum trees, so we kept the freezer full. At one time, we figured the value of one of a neighbor's cows, took her and had the entire cow processed into lean hamburger in one pound packages, and three of us split the meat and cost. When we lived in town, before I retired, I used to buy raw shelled peanuts in 100# bags and kept them in the freezer. And a neighbor and I found a butcher from whom we could buy half a hog at a time and split it. A couple of times, I even bought 100# "package" deals from a meat market that included the items you listed. My Dad used to fish 5 or 6 days a week on the Texas coast, so a couple of times a year, we stocked up on seafood.

So the only suggestion I could make would be for you to buy larger quantities of the things you like when you find a bargain price; maybe steaks this week, chicken another week, etc. Then the other thing you need to consider is to "rotate" the contents of the freezer; i.e., use the oldest stuff first or you'll find stuff left there until it's no good and will have wasted money both on the freezer and on the contents.

[thumper]

Thanks for the advice.

I wasn't sure if it made a difference on the quantities of the meats.
It's mainly a convenience thing because we are about 20 miles from everything. We have a small vegetable garden that's not in use at this moment because we're moving it to the front of the property. I'm hoping to get enough out of the garden next year to do some canning and freeze what doesn't get ate or canned.

Do I need to vacuum seal the meat or can I just leave it the way it is wrapped from the butcher? Before I always left it as it was but it never stayed in the freezer more than a week. I'm guessing some meats may stay there for a month or two.


Thanks again.
Patti

[Bird]

I think vacuum sealed stuff will last longer, but we never did that. We used lots of zip lock bags for the fruits and vegetables we raised, the fish, and for the rabbits I raised and slaughtered for meat. For meats, such as the hamburger, that was wrapped in the heavy "butcher paper", we just left it as it was. You might find more help on how to package, how long to keep, etc. on websites such as this one. I think they are usually a bit conservative; i.e., stuff will actually keep a little longer than they say and still be good. You may notice they say frozen foods will keep indefinitely so their time limits are for "quality" only.

[jimbrown]

I strongly suggest that you resist the temptation to do what you are trying to do. I suggest you just continue to buy the things that you like and when good deals or whatever come around buy the things that you like. I suggest aginst buying a a large amount of any thing at one time. You buy 1/2 a beef or pig and you don't like it you are stuck with it. All beef and all pork or any other thing is not all the same. Some taste different than others. Also things do freezer burn. You buy a 100lb of something and do not eat for a year and it starts to go bad and then you buy new and the old stuff just builds up.
Go slow and buy the things you know you will use.

[BlueRidge]

Oh, do yourself a favor! Find someone local who raises organic beef. You might be surprised at the prices. We have one nearby who beats supermarket prices by a good margin. AND, you can go into his store and buy it by the pound if you want to try it out. We did, and that is some good beef! And it hasn't been fed animal parts, either. Less fat, too.

Vacuum sealing is your friend. Freezer burn IS a problem, but vacuum sealing is the best way to minimize it.

When I was a wee lad my father went out on the annual company fishing trip. First and last time - he only went to get them off his back. He caught a record halibut - 92 pounds. (This was off San Diego, CA. I know 92 is nothing for up north.)

We ate goooood halibut for about a year. It was filletted on the boat, properly wrapped, and deep frozen on the pier. Only a trace of freeer burn towards the last of it.

[Pat]

BlueRidge, Interesting... When I lived in San Diego on my sailboat I was close to the docks used by much of the sport fishing fleet and used to see many of the half day and all day boats come in piled high with yellow tail and such. A lady friend of my wife in the San Diego Marlin Club gave us a 155 LB marlin she had fought for several hours. I shared it with riends as I didn't have room to store all the fillets. Great stuff and when kept deep froozen lasts well when properly wrapped.

Even more fun than eating it was to see all the fisherman coming in on the charter boats do extreme double takes when they saw us "butchering" it. My neighbor had davits for his shore boat (21 ft runabout) and we used one to hoist the marlin up so we could attack it with various implements of destruction such as saws, hatchets, etc.

Beef or pork properly vacuum sealed in the vacuum sealer company's approved moisture proof plastic and kept DEEP FROZEN will last a year with little loss of qualilty (you will likely not be able to tell it from fresh frozen.) Buying from a local provider who raises "natural" beef (no hormone implants, anti-biotics in the feed etc. can be an economical as well as gustatorial success. If you want leaner meat, consider grass fed beef.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Viability of large freezers:

Many factors involved but the basic is -- do you want to keep large quanities of frozen products at hand. Are you familiar with doing this? Do you have the proper facilities for doing this? Do you have the time at the proper time for procerssing? Electrical outages?

And most important [ already mentioned ] can you keep track of the produce so it does not become old?

If possible the lower the setting on your freezer the better the results.

Doing it properly can give you supperior results! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon

[Bird]

Egon, when I was a kid, we didn't have a freezer at home. Dad just rented a locker at the "locker plant" or ice house in town. But when I was 17, Dad bought a huge almost new chest type freezer cheap. The local florist had bought it new when they had a new house built and then they bought half a beef to go in it. The lady said that butcher must have seen them coming and knew they were novices. She said that beef was the sorriest, toughest stuff they ever tried to eat, so they threw it out, unplugged the freezer, and just wanted to get rid of it. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[egon]

Bird: Soon as the electrict came to the farm we had a freezer. It was 16 cubic feet, Internation name tag, had two freeze compartments, small one for the unfrozen stuff which would then be transfered to the large compartment, weight a ton or so it seemed.

Think it was pretty old before it saw any store purchased meat. We butchered at home. Always picked what would appear to be a very good animal. Sometimes shared with a neighbour.

Still can remember the smell when scrapping a hog!!

Egon