Monday, July 18, 2016

A chub of sausage saved me 400$

   Yesterday's post was about re packing potatoes . In boosting on hand food prep's I have been keeping 3 cases of  Boston Butts and a case of Ribs . By getting them on sale and freezing them I can have a lower cost when doing the BBQ and have a good meat supply if things go to hell. Plus it rotates regularly. A case of butts weighs 80 plus pounds and ribs 40. At this time I have 80 lbs. of cut pork to smoke for sandwich's. 24 packs of smoked sausage and 36 chubs of Dean's sausage. My butcher found the sausage in the back of his freezer 2 days past the sell by date sold them to me for 1$ a pound. Now I have over 400$ my cost in meat once smoked and sold it is 1400$ plus.

    This morning my wife made biscuits and sausage gravy . I was out back getting ready to cut the back yard , she asked me to bring in a chub of the Deans because she used the last in the house. I got a OH SHIT moment when I opened the chest. Defrosting  every thing was just beginning to thaw. The meat was still frozen but fading fast. The 2 liter ice bottles I use to cool my distiller had saved me from a full thaw. The compressor had locked up tight. 

     I have 2 freezer's but the second one is small and it was holding corn my wife was going to cut for fried corn, Its her project tomorrow . I got every thing swapped and repacked but if I hadn't gone for that chub of sausage I had no reason to check it before Thursday morning.

   While a freezer going out can cost a person a lot of money its not the end of the world .?! But if it is an EMP that caused it ,it could be the beginning of the end of the world . A second freezer would be useless. My choices would be Smoking, Canning or Brining.

   I will continue with a freezer but I think I need to diversify some in meat storage.

  

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5 comments:

  1. Practical ParsimonyJuly 18, 2016 at 8:20 PM

    My freezer is in a room far from the kitchen. It quit freezing although it was running. Everything was so far gone that there were a thousand flies, mostly on the seal. My friend cleaned it out, throwing everything out the window into garbage cans so her would not have to lift much and so it would not drip through the house. I probably lost $200 worth of stuff. I gave him a paper towel with a glob of Vicks on it after I smeared it on and in his nostrils. He said he was getting sick even through that.

    Not only did I lose food, I only have the tiny freezer over my small refrigerator.

    You were lucky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gary in BamaJuly 18, 2016 at 9:13 PM

      I was very lucky. You have a good friend to clean up that kind of mess. A friend had one go out we duct taped it good and shut and carted the whole thing to the dump. Sam's has a 7 cubic foot one for 150$ or face book has used for 50 and up.

      Delete
  2. deb harveyJuly 19, 2016 at 8:24 PM

    good to store enough salt if it comes to brining.
    better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. deb harveyJuly 19, 2016 at 8:26 PM

    p.s.--learned all appliances have a built-in expiry date, unlike the ones we used to have that ran forever.
    got to keep an eye on them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gary in BamaJuly 19, 2016 at 8:57 PM

      It was an old unit. And salt is cheap I need more and phosphate to.

      Delete

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