Beef. Its whats for dinner. Eight years ago, anyway.
Todays dinner staple comes from Trumps first term, when I was still in college, and had somewhat less grey hair than now. What a difference eight years makes, hm?
Since I’m upright and typing, rather than in a hospital somewhere getting my stomach pumped, it is evident that eating eight year old ground beef didnt hurt me. Why would it? If you store this stuff properly…which means freezing it and keeping it at around zero degrees…it will last indefinitely. The record around here for fossilized freezer findings has been 11 years on some short ribs. And they were yummy.
Most household freezers that are part of your refrigerator do not keep things as cold as a dedicated freezer. Go to CostCo, pick up a chest freezer for a couple hundred bucks, stick it in your garage or basement, and start buying in bulk.
Inevitably some budding genius in the comments will go off about how this is a bad idea because power outages occur and blah, blah, blah. And, you know what?….power outages do occur. Which is why we prepare for them (hence the term preparedness). In my case, that looks like a generator and enough fuel to get me through most non-EOTWAWKI power failures in my region. And if it comes to the point where all the fuel is exhausted and the power still hasnt come back? Well, its time for a big barbecue and a whole bunch of pressure canning. And until that happens…..have a deep freeze.
Salt. Best preserver we as a species ever found. Which reminds me to ready up on salt curing meats.
Perhaps very late to the game but I can report that Alesander Soltzehnitsyn reported that zeks in a soviet labor camp found a mastadon frozen in the tundra 9or probably 12000 years. They cosumed it, No one died.
Now that’s wonderful 🎯🎯🎯💯👍😎👌
I recommend milk crates or stackable baskets so you have a chance of finding what is on the bottom layer. Also, I use magnetic labels on top of the freezer as a map for what lies beneath.
Great idea!
I have the baskets (and initially tried to keep them color coded – red for beef, yellow for chicken, etc.), but the magnetic labels are a great idea. A big problem with the chest freezer is having to take out a bunch of baskets and rearranging the meat to put the newest stuff on the bottom and the oldest (i.e. use first) on top.
Wal mart marks meats down about 50 % the day before it expires. We pick up a bit every week or so to put in the freezer. Might have to repackage it some but best money to spend every so often.
We do the same. My freezers are full of meat with yellow stickers on them. Never a problem with any of it. I look at food like I look at ammo: buy it cheap(ish) and stack it deep.
Even the Walmart markdown prices are going up. I never see meat 50% off here in the Ozarks, although I used to at name-brand grocery stores in DFW. Up here it’s more like 30% off. Back in April I could pick up Walmart boneless choice ribeyes for $10.20 lb. Then they went to $11.50. Now they are $12.20. We find the flavor of the steaks we buy at the small, independent local store to be superior and the ‘on sale’ price the same as the Walmart markdowns, so we buy almost all our meat there. Besides, the butcher goes to our church and cuts the steaks to order (thickness, trim, etc.).
Not cheap, but it ain’t gonna get any cheaper in the foreseeable future. And my husband likes steaks and roasts. Meatloaf or casseroles, not so much.
How did you store that particular beef in the deep freeze? I ask because the original packaging surprises me.
Just a 3# chub of beef in its vinyl torpedo form.
I’m surprised it didn’t get freezer burn. I repackage and vacuum seal all my meat, so I have to rely on my memory as to what I paid.
Weren’t there some Soviet Scientists who found a frozen mammoth preserved in a glacier in Siberia and ate mammoth steaks from it? That had to have been several thousand years old frozen meat.
Long term power out… have a couple of solar panels, an inverter, and a battery in your stacks. The modern chest freezers draw very little power, and hold the cold well. Mine all listed 48 hours hold time to stay frozen w/out power. Even without a battery you can just cool them during the sunny day and they’ll last a long time.
Also, something to consider– have multiple smaller freezers rather than one big one. We’ve all heard a story about someone that comes home to a stink and a dead freezer. Having multiple freezers helps mitigate that risk. Smaller freezers are also easier to power from a gennie or solar.
I think the 7 cu ft. size is a great choice. I’ve got three at home, and 2 at my BOL. Easy to fit in the garage or utility room, easy to power, and big enough to hold a good amount of meat.
nick
And when you place your freezer, put it up on 2×4 (or similar) off the floor; also put something in place so it can’t be shoved against the wall or the end with the compressor blocked. Good air flow is your friend. Plus the room around it allows you to keep it clean.
And +1 for the ~7 cuft size – very handy & doesn’t take up much space for the amount of utility it provides.
Anyone know how my natural gas supplier will keep their operation going if the electricity is out? I’ve heard that the compressors used to be powered using the gas they’re pumping but the gov made ’em switch to electric for efficiency. Urban myth or unfortunate reality?
The answer is: it depends. Many compressors are still self fueled, but some have been switched to electricity in areas where the old compressor failed and electric power was readily available. Also, your natural gas appliances generally use electricity, so things like a gas heater won’t run, and newer gas stoves won’t switch on.
The gas stoves and heaters will still light by using a match, even if electric is out.
Justin & UBAZ: (sorry, that sounds like a law firm)
Thanks for the replies. I wish I were reassured.
My gas water heater doesn’t use ac; my gas stove has electric ignition but a match will also work, while the oven has a pilot light.
Some gas appliances are designed assuming we are all idiots and won’t allow manual lighting. Sigh.
Our gas heat didn’t work during the 2021 Texas ‘freeze.’ Our gas stove top did but the oven did not. Our water heater and gas-fireplace did. That’s what enabled us to remain in our COLD home, and we had no plumbing issues at that time.
Anon@1211:
Did you have electricity?
We lost power for 24 hours (maybe more, I disremember) during a midwest blizzard. We could manually ignite the forced-air gas furnace, but without any way to force the air to meaningfully move, it got decidedly chilly in the house.
No electricity. And I had only just started purchasing preparedness supplies the year before, so had no Mr. Buddy heaters (we do now, plus a wood stove). Not to mention I usually turned the heat way down at night, to about 63 (learned to prefer sleeping with quits and cold air while overseas). So when the power went out about 2 AM, it was decidedly nippy when we got up. I think the house ultimately got down to maybe 40-45 degrees (typical ‘open floor plan’ and tons of enormous windows).
And it stayed that way for a few days until power was restored. But I could cook and we could take hot showers and sit close to the gas fireplace and I had lots of quilts/blankets, so we managed alright.
Those smaller freezers are great. We’ve got on that has to be 22-23 years old. It’s lived in basements and garages, and been moved 4 times. Just keeps on ticking.
Very easy to move and defrost.
Another fan of 3 or 4 smaller freezers. We use remote monitors with alarms and they sit on cheap china freight furniture dollies.
When/if one dies cram the contents into the others until its replaced.
The small ones are much easier for old half crippled folks to move around….
Furniture dollies. What a great idea! I presume you mean carpet end dolly, not hand truck?
Yep. The wheels are helpful.
We use three flat cookie sheets to divide the chest freezer. Beef, pork fish and fowl are the main categories. Frozen pizza goes in vertically, heh. Milton