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PDyer
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| Posted: June 03 2008 at 9:47am | IP Logged
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We are moving toward buying local and at-least-close-to organic foods. My freezer has been virtually empty and eating up electricity for nearly a month, so in an attempt to fill it up with food I know we'll eat, yesterday I drove to the chicken store and...
bought 120 pounds of chicken. 
I am accustomed to buying and planning meals around neat grocery store packages of meat, so I'm feeling a bit out of my element. We've talked about buying a side of beef, etc., but haven't done it yet. This is my first foray into a large meat purchase, all at the same time.
I'm feeling a bit unsettled, like I could be a better steward of this gift. Any experience to share?
An aside (if your stomach is funky for any reason stop reading here): Grocery store chicken doesn't have the same apparent vitality as recently-deceased, bulk-packaged chicken. I could almost see the life in the roasters when I pulled them out of the giant plastic bag filled with ice. They looked like birds. I know grocery store chickens are birds too, but they don't look like birds that were recently walking around. These did. Oy. 
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Patty
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 03 2008 at 10:40am | IP Logged
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 You have me laughing Patty.
I don't have the opportunity to buy lovely chicken in bulk, but we do buy a half a cow each year.
One thing that helps us use this meat wisely is keeping an inventory list handy and using it in planning weekly meals and grocery trips. I cross off each pound and cut as I use it. This also helps me see how far our purchase goes - and when to plan the next one.
I spend a good bit of time adding recipe cards to my file box that incorporate healthy ingredients and use my freezer stores. I do this sporadically though (I don't have time to devote to this during the school year.) This is key. When I plan weekly, I pull out my recipe box, inventory list, calendar, coupons and grocery list. I plan from what I have first.
I really enjoy having a nice meat supply in my freezer! It is a real comfort.
Oh, two more things...We invested in a vacuum sealer to protect our $$investment. We vac.sealed right over the existing packaging. If you can't do that, make sure your bags are sealed nicely - or maybe double bag in ziploc freezer bags. And, buy a freezer alarm to let you know if something happens to your freezer.
HTH, Patty.  Have fun with all of that chicken!
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Jen Mackintosh
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ctrivette
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| Posted: June 03 2008 at 10:43am | IP Logged
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If you are thinking about the side or half of beef, you can usually specify the cut and packaging, so you can get it in amounts and forms more like the grocery if you want.
Do you need bulk/oamc recipes? I have several links I just need to find....
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Stephanie_Q
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| Posted: June 03 2008 at 12:09pm | IP Logged
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Talking about feeling "out of my element", we're going to be slaughtering 50 chickens this afternoon. We got half a cow last fall. We have had 1/4 before that. Then, we added two deer...and a few wild turkeys...and some pheasant...and this spring we've been adding bags of crappie and walleye.
My advice - make sure whatever you get is well-labeled and dated...it will take a while to eat 120lbs of chicken and it could get buried under additional purchases. I've tried having a checklist on top of the deep freezer so I know what's in there, but it was difficult to keep updated. I think a dry-erase board would work better.
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juststartn
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We're going to be putting 25 roasters in our freezer in another month and a half (we're raising them ourselves--woohoo!). We've got a partial deer (it might be the whole thing, I'm not sure) a good bit of beef (NOT bought "on the hoof"), etc. DH is planning on getting some weaner piglets this fall and we'll be raising them for ourselves and some friends. We'll be butchering/processing them in the spring, God willing.
One of these days, we "plan" on getting a cow--and a pregnant one so we can get some milk out of her, and some beef out of the calf (once its grown a bit). We've got 8 acres of pasture, and already have the fencing we need, as well as a corral to put them in when need be....
But for now we get out meat at the local little store, where it is processed up the road and butchered/packaged right there (so no worries about the CO2 being put in to maintain that fresh pink look).
Rachel
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: June 04 2008 at 11:24am | IP Logged
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Patty -
We get Gerber chicken in large quantity from a co-op. It's the best tasting chicken I ever remember eating and I'm so happy it's not drugged- or hormoned-up! The co-op delivery route I'm on goes through Maryland and keeps on trucking to Ohio (and Gerbers). I love these connections to the ladies who don't live nearby one another!
Peace,
Nancy
ETA: I know I'm not the only one on these forums who uses that co-op. I've read a couple of ladies' birth announcements on their co-op sales flyer/newsletter.
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PDyer
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| Posted: June 04 2008 at 7:56pm | IP Logged
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hylabrook1 wrote:
| We get Gerber chicken in large quantity from a co-op. It's the best tasting chicken I ever remember eating and I'm so happy it's not drugged- or hormoned-up! The co-op delivery route I'm on goes through Maryland and keeps on trucking to Ohio (and Gerbers). I love these connections to the ladies who don't live nearby one another! |
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That is so great, Nancy!
Which co-op is it? I wonder if it would deliver here, if their trucks are already as close as Gerbers.
I was a good girl and drove right on by Lehman's on my ways to Gerber's.  My son was saying, "NO MOM, DON'T DO IT", as I gazed longingly at Lehman's. Very dangerous, very, very dangerous.
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Patty
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donnalynn
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| Posted: June 05 2008 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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My tip is to use a whole chicken for stock - you can make a huge pot of stock using a whole chicken (we even use the feet but can't quite get ourselves to include the head). That stock is then a great base for many other recipe's - especially winter soups.
We heat our house with wood and our stock making added both moisture and extra warmth on chilly winter nights (we would keep the pot on low overnight). The year I began eating stock based soups was the year I didn't get pneumonia or bronchitis or strep throat! 
The meat from a chicken used for stock is best used in things like chicken salad, enchiladas, casseroles, pot pies, etc... The meat can be stretched pretty far with the addition of rice, veggies, beans, etc.. to these dishes.
In summer time - we will cut up a couple of chickens to grill - it's all about the marinade - my favorite is a cilantro marinade. Generally we save up wings to add to stock made from the leftover bones of a roasted chicken.
A favorite soup in our house is chicken stock, bits of chicken, carrots, potatoes, noodles, and whatever leafy green we happen to have (kale, spinach, swiss chard etc..). This is my oldest dd's speciality - I can work the younger boys while dd makes this soup.
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wifemommy
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| Posted: June 05 2008 at 8:09pm | IP Logged
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Patty Which Gerber did you go to? Do all the sites have a store? I am thinking a trip to there and Lehman's once we move ....I need to stock the freezer (comes with the house)  Thanks Annie
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PDyer
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| Posted: June 05 2008 at 9:07pm | IP Logged
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wifemommy wrote:
| Patty Which Gerber did you go to? Do all the sites have a store? I am thinking a trip to there and Lehman's once we move ....I need to stock the freezer (comes with the house) Thanks Annie |
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I went to the Kidron location. As far as I know that is the only retail store. Per their site, the Hingle Company is the company that grows out the chicken, and the Orrville Chick Hatchery is just that -- a chick hatchery.
Gerber's is south of central Kidron. Kidron is south of Route 30 and north of Route 250 on Kidron Road. Big Lehman's is in central Kidron. There's another Lehman's (Little Lehmans) in Mount Hope, but I've never been there. The tour busses go to Big Lehman's in Kidron.
Have fun!
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Buying and using bulk meat
