{"id":3,"date":"2011-07-29T02:57:16","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T02:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bbqaroma.com\/blog\/?p=3"},"modified":"2011-07-29T07:24:29","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T07:24:29","slug":"bulk-buy-a-carcass-a-trip-to-the-local-butcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbqaroma.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/bulk-buy-a-carcass-a-trip-to-the-local-butcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulk Buy a Carcass – A trip to the local Butcher"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stop Shopping for Meat at the Supermarket<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I had this obsession\u00a0each time I went out shopping for food for the family.\u00a0It became more obvious when I had bills and credit card\u00a0debts to pay off\u00a0as I\u00a0was conscious of the fact that I had limited funds to spend on the weekly food bill. My mind seemed to click into frugal mode when the pressures of money got to me. Anything that had the words “Special”, “Clearance”, “Economy”\u00a0or “Price Drop” got my attention immediately\u00a0and this mostly happened in the meat section at my local supermarket.<\/p>\n

Nice cuts of meat like Rib Eye Roast or Pork Shoulder Chops with what seemed to have cheaper prices from the week before,\u00a0would be swiped up\u00a0into my shopping basket and taken home for my next BBQ experience. It was more\u00a0of an excuse to light the charcoal and slap my prize finds on to\u00a0the grill. However it seemed that in the last few months in this winter of 2011\u00a0that everyone was picking up the same bargains and some of the “Economy” cuts where not to my exact liking (When they say “Economy” on the label, it means a cow which is 3.5 years or older!). Suddenly I found myself buying meat at $20 to $30 per kilo and the only cheap meat left\u00a0was the nasty\u00a0BBQ sausages at $3.00 a kilo and the supermarket bulk buy\u00a0bacon rashers… I think I was being duped to pay more for my meat fix!<\/p>\n

My Freezer is Empty<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seemed wasteful to own a massive freezer at work only used to store our lamb skewers that we produce for our customers. We had just before Easter completed 14,000 lamb skewers cut by hand, vacuum packed and frozen in that freezer and by the start of July, it became almost empty. It dawned on me that there is this massive freezer which can hold a whole cow in it…. Why not buy meat in bulk and freeze it!<\/p>\n

So I went to my local butcher who always\u00a0tells me the\u00a0best cuts to buy, provides a more personalised service and I asked him the question. To my surprise, it was not a problem for him who’s family business is called Aldo’s Meats on Parramatta Rd in Leichhardt. Just a bit of organisation and planning but in essence he made it a no brainer for me – “I’ll get you a nice\u00a0Young Beef\u00a0half for you” he said. “It will get you many good cuts for the BBQ – you won’t regret it”…. I was sold on the spot by that suggestion. Alleluia – no more supermarket meat that I get last minute on the weekends!<\/p>\n

Come Pick Up Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

I get a call from the butcher to come down and have a look at the carcass as it\u00a0had just arrived. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me\u00a0to see how it gets dissected and learn a bit more of where each cut comes from. So\u00a0off I went with my camera in hand to take\u00a0some shots of the process\u00a0on preparation of the cuts.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, I was stunned at the size of this thing. It was at least over 163KG as a whole animal and it was\u00a0big! I only ordered half side of the animal and it came out in two pieces, the front quarter and the rear quarter. I thought\u00a0that maybe I ordered just\u00a0a bit\u00a0too much for a young family of four. Ahh…. but then I said to myself, just imagine how many steaks I am going to have each week – I am going to eat well for a couple of months!<\/p>\n

Breaking it Down<\/strong><\/p>\n

It did not take that much time to cut the main pieces out. I must admit I was at a bit of a loss to what cut was what and impressed at the level of detail the butcher goes into getting the cuts out. I had decided also to pay a bit extra for\u00a0the labour and time that went into the preparation, as I figured I would not have the time nor equipment to do a better job. I asked him to cut the topside and silver side slabs into thin slices so I can do pan fry schnitzels and steaks;\u00a0cut\u00a0all the bones into pot sized chunks\u00a0for soups and stock; cut the T-Bone and Rump\u00a0into\u00a0thicker\u00a0steaks\u00a0for the BBQ and take as much meat\u00a0off the bones to be used as\u00a0mince. It probably took just one hour to cut the basics out but another three hours to do all the time consuming cuts and mincing that I requested. I am sure he did me some favors and charged me less because there was a lot of work to make it all perfect and of course we buy all our lamb for Arrosticini from him exclusively.<\/p>\n

Taking it Home<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like a little school boy I hurried home to begin my part which was to pack and freeze. It was great to have all the cuts separated in bags for me – there was 10KG of minced meat, 8KG of Oso Buco, 7.3KG of beef soup bones, 3.5KG of Brisket, 3.3KG of Topside, 2.3KG of Silver side, 2KG of Chuck Steak and some other cuts… then the real cuts that I have been hanging out for barbecuing over charcoal\u00a0– 3.5 KG of T-Bone Steak, 3.1KG of Assado (Beef Rib)\u00a03KG of Rump, 2.6KG of BBQ Steak,\u00a02.5KG of Sirloin, 2.3KG of round steak,\u00a01.2KG of Eye Fillet – I was in drool heaven just thinking how they will come out on the BBQ.<\/p>\n

The process of vacuum packing was easy and the best way to preserve the quality of the meat for the long term. I used Vac & Seal bag rolls for my vacuum sealer which lets you make any length of bag that you want – especially when you have long strips of Assado or Beef rib to stuff in flat into the bag. I would make my bags up to the length I needed, fill\u00a0\u00a0and then weigh each one before I vacuum sealed them. Basically I aimed to make two different sizes containing half\u00a0and one kilogram\u00a0of meat\u00a0plus I would place the meat rather flat in a single layer inside the bag. In that way they defrost quickly in the fridge and you don’t need to rip any steaks apart if frozen on top of each other.<\/p>\n

It took me a good two hours to do this part and I ended with at least 50 bags of vacuumed sealed meat and a few plastic bags of soup bones and\u00a0Oso Buco. Now lets see how long this will last our little family and if I do end up saving money buying in bulk.<\/p>\n

Total Cost<\/strong><\/p>\n

It worked out to be just over $7 per kilo for the whole lot which includes the butcher’s labor to make the the cuts that I wanted. Plus another $50 in vacuum bags\u00a0from a roll which in total was about 20 metres in length that I had\u00a0used.<\/p>\n

I compare that to my weekly shopping at the supermarket in the past\u00a0where I would buy $30 to $50 of meat which was usually on a Sunday for a BBQ lunch or dinner.\u00a0For the prices I was paying I really could only eat once or twice a week max in quality cuts. Now I have my little treasure trove of frozen delights at the ready and looking forward for some decent meals with the family. At least three to five times a week we will eat meat\u00a0and its not going to drain the budget in my eyes which makes me happy.<\/p>\n