Meat Day

I know this blog is supposed to be about the kids, but this is one of the few things about which I get excited. About 2 years ago I was at Sam's Club and I noticed that they sell meat by the case at a cheaper price than just buying a small amount. I asked a friend if she would go in with me to buy a case, but when I told her that a case was 80 pounds of ground beef, she said I would have to find some other people to go in with us. So, I did, and Meat Day was born. We started last March and we bulk purchase meat by the case every 2 months. I send out an e-mail to collect orders and then I buy the cases and divide it up as people request. We usually do 4 cases of boneless skinless chicken breasts, and 2 cases of 90/10 ground beef, but we have had requests for pork, so today was the first day we tried pork. That brought our total for today up to 2 cases of beef (170 pounds), 6 cases of chicken (300 pounds), and 2 cases of pork loin (100 pounds). It was great! (For those of you from out of town, remember we did just have a hurricane, and everyone ether lost meat, or was forced to cook it to save it from going bad!) Here's my car loaded down coming home from Sam's:





The beef usually goes in one pound bags each. It's easier to thaw and we can make it flat and easy to store in the freezer. The chicken we divide up by however many breasts people request. And the pork was new for us, so we did some in larger chunks to bake, and some sliced to grill. I have a spread sheet to keep track of orders. Today it took us 5 hours to divide up all the meat. Then everyone comes to my house in the afternoon to get their meat. I have some amazing helpers, and today Randy was able to help because it was his Friday off.

We have breaks to watch and feed the children. This was a break to watch Caillou.

This is "Cooler Row" in our garage. We assemble all the orders and bag them and then organize them in the coolers so we can find them easier. It has been a learning process. Each time we refine and adapt and alter things to make it work better. We have a system, and it works great!

I have learned a lot in this whole process: I know that my big freezer can hold 175 pounds of ground beef on 2 shelves. Without breaking. Yet. I know that a case of chicken has about 92 breasts, and each one weighs about a half pound (they're BIG!) I can grab a handful of ground beef and it is a pound almost every time. I LOVE doing this because 1. It saves money and I love to save money, and 2. It is a challenge to make the orders all work out within the confines of the case limits. The day after Meat Day I spend cooking my meat and freezing meals for easy dinnertime planning. I love Meat Day and I look forward to it every time. Someone said today when she picked up her meat that it's a good thing we do this, or her family would be vegetarians. Maybe it's not that serious, but it's still fun and everyone benefits!