I love having an abundance of meat in our freezer. The food is prepped, ready to be thawed, and used. I don’t need to take a trip to the store or local butcher shop to buy the meat for the week. The day before, I brainstorm what I would like to make and eat, and grab a packet of that meat to start thawing. I bought my latest meat shopping haul from Palumbo’s in Downtown DuBois. Besides buying lots of hamburger, we also an abundance of their quality steaks, roasts, and other cuts of beef. Their beef comes wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap. We want to keep this quality beef for the longest freezer life, so we like vacuum sealing the cuts of beef upon arriving home.
Where to Buy Local Beef?
Local butcher shops and local farms sell beef from local farms. In the DuBois area, I shop at two local butcher shops, Palumbo’s in Downtown DuBois and Biggie’s Quality Meats in near Big Run, PA. I like shopping at both- both giving the experience of small town shops with quality products. When you are at either, try their meat sticks with such a selection to choose from each.
In the Johnstown Area, Dickert’s Farm sells freezer beef, as well as other meats. Other farms do the same thing, but may not be as advertised. Usually when buying directly from a farm, the customer is buying whole sections of the animal, not individual cuts of meat.
Cuts of Beef
When I buy individual cuts of meat, I still buy three general types in one trip. We like having an abundance of beef to choose from, but lately instead of buying half a cow, we have been doing grocery hauls at the local butcher shop. Two people can only eat so much hamburger from half a cow. We still had hamburger left for the longest time, so we were only needing to buy steaks, roasts, and other cuts.
Steaks
Steaks, uhh, I have a love hate relationship with this meat. For the LONGEST time, I didn’t like steaks. I have a steak curse. If I’m eating out with family, I end up getting the worse steak out of anyone in the group. This steak curse always entailed having steaks that were tough to chew. They weren’t tender. The flavor was just beef and A1 sauce.
I even ate a steakhouse in Nebraska and end up with a bad steak. This is definitely a curse.
I do love a good, quality steak though. And this steak curse doesn’t entail the steaks that I cook. A few years ago, I wanted to learn how to cook a really good steak. I watched a video from Gordon Ramsey on how to do it. Pan-fry on high heat with a garlic-thyme-butter basting.
The main thing with steaks is to choose ones with good marbling, as well as choosing quality cuts. For this meat haul, I bought porterhouse, T-bone, sirloin and beef strip steaks.
Roasts
I absolutely love a slow-cooked roast. But it has to be slow-cooked. Pressure-cooked is just well, different. It is still tender, but it is not the same pull-apart texture from the slow-cooked piece of meat.
With crazy schedules, roasts are awesome to prep in the mornings and serve later in the day. There’s so many different ways to prep roasts, so it doesn’t get old. Pot roast and gravy. Roast with potatoes and vegetables. So good!
With this meat haul, we bought sirloin and chuck roasts.
Other Cuts
I love chipped steak. It is thinly sliced steak meat that is perfect for subs and sandwiches. This can also be vacuum sealed and frozen for a later use. Most of the time though, it’s what we eat for dinner when we buy lots of meat from the local butcher’s shop at one time.
Cubed beef cuts are also great to buy in a beef haul. These work great for soups and stews. My favorite is a summertime vegetable soup with lots of beef added.
Create Vacuum Seal Bags
A vacuum sealer is needed. Ours is a Food Saver, which is available at Walmart. Vacuum Seal Bags can be purchased and ready to go. For us, we buy rolls and then seal them off into bags.
To start, pull out the roll until the desired size. If it the bag is larger than needed, that’s okay. More air will be sucked out of it for a nice seal. If the bag is smaller than needed, it may not want to seal.
Cut the bag using the cutting tool inside the Food Saver. Line the bag up, leave it on the dry setting, and press “Seal”. This seals the one of the bag. Leave the other end opened to add the beef in the next steps.
Vacuum Sealing Beef
Add the cut of beef to the bag for vacuum sealing. I put two of the same kind of steak in one package. For a roast, I add one roast per package. If the piece of beef is not fitting into the bag, create another one larger. It is better to do things right than to end up with a freezer burnt steak. Oooh, that’d be so upsetting!
With the open ends of the bag facing into the drip tray, shut the Food Saver lid, switch to operate, and press “Wet” and then “Vac/Seal”. If it doesn’t seem like it is vacuum sealing in a timely manner, then try repositioning the bag. Sometimes the bag may be too small for what it is trying to seal. I usually have this problem with vacuum sealing a large beef roast.
The Food Saver is finally sealing when the red light comes on as “Seal” and it has a change in sound.
A quality vacuum sealed bag should have a clear seal across the bottom and the top. If there is even a quarter of inch not seal, it will not keep the beef safe and fresh.
Label the Package
There are a few key details to include on the package. First, label it as “Porterhouse Steak” or “Sirloin Roast”. This way you know what is in the package when finding some for a meal or recipe.
Next, add the month and the year. This will tell if the package is fresh, needs used soon, or is older to where the quality of meat as declined.
Then, add the quantity. For steaks, I include how many are in each package. For the roasts, I only ever put one into a bag, so I skip this step for roasts.
That’s all that’s necessary, but I do add one more thing to my packages. I add the total cost. It’s just interesting to see prices change of products. I also include the price so that I remain humble when I use the meat later on, as well as knowing I’m blessed to have purchased it.
Storing in Freezer
Keep the vacuum sealed bags of beef in a freezer. With an upright freezer, which is what we have, double check that the door shuts the whole way, seals, and stays shut. Adding a few bags of meat to the freezer doesn’t really cause this, but I would still check. It has happened when we have large amounts of beef, such as from half a cow.
Cooked Internal Temperatures
When cooking with beef, make sure to cook thoroughly. Steaks and roasts need to be cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. They are cut off the pieces of cow and not processed any further. Thus, they have less exposure to bacteria that can multiply the fastest at 40-140 degrees Fahrenheit.
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