This is NOT a Pretty Post!

Posts about meat are ugly.


I've never yet seen a nice photo of uncooked meat that took my breath away.  (Have you? :-)


SO, I stuck some more palatable pictures into the post for today, to make it bearable.

Every time I go to Jamie's house, I try to leave her freezer a little bit fuller than I found it.  I look for meat that is on sale and buy some to freeze to make life a little easier for them after I'm gone.


I lucked out last visit.  Great pork tenderloins were on sale for $2.59 a pound, a full $1.30 less per pound than the same thing at home.  I bought a nice big one.  FRUGAL.  

This one weighed almost nine pounds (like my first baby!) and at 2.59 per pound was $22.35.  


I knew there would be several good meals out of it.  In fact, we had one right away.  What was left was 3/4 of this bad boy.  


I got out the cutting board and the knife and within just a few minutes was all done with a good number of packages of meat for meals for them waiting in the freezer.

If you wanted a nice roast from this cut, you could cut one off, and freeze it for later.   This section above is just about the right size for a small family.  (We didn't save a roast this time.)

Next, I got out jelly roll pans and lined them with waxed paper.  Then cut off consistent sized boneless chops.  YUM.  (If you choose to pan-fry, do so with half olive oil and half butter for best results.)

I lined them up without them touching each other...(be good now, and don't slide!)

Topped each pan with waxed paper, and ...

Set them in a level spot in the freezer, the pans stacked on top of each other because the waxed paper on top of them wouldn't allow them to stick to each other.

I let them stay in there long enough to freeze solid, then removed them and took the waxed paper away, and bagged them up in gallon Ziploc freezer bags.


This will allow her to get as many out individually as she needs for a meal.  Convenient.

Labeled them and all done!  The loin was $22.35 and I estimated eight meals in all from that one purchase.  That comes down to $2.79 PER MEAL--not per helping!  I was wishing I'd bought more than one of them when I figured the result!


***This method of freezing portions individually is what I use to freeze chicken when I find it's on sale, and burgers after I form them into patties, and for almost anything that's more convenient to pull from a bag in the right number of portions instead of having it all frozen together in a lump.

Now, wasn't that easy?

And aren't vintage trucks in these colors much more attractive than cold pork?!