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Well, a lot of the cold stuff in one ice box is my "permafrost" stuff. Ie, before I discovered brisket, I would buy meat on the cheap, cut it up, and freeze it. It was part of my battle against comfort food splurge buying where I would hunger for a steak cooked in wine, alouette cheese, and rice after work......and then go out and buy said ingredients.
Perhaps it shouldn't be said, but a lot of beef has been in there for years so tonight, I'm cooking up one "steak" in a stew. Probably the only thing it is "good" for now. My salmon steaks (bought as whole salmon (headless and gutless but not boneless), cut into steaks, bagged, into the freezer) is probably about the same age but since I can't get that stuff easily anymore (when it disappeared, it was running at $2.97/lb), I'm not so anxious to cook it up....at least while the beef is there.
As it is, stew cooking is probably good for moving. Get the stuff into the (wok) pot, get it going for the hour or two it takes while one continues the packing routine (right now, just checking on mail having been off line since yesterday morning).
On expired food; there's the date and then there's otherwise. Basically to me, as long as the can isn't violated, rusting, and if it doesn't hiss or smell bad when it is opened, it's still good to me. Now, I tend to be very food cautious. Even a new can, if it is "noisy" when I open it, even though it is probably the vacuum seal I am hearing or it was dented, I will probably still dump it on the spot. But to me, past the date on the can doesn't mean necessarily that it is bad.......although really old cans, like 3-5 years past the date (and further) usually gets marked for the doomsday storage.
Honestly, I don't even know what to say..... I personally don't eat much frozen meat but even the meat I have frozen, I have never let it go past a few months and even then it's very well wrapped (usu store vaccum packed stuff). Salmon steaks , as far as I know, are pretty easy to find at the store - why on earth would you want to eat it after years of being in storage?
It's just for all the things that I coming across from the past that were never touched, ie an Outside magazine (haven't subscribed to it for years) from 2000 in perfect condition (& destined for the recycling bin) ...
If the contents of the magazine are something that is not really time sensitive, consider donating it instead. News mags can be recycled because the issues discussed are no longer topical. Women's magazines may have recipes and craft and decorating ideas. Your neighborhood senior center or a local nursing home might like to have them. Bundle up similar topics and offer them on FreefCycle or Craig's List.
If the contents of the magazine are something that is not really time sensitive, consider donating it instead. News mags can be recycled because the issues discussed are no longer topical. Women's magazines may have recipes and craft and decorating ideas. Your neighborhood senior center or a local nursing home might like to have them. Bundle up similar topics and offer them on FreefCycle or Craig's List.
It's a good notion but unfortunately, I just don't have the time. I've been moving constantly since the 2nd week in March and am looking at a little over two weeks before drop dead day. I do have one box set aside for a Goodwill drop, but that's for mostly old circuit boards, switch boxes, miniature travel games and so forth...so far.
Moving is an interesting thing in that the closer the dead line gets, the more severe the selection criteria gets. For example, early on, it was to test batteries that were not corroded. Now, unless they are in a package or are rechargeable, they get tossed.
It's also interesting as I pack the new pantry that I find out just how many cans of chili I actually have. As I said (canned goods entirely), a year's supply of food there, but as I said, it's my savings in case I find myself out of work. In the end in such a case, I might find myself eating vegetarian calzone, but at least it is being able to eat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakeneko
Honestly, I don't even know what to say..... I personally don't eat much frozen meat but even the meat I have frozen, I have never let it go past a few months and even then it's very well wrapped (usu store vaccum packed stuff). Salmon steaks , as far as I know, are pretty easy to find at the store - why on earth would you want to eat it after years of being in storage?
Beef in a can, beef deep frozen, what's the difference if it is only going to go into a stew, be it the day it went into storage or weeks afterwards. As far as having a steak cooked in wine with alouette cheese and rice, tastes have changed. That kind of steak meal is best with white rice....but i have shifted to eating brown rice entirely and only keep white rice around as an emergency food source. Alouette Cheese is still a splurge buying, comfort food item, so it isn't kept around the house much. Since I discovered brisket, most of my other than stew use of steak has turned to that.
As salmon goes, because I can't get it around here. Around here, they are now selling salmon fillets at 2.5-3 (or more) X the price/lb that I paid when I bought the whole fish. The closest I come to of the old price is buying salmon in cans which is okay for a stew......but the taste of a salmon steak, even a permafrost one, in a stew is fantastic.
Perhaps the $2.97/lb or what it would be adjusted for inflation is a thing of the past (perhaps in our ecological disaster world) but at the time I could get it easily, it was, to me, an excellent, cost effective substitute for meat. I would go to an HEB, usually in Austin since they carried it up there, buy 5-6 fish, bring it home, cut it up, baggy it, and stick in the ice box for months of wonderful eating.
If "permafrost" food isn't such a great idea.......then why bother to have chest freezers?
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 04-14-2015 at 12:50 AM..
We have moved twice and we always eat about everything that would spoil and then eat out maybe few days before the move. Any food left like canned items, snacks, ect we will pack or give to family/neighbors.
It's a good notion but unfortunately, I just don't have the time. I've been moving constantly since the 2nd week in March and am looking at a little over two weeks before drop dead day. I do have one box set aside for a Goodwill drop, but that's for mostly old circuit boards, switch boxes, miniature travel games and so forth...so far.
Moving is an interesting thing in that the closer the dead line gets, the more severe the selection criteria gets. For example, early on, it was to test batteries that were not corroded. Now, unless they are in a package or are rechargeable, they get tossed.
It's also interesting as I pack the new pantry that I find out just how many cans of chili I actually have. As I said (canned goods entirely), a year's supply of food there, but as I said, it's my savings in case I find myself out of work. In the end in such a case, I might find myself eating vegetarian calzone, but at least it is being able to eat.
Beef in a can, beef deep frozen, what's the difference if it is only going to go into a stew, be it the day it went into storage or weeks afterwards. As far as having a steak cooked in wine with alouette cheese and rice, tastes have changed. That kind of steak meal is best with white rice....but i have shifted to eating brown rice entirely and only keep white rice around as an emergency food source. Alouette Cheese is still a splurge buying, comfort food item, so it isn't kept around the house much. Since I discovered brisket, most of my other than stew use of steak has turned to that.
As salmon goes, because I can't get it around here. Around here, they are now selling salmon fillets at 2.5-3 (or more) X the price/lb that I paid when I bought the whole fish. The closest I come to of the old price is buying salmon in cans which is okay for a stew......but the taste of a salmon steak, even a permafrost one, in a stew is fantastic.
Perhaps the $2.97/lb or what it would be adjusted for inflation is a thing of the past (perhaps in our ecological disaster world) but at the time I could get it easily, it was, to me, an excellent, cost effective substitute for meat. I would go to an HEB, usually in Austin since they carried it up there, buy 5-6 fish, bring it home, cut it up, baggy it, and stick in the ice box for months of wonderful eating.
If "permafrost" food isn't such a great idea.......then why bother to have chest freezers?
I do have "extra freezer" - but I bought an upright so it would be easier to see what I have, I was afraid that I'd forget about stuff in the bottom of a chest freezer. I don't think freezing food is bad - but it does lose a lot of flavor over time IMO.
I also worry about power failures.....
Anyway, in regards to moving - we move a lot (military family), we try to eat down the pantry as much as possible. It's not too tough though since I try to keep the pantry really organized and I write the expiration dates or purchase dates of things on the top with sharpie marker and I try to rotate the older stuff to the front.
We have moved twice and we always eat about everything that would spoil and then eat out maybe few days before the move. Any food left like canned items, snacks, ect we will pack or give to family/neighbors.
It's all good advice and if I were in the situation where I could "expect" to move a major distance, I might lean that way and not have the year supply of cans that I do now. As I said before, there was that bottle of Rum 151 that I hope someone perhaps found.
The major catch is, though, that my thinking has gone the other way. I have not left Texas since the summer of 2001. I've traveled as far west as Fredricksburg, as far north as Dallas, as far NE as Huntsville, as far east as the Texas, as far SE as Corpus, as far south as San Antonio, as far SW as Medina Lake, and as far NW as Killeen.
In a way, perhaps something of a tragedy given 14 years, but I guess that's just how life goes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakeneko
I do have "extra freezer" - but I bought an upright so it would be easier to see what I have, I was afraid that I'd forget about stuff in the bottom of a chest freezer. I don't think freezing food is bad - but it does lose a lot of flavor over time IMO.
I also worry about power failures.....
Anyway, in regards to moving - we move a lot (military family), we try to eat down the pantry as much as possible. It's not too tough though since I try to keep the pantry really organized and I write the expiration dates or purchase dates of things on the top with sharpie marker and I try to rotate the older stuff to the front.
Interesting enough, I too come from a military family and lived two years at Clark where power failures were notorious and could last for days until they got generators out to us. One thing Mom taught us is that if the power goes out, don't open the frig! A refrigerator can keep the food good for two or three days if the seals are maintained.
A point that seems lost on other people as I watched in horror as the shift worker I was relieving open up the kitchenette frig to get his lunch during a day power outage (the frig was not on generator power circuits). Had to send an email around the office to write off whatever they had in it.
A trick one can do as a hedge against power failures is to have ice blocks in their freezer.
I, too, live something of a Ranger lifestyle in that when food comes in, I get out the Sharpie and mark the month and year on it.
But I guess we are conditioned by what we do. Grew up Army, served Navy, and as I looked at the pantry in the new house (4 shelves and the floor under the stairs), looked at the Italian and Chili shelf, stuffed and overflowing on the floor, I was struck with.......
"MY GOD! This looks like a submarine ready to go out on patrol!"
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 04-14-2015 at 07:06 PM..
Well, this was going to be an EDIT but the clock ran out on me as I was typing.
As I was slicing up the permafrost beef for tonight stew, I was reminded that cooking does relax me, it's a stabilizer in a stressful world.....and moving is stressful. For those who can find solace in going out to eat during a move, power to you.
For me, if I were driving home and thinking of the Chinese buffet, a little voice quickly reminds me of all that bought food at home, so I head there instead, usually.
As it is right now, I'm eating down the food in the frozen pantry because for about half of it, it's high time to do so. The canned goods are a rather permanent storage, so they get moved. War stories influenced behavior and all that. My counter items such as the various beans, lentils, split peas, and more? Well, there is a lot of them for they are both a daily source and an emergency source, but for now, they are the main things in each meal, they are the eaten down. In two weeks time, there may be some left here and there and if so, then I'll probably make an overflow jar, a desperate soup jar, and pour the remains in all together.
But for the ease and desire of cooking up some brisket to have with tortillas, there are probably other things that can be made, which should be consumed, before the final move.
I wanted a quick meal but I still had half that permafrost steak in the frig. So I sliced it up, cooked it in a Chardonnay that I found didn't have the bite that I thought it did when I bought it up (hence why I am using it now instead of moving it), spices, Feta, and Parmesan. Served it over angel hair and croutons.
The taste was "interesting" (better as the cold left overs).....but that's rather the point in this topic.
As we eat down the pantry, we may get into interesting combinations....that we wouldn't touch other wise.
If the contents of the magazine are something that is not really time sensitive, consider donating it instead. News mags can be recycled because the issues discussed are no longer topical. Women's magazines may have recipes and craft and decorating ideas. Your neighborhood senior center or a local nursing home might like to have them. Bundle up similar topics and offer them on FreefCycle or Craig's List.
That describes my mother----she wouldn't let go of a newspaper, magazine, etc. Always saving them to donate to a nursing home, save the recipes, etc, etc. They were all dumped on me when she passed away. Trust me, no one wants old papers All you're doing is leaving them for someone else to deal with They become a fire hazard, attract rodents, mice, dust, etc. The last guy to deal with it is often left an expense for heavy trash pickup as well.
I moved across town at least a dozen times - and never threw out any food except maybe a jar of mayonnaise with a few tablespoons left in it.
Across country - everything got eaten beforehand or given away (with very little buying of food in the weeks beforehand, it's a challenge making a meal out of odd leftover combinations) except spices which are expensive to replace, small and lightweight.
I just last week used up the last of some chili powder I think I bought before my marriage in 1978... :-/ So much for 'replacing your spices every year because they lose their potency.' That darn tin can of chili powder lasted longer than the husband did!
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All you're doing is leaving them for someone else to deal with
They become a fire hazard, attract rodents, mice, dust, etc. The last guy to deal with it is often left an expense for heavy trash pickup as well.
