Where does everyone buy meat for their smoker or grill

[sdynak]

One way. I order from them sometimes and every now and then we make the trip to stock up. We just moved into a place, bought a new freezer, ordered a new fridge and are the lookout for another freezer, so we're still trying to figure out our routine.

Wow.. that's crazy. I have one in either direction about 1/2 hr away. Wild Fork just opened a store which is just about a tic over 1 hr so I will do that. Not sure about a 2 hour 1 way trip to Costco. Maybe like 2x a year if I really wanted/needed something and had to get it that day.

 

[ToeJam]

I was at Costco yesterday - they had for the first time I've seen the huge dino beef ribs. They were the big 3 rib sections, but boy howdy, they sure were proud of them - something like $85.00 for a package. The prime packer brisket was $3.99 per lb.

 

[BNeal]

Does anyone know if you can refreeze flash-frozen meat?

 

[Gonefishin]

"The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) advises: Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing."

Here's something from the Bon Appetit site
"The biggest downside of freezing and thawing and re-freezing and re-thawing is that the food becomes excessively mushy. Most food contains water. When you freeze something, the water inside expands, and the cell walls break down, leading to unrecognizable mush, says Ramsey. The only exception, he says, is flash-frozen products. If you purchase something frozen, it likely has gone through a deep, flash-freezing process, so the water hasn't had time to pool and turn your food into sad slop. If you're freezing something in your home freezer, it freezes very slowly (i.e., mush city). For this reason, soup is something you can get away with refreezing, but meat—not so much."

 

[BNeal]

"The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) advises: Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing."

Here's something from the Bon Appetit site
"The biggest downside of freezing and thawing and re-freezing and re-thawing is that the food becomes excessively mushy. Most food contains water. When you freeze something, the water inside expands, and the cell walls break down, leading to unrecognizable mush, says Ramsey. The only exception, he says, is flash-frozen products. If you purchase something frozen, it likely has gone through a deep, flash-freezing process, so the water hasn't had time to pool and turn your food into sad slop. If you're freezing something in your home freezer, it freezes very slowly (i.e., mush city). For this reason, soup is something you can get away with refreezing, but meat—not so much."

Thanks, padlin00! I wound up calling WF and they said as long as it's thawed in the refrigerator, it will be fine to refreeze, but not to thaw it out on the counter. Something to do with maintaining a certain temp. Nonetheless, good to know!