tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116107930266963775.post2670125326347798804..comments2023-09-22T01:11:10.787-07:00Comments on Family of Food: Food and Grocery Coupon Conglom-o-ramaFamily of Foodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982811062597912457noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116107930266963775.post-61179976182583783352008-06-06T10:43:00.000-07:002008-06-06T10:43:00.000-07:00Sophia, thanks for your comment, but it had to be ...Sophia, thanks for your comment, but it had to be removed.Family of Foodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09982811062597912457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116107930266963775.post-74666072461464111532008-06-05T17:01:00.000-07:002008-06-05T17:01:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116107930266963775.post-40472313312852506512008-06-05T10:34:00.000-07:002008-06-05T10:34:00.000-07:00I'll take pictures and write up the next one. It ...I'll take pictures and write up the next one. It happens about once a year.Son of Foodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18184419240570441746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116107930266963775.post-26517676411847390812008-06-05T07:55:00.000-07:002008-06-05T07:55:00.000-07:00Son of Food, your beef co-op experiences would mak...Son of Food, your beef co-op experiences would make a nice post of its own... hint - hint.Family of Foodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09982811062597912457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9116107930266963775.post-4042716085389788852008-06-04T22:30:00.000-07:002008-06-04T22:30:00.000-07:00Coupons are great for saving money on products tha...Coupons are great for saving money on products that you buy normally, but we generally try to buy food, not products. Our latest money-saving food adventure has been to participate in in a cooperative beef purchase.<BR/><BR/>Here's how it works:<BR/><BR/>We've got a friend who knows a guy who raises and slaughters high quality grass-fed beef. By asking for sides of a certain weight range and knowing a little bit about the herd, we can usually get beef that grades USDA Prime or close to it.<BR/><BR/>Through an online discussion forum, we figure out who is interested and how much everyone wants, usually in units of 1/8 of a steer to figure out how many sides we want--a side is 1/2. We don't have much freezer space right now, so we split 1/8 with someone else. It comes out to about $2.50-3.00 a pound, independent of the cut of meat, not counting organ meats or bones, which are giveaways to anyone who is interested after we split all the regular cuts.<BR/><BR/>The organizer takes a survey to figure out what kinds of cuts people want in general, so in the summer we might get more steaks and in the winter more roasts, for instance. The meat comes frozen and we all meet up to make the split--always a festive event. You can't pick and choose every cut like you would at the grocery store, but we try to make it equitable and individuals can make trades among themselves as they see fit, and then you get the challenge of figuring out what to do with a cut you might not normally purchase.<BR/><BR/>If I get something I don't care for, I figure I can always throw it into the stock. I got a big bag of bones (that I wanted) and a heart that no one wanted, for instance, and made about six quarts of rich beef stock to cook with and in the process rendered about a quart of beef fat for <I>serious</I> French fries.<BR/><BR/>A couple of weeks ago we made a really nice porterhouse on the indoor grill pan (apartment living, alas, but we do our best) and Grandson of Food (17 months old) couldn't get enough of it. He kept finishing whatever we put on his tray and saying "meat! meat!"Son of Foodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18184419240570441746noreply@blogger.com