Today, let’s talk a bit about bacon.
Let’s talk about how damned expensive it’s gotten. In the last year or so, it’s doubled. Now I find this kind of interesting because other pork prices haven’t doubled. Is that because there’s just a lot more demand for bacon and the producers charge anywhere from $4 to $6 a pound now because they can?
But geez, I’ve been thinking not just twice but three times before buying bacon. We’ve gone from cooking up a pound for BLTs or breakfast to a half pound (Wow! Talk about sacrifice!) We’ve gone from having 2 or 3 pounds in the freezer to a pound.
Crap, I don’t like that. There’s got to be a better way. Well, thanks to the meat manager at my local Stater Brothers grocery store, I came up with a solution. I was chatting with him one day and mentioned how bacon had taken a big jump. He agreed and told me what he buys—“ends and pieces”.
And I thought to myself, “Self, those are going to be little bitty 2 or 3 inch pieces of bacon and they’re just not going to be the same.” I was wrong.
Usually, the ends and pieces are mostly slices that weren’t as uniform as the other slices that went into the meat display case or they’re half slices with just a few “pieces”. Take a look:
Here's the Package:
Here's what was in it:
And here’s the best part. This bacon is $4 a pound in the display case. The “ends and pieces” are $1.99 a pound. I can do that math. And all I have to do when I get it home is take it out of the package, separate the full slices from the half slices from the pieces and repackage it for the freezer. That takes about 5 minutes. And I’ve got 5 minutes to save half the price of the bacon.
The slices and half slices get fried up just like any other bacon and the pieces end up in something like Spaghetti Carbonara.
If your grocer has “ends and pieces” for cheap, then check it out and see if you can save some money. Give it a try.
And here’s a couple of Cheap Bastid bacon recipes you might want to check out:
http://open.salon.com/blog/just-walt/2009/06/30/cheap_bastids_foodie_tuesday_chocolate_covered_bacon
http://open.salon.com/blog/just-walt/2010/03/22/cheap_bastids_classic_spaghetti_carbonara
That’s the Cheap Bastid Way: Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!
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Comments
Also, if you make pumpkin pie, grab the cans of puree as soon as possible. They are going way way up in price. Last week they 99 cents. This week they're 1.29. And scarce. Hurricane Irene devastated many of the pumpkin fields. Freeze butter, too. It will begin to up as we approach the holidays ... it always does.
HUGGGGGGGGGGGG
Chrissie--if your grocer has sliced bacon in it's service meat counter it probably has ends and pieces.
Linda--as always, thanks. I've got to start working on some new recipes!
I can also get, at most of my local grocery stores, vegetables and fruits which are "bruised" or "less than perfect" for much less than I would normally spend for them. The only thing is that I need to process and use them fairly quickly.
One of the local butchers frequently has people tell him to simply grind up their beef when they have a cow butchered. This leaves him with a surfeit of beef bones... and he gives them away.
Free bones for a pot of soup, dirt cheap vegetables in it... and you have a really cheap pot of vegetable soup. Want to make it a little more "hearty" throw in a can of white beans or garbanzo beans ... or maybe a little leftover rice or pasta... YUMMY. And cheap.
Torman--Thanks. Yeah, sometime you can do ham the same way here too. Carolyn's not as big a fan of ham as I am--and I'm sure that you can get a better cured ham than I can out here in Cali.
Mrs. Raptor--I'm going to have to try that with the beef bones. That would make some really good stock--and I'm at the time of the year when I'm about out of stock.
Scanner--I can still get smoked hocks pretty cheap for when I want to make a big ol' pot o' beans. I can't wait until we get a cold and dreary spell so I can make them.