Beat this: 6 frugals in 1!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

We bought a four pound round eye roast at a pretty good price. (frugal#1) But it is way too big for just the two of us, so I was going to divide it and freeze most in three or four pieces. However, husband put the whole thing in the freezer, making it hard to deal with. Today I used my handy-dandy frozen foods knife to cut through it and divvy it into two chunks. One will thaw, the other is headed right back to the freezer. But what could I put it in? I had no large freezer bags, and if I put it in a big plasticware container, there'd be too much air in with it.

So I emptied a large tough mylar zip bag that had held Splenda, and put the half roast in there squeezing out the excess air (frugal #2) I think this is going to work really well, especially since the bag is so tough that little holes are unlikely to develop in it as the bag gets moved around in the freezer.

But the bag was awfully big and all this excess plastic was going to stick out from it. So I rubber-banded it down with rubber bands saved from broccoli from the grocery. Those rubber bands are too small and strong, right? Well not if you carefully cut them down into four or five narrow rubber bands each. (frugal #3)

The thawing half of the roast will cook tender and moist in the LeCrusette dutch oven I bought at the Goodwill store for $8. (frugal #4)

And that roast should provide at least 8 meals. (frugal#5)

I cook it up with the very last of last year's garden garlic (frugal#6)

[tinapbeana]

well, this isn't me but it's someone i know:

1. gets stuff on freecycle
2. sells the stuff at yard sales/flea markets
3. uses the proceeds to go to the restaurant supply food auction
4. uses the food for catering gigs

[PrincessPerky]

first post very cool, second, eh interesting but not what freecycle was for.....

[shelbylovesmelby]

WTG!

Q? though about the "frozen foods knife" is that a special knife? or just a knife you set aside for such tasks?

[trillium]

I my know my dear father uses a hacksaw (being a butcher and all) to conquer frozen meat goods.

It's really cool when you can buy big chunks of meat and chop them down to size. We did this with a pork loin that was on sale ($.189/lb). We bought a 7 lb. one and hacked it down to a roast, center cut chops (both filleted for stuffing and regular) and some small bits for stir fry, etc.

Sure beats paying $3.99 for pork stir fry meat or worse yet $4.99 for center cut chops!

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Yes, it is a special knife. It is deeply serrated, sort of like a saw and it has barbs on each serrated prominence. However, this might be the first time I used it in 15 years. My inlaws gave it to us when we first got a house. Since I use it so little, I just bagged it up with a bunch of other rarely used kitchen items and sent it to Goodwill.

When I was a kid, Mom had one of these knives, but a sturdier one. She had a big family, a big deep freeze and neighbors who raised big cattle, so she used her frozen foods knife a lot. She also had a stainless steel cleaver that had a saw blade on the back side of the broad blade. Serious utensils! Am I the only one who thinks of dear ol' Mom when I see one of those Klingon battle knives with all the swirls of barbs and blades?