Cooking Cheap

[updated with taste tests, 2010/09/20]

I was sitting in front of the computer when a van with a logo slowly drives into the cul-de-sac. Maybe the neighbors called a repairman? Nope. A guy walks up to my front door (so it’s sales or information that he’s seeking). He’s just delivered some sea food to one of my neighbors (his claim) and he’s got just a little bit more beef or chicken he’d offer for a good price, because he’s in the area. You know, I’ve heard this story before and I know how the game is played. Let’s play.

He brings in two larger boxes of flat packs. Individually wrapped steaks (and hamburger patties, of course). Guaranteed for 1yr, yada.. “Choice Grade”. And it actually had a fricking USDA choice stamp on the box! The chicken is just wrapped chicken breasts in various marinades. I have no interest in that. But USDA graded beef? Of course, it had too much hamburger and Filet cuts which make price comparisons difficult if you don’t believe the myth that Filet is super best. He wasn’t particularly hard sell though and the price kept coming down the longer I talked about what I didn’t like about Filet “I’ll double the amount of beef – two boxes”. No room in my freezer for that amount. As he starts boxing it up to leave. I said, “Have you ever run across YummyMeats? I’ve got a post on my blog about them that still gets some attention”.

Of course he knows about them but he’s reluctant to admit it, “I’ve taken some sales from them”. but he doesn’t want to trash talk competitors. Perhaps there is a gypsy like code of conduct for door to door meat salesmen? The price for that box of USDA graded Choice beef dropped immediately though “to win me from Yummy”. That’s sales BS of course. But, I actually bought the box, seriously discounted from list price and the $/lb is still too high for my liking. Obviously, it wasn’t too bad and for a single person, the individual wrapping is worth something. As I took out the check book, he said “I’m independent, so make the check out to me”. OK, I’m liking this honesty.

While he’s loading the flat packs into the freezer he noticed the YummyMeats flat pack of ribeyes that I got a few months back. “May I look?” Sure. “This looks pretty good – they really don’t grade their meat?”

There’s a lot of ways you can parse that tiny interaction. He doesn’t know what Yummy sells seems obvious. Or you could believe his quick inspection and comment suggests it’s as good or better than his. Or both. Or neither. I’m not complaining, yet. If I have a reason to, I will.

[Update: Sept 1, 2010]
Marinated steak – OK
Something that looked and tasted like Sirloin but had a different name – very good.
Steak burger patties – pretty good when you get heat high enough to put a serious sear on them.
Ribeye – Very nice, even if you overcook it.

It still costs too much (IMO), but it’s quality meat as promised.

[Update: Sept, 20, 2010]
I took out something from the Fillet box that was round like a Fillet Mignon. After defrosting, I had no idea what it was! It was more wedge like than round and the higher end was much stiffer than expected for Mignon.

The height difference means one part is going to cook faster than the other and that’s what happened. Both parts were really good, but I don’t think it was a Fillet Mignon and that’s a problem because it’s misleading, no matter how good it tastes.