Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.

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Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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BrutulTM said:
That's better than what I did with my chicken thighs. Let them sit in the fridge for a week and now I'm going to feed them to my Mom's barn cats. I need to remember that when chicken is on sale it's because it's about to reach its sell by date and needs to be cooked or frozen immediately.
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Yeah, the wife had picked up some chicken wings that were 25% off last weekend, and my plan was to vacuum pack them and toss them in the freezer. Completely forgot they were in the fridge, when to pull them out and check them and oh God.

We buy a lot of clearance meat when we find it, and most of the time I'll package it up that evening or something, but every now and then I forget because I'm busy doing something else.
 
Cutlery

Cutlery

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Honestly, that's the best part about feeding your pets raw meat. Anything that's questionable for you ain't questionable for the dog.

Although, I fed my dog a thigh and a drum for dinner yesterday, she grabbed the drum, went down into the yard, and found a spot to bury it under some leaves and dirt and shit, and then went back and ate the thigh. Fucking weirdo.
 
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Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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I love my vac sealer.

That is all really... but yes it helps a ton when wanting to freeze stuff and keep for longer times while bulk buying :)

1712596483883.png
 
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Burns

Burns

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Cutlery said:
I bought one. Fucking thing won't seal on one side. Guess eventually we'll see what a warranty means these days. When I get around to calling them.
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Ours is inconsistent too. I have to use the smaller bags then run the seal, move the bag a little, then run it again; for each side. Shit takes forever and is rather annoying. Think it came from Sam's.

A bunch of people report the same issues around the web, so they probably only have a year or less warranty and piss poor at that.
 
Sludig

Sludig

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BrutulTM said:
That's better than what I did with my chicken thighs. Let them sit in the fridge for a week and now I'm going to feed them to my Mom's barn cats. I need to remember that when chicken is on sale it's because it's about to reach its sell by date and needs to be cooked or frozen immediately.
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A little slime washes/ cooks off, good until tinged green or dried out.
 
Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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Burns said:
Ours is inconsistent too. I have to use the smaller bags then run the seal, move the bag a little, then run it again; for each side. Shit takes forever and is rather annoying. Think it came from Sam's.

A bunch of people report the same issues around the web, so they probably only have a year or less warranty and piss poor at that.
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I bought one for maybe 40 bucks or so of Amazon with decent reviews. I've noticed that sometimes I'll need to press on the bag when vacuuming to assist the air out. I'll also sometimes double seal it just in case, but it's been pretty decent, especially for the price.

I looked at that FoodSaver or whatever, I think that's the one they sell at Costco. Ours definitely a little slower, but it seems to work. If I had more freezer space, I'd probably get one of those ones that the whole bag goes into some sort of compartment, and it does it rapidly. I think that's the type of stuff that the restaurants use, but I'm sure it's super expensive.
 
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Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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Stand up freezer from Costco was a win, 300$ and self defrost - other than finding a discount appliance house all other options for non chest deep freeze that is no frost were 600

My vac sealer is what I posted it’s about 2 years old now still works great - sad to hear others got some bum ones :(
 
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Bandwagon

Bandwagon

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I've had this one for about 10 years and never had a problem with it. For a couple years, I was using it a couple times a week too.

PXL_20240408_230136290~2.jpg
 
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nevergone

nevergone

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I use self sealing canisters to keep brown rice and lentils on hand at all time. You can get both in juice 25lb bags for about $50 total. Extremely easy to cook and lasts for a very long time. Can make them in a variety of ways, add other proteins and veggies, and are shelf stable for a very long stretch when appropriately stored.

The other very cheap thing: farmer eggs. I live in a part of the country where sometimes farmers are overproducing on eggs and will sell them dirt cheap. The other week I picked up 5 dozen for like $7. Once you get over the initial embarrassment of telling the farmer you want to savor his eggs, it's totally worth it.
 
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Lanx

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i have an anova vac sealer for years
6b4897b51f5d3a64955f54e41c315386.png


no issue w/ the element, i got it cuz it was nice and thin and could handle the larger precuts

you guys with bad seals are making sure that you have no water near the element right? i do remembere my old food sealer needed the area to be extra dry or my seals would pop
 
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Chanur

Chanur

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Bandwagon said:
You guys are crazy. I have a glass jar full of mazeca right next to the stove that I use to whip up tortillas. It takes minutes, and it's better than anything storebought. If it was more than a 5 minute effort, It would be something I rarely do. But it's so godamn easy and so much better than storebought shit that I'm kicking myself for not doing this decades ago.

I really only do high-effort cooking on Sundays (meal prep) or when my gf is visiting. I'd consider flour tortillas more effort than I want to put into it for weekdays, but corn tortillas are ezpz.

Alright, I'll get off my tortilla soapbox. Go try it, fuckers.
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Are the home made corn tortillas really a taste difference when fried?
 
Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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Siliconemelons said:
Stand up freezer from Costco was a win, 300$ and self defrost - other than finding a discount appliance house all other options for non chest deep freeze that is no frost were 600

My vac sealer is what I posted it’s about 2 years old now still works great - sad to hear others got some bum ones :(
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I've really been thinking about swapping out my chest freezer. It's not exactly huge because I didn't have a bunch of space but I think I only paid a hundred bucks for it. $300 is pretty cheap, I think would make it a hell of a lot easier to find what I'm looking for. I would just run two but I don't think the electrical in the garage will handle it.

What's the cubic space on yours?
 
Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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Lanx said:
i have an anova vac sealer for years
6b4897b51f5d3a64955f54e41c315386.png


no issue w/ the element, i got it cuz it was nice and thin and could handle the larger precuts

you guys with bad seals are making sure that you have no water near the element right? i do remembere my old food sealer needed the area to be extra dry or my seals would pop
Click to expand...
I buy the rolls and cut my bags. Learn pretty quick to leave a better running room so juices down get into the vacuum area. Think ours is a KIOS or something like that. It's was maybe half the price of your Anova, but I know that brand makes good stuff. If mine shits out, I'll upgrade to one.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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I have both kinds of freezers and no doubt the upright one is easier to find stuff in, but you can't put nearly as much stuff in them for the same cubic feet because you have to pile it on the shelves. Pluses and negatives for both of them IMO.
 
Lanx

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Dr.Retarded said:
I buy the rolls and cut my bags. Learn pretty quick to leave a better running room so juices down get into the vacuum area. Think ours is a KIOS or something like that. It's was maybe half the price of your Anova, but I know that brand makes good stuff. If mine shits out, I'll upgrade to one.
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oh i got mine as a combo deal, 80bucks seems steep to me for a foodsaver lite (it doesn't have the accessory port) (i would still keep my old foodsaver around in case i needed it)
49d2953700a5d877700b5f0effc5f7b5.png


but tbh, i never had a single issue sealing w/ it, i did have troubles w/ the food saver, making sure it was ultra dry.

maybe the element was weaker, who knows
 
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Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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Lanx said:
oh i got mine as a combo deal, 80bucks seems steep to me for a foodsaver lite (it doesn't have the accessory port) (i would still keep my old foodsaver around in case i needed it)
49d2953700a5d877700b5f0effc5f7b5.png


but tbh, i never had a single issue sealing w/ it, i did have troubles w/ the food saver, making sure it was ultra dry.

maybe the element was weaker, who knows
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That's a decent price for both. My sous vide is one of the earlier gen Anovas, but I couldn't tell you the last time I used it.
 
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Bandwagon

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Dr.Retarded said:
That's a decent price for both. My sous vide is one of the earlier gen Anovas, but I couldn't tell you the last time I used it.
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Just out of curiosity ...why?

I like using mine for beef, but my GF isn't really a fan so I never use it anymore for anything except tritip. That's the only thing she likes better in the sous vide.
 
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Dr.Retarded

Dr.Retarded

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Bandwagon said:
Just out of curiosity ...why?

I like using mine for beef, but my GF isn't really a fan so I never use it anymore for anything except tritip. That's the only thing she likes better in the sous vide.
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Haha, sounds like the same reasons as you.

I was using it pretty often, specifically for steak, but I started using my Slow n Sear on the kettle grill with the cold grate method. Found I was getting better crust and still cooked perfectly. I also do a lot more reverse sear with bigger cuts on the gas grill for good results, especially when I've got the infrared burner on the side to do the final seer.

I just found sometimes with different cuts of steaks that at least to me, it's sometimes changes the texture of the meat depending upon how long you leave it in there. Plus the wife mentioned the same thing versus when I just cook it normally. I still think it's convenient, but reverse hearing has just been so much easier once I got it down and I'm just probing accordingly to watch my temps. I just like the results better.

I will use it on occasions if we're doing a get together. I think the last time I used it was to cook to tri tips for my annual get together with my high school and college buddies. Those both turned out perfect, and I guess with that particular cut, it seems that sous vide really does a good job. So I completely agree with you guys on that.

Still I like the reverse sear method, especially if I'm going to impart a little bit of smoke flavor or something with some wood chips or pellets. Sous vide is definitely convenient, I just don't use it very often anymore.

I forget which channel it was on YouTube, but it's the hipsters that made the Jule machine, and when I was getting into it, I tried some of their methods, like pre-sering, and putting butter with aromatics in the bag, and all of their things were disgusting. They did however have a pretty good idea for fried chicken were you sous vide first and then dry and Fr to make it easy. It's still not like frying chicken is hard though.

Sorry to kind of ramble on, I just really hadn't thought about it in a while, sometimes forget that I even have that device.
 
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Lanx

Lanx

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Dr.Retarded said:
Haha, sounds like the same reasons as you.

I was using it pretty often, specifically for steak, but I started using my Slow n Sear on the kettle grill with the cold grate method. Found I was getting better crust and still cooked perfectly. I also do a lot more reverse sear with bigger cuts on the gas grill for good results, especially when I've got the infrared burner on the side to do the final seer.

I just found sometimes with different cuts of steaks that at least to me, it's sometimes changes the texture of the meat depending upon how long you leave it in there. Plus the wife mentioned the same thing versus when I just cook it normally. I still think it's convenient, but reverse hearing has just been so much easier once I got it down and I'm just probing accordingly to watch my temps. I just like the results better.

I will use it on occasions if we're doing a get together. I think the last time I used it was to cook to tri tips for my annual get together with my high school and college buddies. Those both turned out perfect, and I guess with that particular cut, it seems that sous vide really does a good job. So I completely agree with you guys on that.

Still I like the reverse sear method, especially if I'm going to impart a little bit of smoke flavor or something with some wood chips or pellets. Sous vide is definitely convenient, I just don't use it very often anymore.

I forget which channel it was on YouTube, but it's the hipsters that made the Jule machine, and when I was getting into it, I tried some of their methods, like pre-sering, and putting butter with aromatics in the bag, and all of their things were disgusting. They did however have a pretty good idea for fried chicken were you sous vide first and then dry and Fr to make it easy. It's still not like frying chicken is hard though.

Sorry to kind of ramble on, I just really hadn't thought about it in a while, sometimes forget that I even have that device.
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i've been trying sousvide chicken, i don't like it
 
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