WATERFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — The whole point of this series is showing you ways to save while you shop, and one of the themes that keeps coming up is buying in bulk. But the new question is, how do you properly store the meat you buy in bulk, to get the most bang for your buck?
Marketplace meats has been serving the Waterford community and beyond for more than 50 years. Most of the people walking through the doors are repeat customers.
"15 years," said John Kildow, when I asked him how long he's been coming here.
Kildow is one of many customers buying meat and poultry five points at a time, or an entire short loin, to cut into T-Bone steaks.
“to buy one, maybe buy two individually it’s probably 14.99/lbs in the grocery store. I pay 5.99/lbs here," another shopper told us.
That's a 60 percent saving! But now that you have the meat, how do you store it?
Matt Burnstein, partner at Marketplace Meats, thankfully has the answer.
“We found that a lot of times people will take one steak, this is Mr. Ricardo he is going to take a steak and wrap it with plastic," Burnstein said.
The technique: fold once over the meat, then take in the sides, before rolling the remaining plastic wrap. Once it's wrapped, store it in a quality freezer bag. You can also repeat this process with butcher paper.
Both ways will last about six months in your freezer, according to Bernstein.
"Then you don't have to buy the food savers, cheaper way," he said.
And the same method works for poultry and lunch meats too. But what about seafood?
I talked to Matt and he told me one of the tricks is to store seafood, like the scallops above, or fresh fish in water and then you freeze it. That way, all the freshness will stay and it can also stay in your freezer for about six months as well.
Without the underwater freezing method, official government regulators recommend 2-3 months in the freezer for shellfish, 4-12 months for items like steaks and roasts, and nine months for poultry pieces. You can find more food safety information at this link.
