Buying Meats in Bulk

I love buying fresh meat in bulk for many reasons. One of them is that fresh meat always tastes better than frozen. Fresh meat is also more versatile, you can use part of it and freeze the rest. With fresh meat, it also requires a shorter cooking time. Moreover, buying fresh meat means you can have a variety of different meals and you can prep ahead (and even marinate) which saves you time.

Recently, I made two big purchases: fresh pork loin and fresh chicken breast. Here's what I did with them for our family of 3.

Boneless Pork Loin - 4.11 kg (9.042 lbs) $20.76

The roast was so huge that it was as long as my sink (see picture at the end of the post).

• Divided into 4 roasts:
• Froze 3 roasts for later use.
• Sliced up 1 roast into boneless pork chops (8 pieces). I used it to make Seared Pork Chops with Mushroom Sauce (recipe coming soon). The one roast was large enough for 3 meals (2 dinners and 1 lunch). 

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts - 1.822 kg (4 lbs) $15.94

Fresh chicken breast is so versatile.

• Divided up for use in 6 meals:
• 2 chicken breasts to be used immediately for Chicken Spinach Pasta (recipe coming soon). There was enough food for 2 meals (1 lunch and 1 dinner).
• 3 chicken breasts (sliced and portioned out into 2 bags) for either stir fries or pasta for those nights when I need something pre-sliced and ready to go.
• 1 bag of chicken tenders (7 chicken tenders separated from the breasts) for homemade breaded chicken fingers.

The chicken breast and the chicken tender.

• 2 bags of chicken pieces portioned out into 2 bags for use in chicken noodle soup or congee.

All bagged up and ready to be frozen.

Some Important Tips

1. Make sure to buy fresh meat that looks fresh, not gray or dull looking. Make sure the package is sealed and not opened/or repackaged.
2. Check the date the meat was packaged and the expiry date. If possible, ask staff to bring fresh meat recently packed.
3. Look for sales when purchasing meat. My pork loin was $2.29/lb and the chicken breast was $3.99/lb.
4. Store meat on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. I like using my vegetable drawers to hold fresh meat in case the package leaks. The veggie drawer is also easy to clean as well.
5. Trim off any visible fats and divide into desired portion sizes. Marinate any meats you want in the Ziploc bags.
6. Buy quality freezer bags if you plan on freezing any meat. The last thing you want is frostbitten meat that you will have to toss out. Label with the date and contents. Store in a deep freezer if you have one or store it in the back of your refrigerator freezer.

Double bagged to prevent freezer burn.

For those of you curious what 9.042 lbs of pork loin looks like:

As long as my sink!