Hick harvested a rumpus-ampling load of food from the Ponytail Guy on Friday. He called to ask The Pony to drive up and get three boxes to bring home to our mini freezer. Then Hick drove more over to HOS's (Hick's Oldest Son) house, since he couldn't reach him by phone.
I swear, we could host a banquet for the CREECHERs with all this food! Here's a list of what I remember, in "helping" The Pony put it away:
pork shoulder (the size of a basketball!)
pork loin (2)
boneless chicken breasts (pack of 3)
Italian sausages (at least a dozen)
crumble sausage (big bag, suitable for pizza or sauces)
two pounds of ground beef
Angus hamburger patties (12)
individually wrapped pork chops (4)
graham crackers (3 packs)
fig bars (4)
artisan crackers
canned ravioli
spaghetti-o (2)
spaghetti sauce in pouches (4)
spaghetti noodles (1 box)
tuna cans (2)
cornflakes (giant bag)
refried beans
green beans
corn
peanut butter
AND...
A produce box full of potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, and apples. Those will go great roasted with some of the bacon Hick brought home SATURDAY, in a white bag over his shoulder, like a MEAT SANTA CLAUS. He said Ponytail Guy's wife had repackaged it into portions like Hick had done with our previous bacon. About 9-10 slices in a pack. I think we have a whole hog worth of bacon!
There's just one catch... some of this meat had expiration dates as old as December 20. Which I think is okay, because labels say USE OR FREEZE BY the date. It smells fresh, the hamburger pack that I poked open to check. That pork shoulder was hard as a freakin' boulder, and about that size! So it was certainly solidly frozen.
Hick asked Ponytail Guy about the dates on Saturday. He said he hadn't noticed, but called his wife, and she said the people who brought them the boxes mentioned the dates, and said the items had been frozen the whole time. So I assume it's as safe as any meat I buy and re-package and pop in FRIG II's freezer. Heh, heh! NOT the mini freezer bottom layer from 2001!
We have SO MUCH meat that Hick is going to tell the Ponytail Guy he doesn't need any boxes for awhile. Not sure if he will still get them for HOS. Like I mentioned before, Ponytail Guy says they have trouble finding people to give all the food to. Thus the frozen meat dates, I suppose.
We are set for main dishes. All I need to shop for are fresh vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, our weekly bananas and oranges, and bread.
Next on the menu will be Angus hamburgers, and then a meatloaf. After that, we'll try a pork loin. Oh, and we still have a bag of apples, and a bag of potatoes from a couple weeks ago. Cooked apples will make a good side dish for the pork loin and pork chops. The Pony loves his potatoes baked. So the bigger potatoes in the bag will go for that.
Wow! They have trouble finding people to take the free food? You would think people would be grateful to have the help with groceries.
ReplyDeleteI think they must not be getting the word out in their county. We might have such giveaways in our county, too, but I only remember seeing them advertised twice, during the summer, in our online newspaper. It said there were no qualifying conditions, and that boxes would be give out until they were all gone. It never occurred to us to go, because we didn't need free food.
DeleteApparently one of the church thrift stores was giving them out another time, because Backcreek Neighbor Bev was forced to take one when she donated items there, and she gave part of her foods to Hick.
Maybe you should get one of those giant freezers that murderers (or deer hunters) store the bodies in. You could be like a doomsday prepper and have all the meat you need for the next five years.
ReplyDeleteHow is it possible people won't take free food? Are they worried about the dates? or do they already have so much free food they can't fit any more in their freezers?
Heh, heh! Around here, murderers store their bodies in septic tanks. NOW we almost have enough meat for the next five years!
DeleteI think maybe people are too lazy to pick up free food! Hick always calls HOS to inform him on the Fridays when Ponytail Guy has his boxes. HOS has not once driven the 5 miles over to pick them up! Hick has taken some for HOS, and delivered them to his house after he doesn't show up. These young whippersnappers don't seem to appreciate the value of FREE food!
Don't turn down free meat! You can get more in the freezer than you think. If you cook it and freeze it, there will be more room. And, the dates will be fine because they do freeze the meat before the date on the package.
ReplyDeleteI cooked some burgers tonight. They took forever to thaw, so I figure they have remained frozen the whole time, except when Hick waited for The Pony to pick them up at the Storage Unit Store on Friday at noon. It was 40 degrees up there. Only a small section on the edge of the two top burgers had ice crystals when I set them out.
DeleteMonday I will cook the rest. We will eat hamburgers on buns again, and the others I will put in brown gravy with mushrooms for Hick to have for later meals.
Where does the ponytail dude get the meat? I know the government has a free produce program. You are saving $$ on groceries. Maybe go buy yourself something special.
ReplyDeletePonytail Guy gets it from his wife, who works for some agency in the county between us and the city. I think the program might be called Farm to Table. I looked it up once.
DeleteNothing special for me. Any savings just goes to our outrageous health insurance premiums for myself and The Pony.