Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Carey, Could you have taken the meat back? I've never taken meat back but I would probably have tried for $25!

My resolutions:
*Less waste
*Learn to cook healthier dishes. I love to cook but mmmm Short Ribs and Pasta and ... not healthy. I make a mean veggie curry but there is all that rice again...

I thought about taking it back, and if it was from a large grocer I would have. But this is a small privately owned butcher, and I think it would be awkward (how do I prove I didn't store it improperly, and that it was that way when I got it?). Plus, I tossed the chicken because it smelled, and he's not open again until tomorrow. Maybe I'm not being assertive enough, but I think my preference would be to just avoid buying that brand of chicken in the future. It's the 2nd one in 6 months, and they came from different stores, so it has to be the brand and not the store.

The upside is that my plan is to cook from the freezer for a while since my grocery budget is done for the week. I have a surprising amount stashed in there...lots of sausage, ground beef, ground pork, and boneless chicken thighs. I have some scallops from Costco too. We're definitely not going to starve. It's just upsetting. Last night wasn't a bust though. I found some Rao's sausage sauce that I had put in the freezer earlier, and we had that over pasta with salad.

Carey,

You should have taken it back IMO.

Amy

I did it last year and - lo & behold, there's an opportunity to do it again this year - clean out the freezers (3) before any new purchases in the meat and stock departments. Those damn lobster shells are going to become bisque come Hell or high water

Carey,
You could mention it the next time you go in. I am sure if he is small he will want to keep up his reputation.

Mary

Carey, I'd also email the brand and let them know. We stopped buying the more expensive pure filtered milk because it consistently went bad days before the date. Costco would always refund me but it wasn't worth the hassle, and there were a few times we were caught with no milk and 2 toddlers that wanted it.
I'm much better at the freezer now (thanks Kathy!) but the fridge is my nemesis. Amy, I'll look into those containers. DH jokes sometimes if he should put something in the fridge or straight into the composter.

Idkelley,

What's wrong with rice?

If you want to be really healthy, some Japanese rice growers offer "half-brown" rice: rice which is 30%, 50% or 70% polished. The great thing about this is that the 50% has 50% of the vitamin/mineral/fiber benefits of brown rice, but cooks in the same time as regular white rice. I've made sushi with it.

P.S. thanks for adding an avatar picture!

Why did you not return it at least so that the butcher would be aware that there is a problem with these chickens?

I usually don't make resolutions, but I am definitely going to cook everything from the freezer that my mother puts in there when she stays with me during the Summer. I have no idea what most of the items are. I just pull one thing at a time and then cook it no matter what it is. Tonight is ground beef.

Todd,

Absolutely nothing goes into my freezer without being labeled. Get yourself a roll of masking tape and a giant Sharpie. And then, make your Mom use them.

Amy