Food shoplifting on the rise
As food prices rise, food shoplifting is also becoming more prevalent, although the claim in this piece that people steal meat then flog it to restaurants is incomprehensible. No restaurant owner is going to buy a risky piece of meat from an unknown crook in an alley. If people steal food it’s because they’re hungry.
Ephraim 05:14 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
I wish that people would learn to use more staples. Dried beans and rice, for example. So many people don’t even know how to soak beans anymore. Not that I buy that much meat, but the price of meat on sale is still good and knowing how to cook a particular cut to make it come out tender is key. (Though, I wish they would have a better price on whole chicken, often rotisserie chicken is cheaper than raw chicken)
Kate 09:23 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
Ephraim, it doesn’t help that terminology for meat cuts differs from place to place, so that a video made in the U.S. or in England will use different terms for different parts of the animal. And that’s not even considering the French equivalents. I’ve only found out a few rules for cooking certain cuts because I have friends with a trained chef married into the family, who’s taught them a few methods for cooking cheaper cuts so they turn out well.
Joey 09:42 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
@Ephraim there are two theories why rotisserie chickens are cheaper than raw chickens (especially at Costco). Theory #1 is that they’re a loss leader, like Costco’s hot dogs. Theory #2 is that they can convert raw chickens into rotisserie chickens just before they expire, salvaging a sale out of what would otherwise be wasted. Unsold rotisserie chickens eventually become soup. Is suspect there is some economy of scale action at work too…
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/652215/best-tech-gifts-2021?utm_content=infinitescroll1
Ephraim 09:56 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
@Kate – There are very few cuts of beef that can’t be cooked low and slow. Usually that’s what’s going to be cheap in beef anyway. Low and slow in the oven or in a slow cooker. Liquid, root vegetables, and lots of time.
@Joey – It’s a shame, because everything from the chicken can be used for meals, including using the backs to make soup. The skin to make schmaltz for cooking instead of oil.
Kate 11:24 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
Ephraim, you see, those involve an oven or a slow cooker, neither of which I have. It’s always tricky.
Well, there’s always lentils, kale and cold water.
Blork 11:27 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
A good dutch oven can be used stovetop for braising meat. (Just be very gentle with the heat.)
MarcG 11:29 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
Kate, you don’t have an oven?
Kate 11:41 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
MarcG, I have a very old stove in which the oven stopped working some time ago. I was about to get a decent used stove last year, probably from the same place where I previously got my decent used fridge, when the pandemic hit, and I put off major purchases. (The stove top elements work fine, it’s just the oven part that doesn’t.)
I do have a reasonable toaster oven which is fine for most things, since I’m not doing giant roasts or the like, but it isn’t an appliance I feel comfortable leaving on for hours at a time. Although it might be OK, I don’t know, but I’ve never used it that way.
Ephraim 12:27 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
A crock pot / slow cooker is cheap and very effective. This one https://www.amazon.ca/Crock-pot-Manual-Cooker-Stainless-SCV800-S/dp/B0196B3OJ2/ has an open box for $26.59 for the largest size. Great to cook beans or a roast or chili, cassoulet, etc. Just put it on top of the stove and leave it on low for hours on end. (You can also some upside aluminum plate on the bottom and use it for things like ribs, so the fat drips down.) The trick to slow cookers is that you add anything aromatic at the end, so they don’t get muddled in.
There is nothing like it and it’s likely one of the biggest budget savers out there. You can soak the beans in there, wash and then cook them in there as well. And yes, you can cook lentils in there as well.
dhomas 12:27 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
I know it’s kinda trendy right now, but my pressure cooker saves me loads of time. The meat comes out similarly tender to when I would use a slow cooker. So even the less tender cuts of beef still come out really well. I use to leave my standalone slow cooker out on the balcony all day or night cooking so as to not get the meat smell all over my house (and clothes). But I haven’t touched the slow cooker since owning an Instant Pot type pressure cooker. A whole chicken in the pressure cooker for less than an hour has the meat coming off the bone as if I’d left it 8 hours in the slow cooker. There’s a bit of a learning curve to adapt slow cooker recipes for pressure cookers, but it’s well worth it, IMO. They usually go on sale around this time of year (for Black Friday) for about 60$.
Kate 12:52 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
These are good solutions when you have counter space for appliances.
Also, with all respect to Ephraim, I don’t like beans. I will have to be really down to single figures before I turn to beans as a solution.
jeather 14:34 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
You can also get a combination slow cooker and pressure cooker, and I guess it could live in the non-functional oven. Though it you don’t think you need one, then why bother?
I wouldn’t buy a used pressure cooker but you can get used slow cookers everywhere.
John B 14:53 on 2021-11-15 Permalink
> No restaurant owner is going to buy a risky piece of meat from an unknown crook in an alley.
I’ve seen it happen where someone I know used to work. It wasn’t so much unknown crooks un alleys, but kids/adolescents that the small restaurant owner knew, who would grab stuff that they knew he could use and sell them to him. In this case it was usually chickens & cheese.
(If the police are reading this it was 15+ years ago and not in Montreal).
Kate 10:05 on 2021-11-17 Permalink
If I could cartoon, it would be a picture of the classic crook selling something illegally from inside a big overcoat, with steaks visible inside.