Freezers Full of Meat

At this time of the year, my freezers are full. My MIL raises chickens and pigs for us all. My BIL and his wife took over the cows, and every year we have one slaughtered for our year-supply of beef.

pork freezer

beef freezer

Upright freezers seem better for access to the different cuts of beef and pork. Organization is so much easier to maintain. The slaughterhouse prepacked our beef for us. I did the packing of our pork, using the FoodSaver. I had to freeze some of them before I ran them through the machine, to lessen the fluid (which makes it harder to actually seal).

chicken and misc freezer

On the other hand, since we mostly use whole chicken, either roasted whole, or eventually cut up, I just packed most of them whole in big bags and chucked them in the chest freezer. I only had several bags of chicken necks, gizzards, and feet, which are easy enough to locate and access. I use the wire basket and the side "pocket" as containers for miscellaneous items like lamburger, lamb shanks, and veggies.

My MIL has chicken layers to continuously supply us with the freshest eggs. Sometimes I use eggs freshly laid for baking rolls, or for scrambled eggs.

It's quite an expensive season during this time of the year for us, with all these preparation for food, the Holidays, the winter heating using firewood and some oil, and of course, taxes, but we do prepare ahead for these.

Is it cheaper to raise your own foods? No. About the same as when you buy them from the grocery store, or maybe even more expensive. But the peace of mind knowing where our food came from, what lives they lived, the care they got, the lack of antibiotic and steroid load...PRICELESS. Someday, I hope to learn how to raise them, too...

Oh please don't ask me to play with the word organic...I would rather say, wholesome. Organic to me means C as in carbon (the basic building block of life, along with H for hydrogen, O for oxygen, and N for nitrogen).

I will be on vacation...and I need help!

But that does not mean I will not create new posts here.

What HELP am I talking about?

Well, I will be leaving for Canada in the first half of December to be with my (visiting) mom and my (immigrant) older sister. ("You must be excited to be with the people who eat the same things you do," hubby said. "Oh yeah!" I replied.)

As such, I will be leaving my boys (big and small) on their own.

Younger son: "We will just cook noodles every morning for our breakfast."
Older son: "Ma, you can make more siopao, freeze them so we can have them for snacks." (Which I already did - have 1 dozen chicken siopao and beef asado siopao frozen now, along with a disastrous looking puto pao.)
I said: "Hep, hep! You are talking only of food, but you have to think also about your laundry, watering the plants, keeping the house clean, and checking your lights and stove/oven."
Younger son: "You should make a list of things to do."
Older son: "And you should post instructions on how to do the laundry and everything..."

I have started "training" them for the routine. But I am still composing the daily schedule and instructions.

I am now thinking of what foods I can possibly prepare ahead, freeze, and then just instruct them on how to reheat these. So like I said, I have siopao and puto pao in the freezer. I also have two loaves of beef embutido (recipe by Iska). I am considering preparing poultry stuffing with chicken/mushroom sauce ready to pop in the oven, but I am not sure if this will turn out right. Also considering freezing chicken adobo but not sure if this comes out okay if reheated. What about par-baked rolls and how to make them so I can freeze them and re-bake for final browning? MY kids know how to cook mac and cheese, and hotdogs, but I would not want them to eat the same thing daily for two weeks. Husband is planning to buy pizza and Italian sandwiches more often. (He also said, "I will take care of the laundry while you are gone.")

I will greatly appreciate any suggestions (both on food and other things) that will help me prepare for my brief absence in my boys' lives.

Bulalo

Sassy talked about Bulalo and has a recipe for it and a deviation from the traditional way of cooking it. Ting-aling also has a post here. With all that I don't need to post a recipe at all. Just wanted to share some tips.

Bulalo is called Pot-au-Feau by the French, and this is not at all exclusive to the two nationalities. Hence we cannot call this a truly Pinoy dish, but one which is loved by Pinoys. However, while other terms are used to denote the same method of cooking beef, when we say "bulalo," it refers to the bony parts (usually the shank, be it of beef or pork). It produces stock that is tasty and satisfying indeed.

My preferred ingredients and method:

Beef shank (I have frozen cuts labeled "bone soup") - thawed in the fridge for a whole day or overnight, boiled in a saucepan for 15 minutes, drained, and placed in 10-qt slow cooker with as much water as it can accomodate, cooked on high for a minimum of 6 hrs

spices - 3 pierced cloves of garlic, 1 whole peeled onion,, 10 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, slices of celery (added at the start of slowcooking)

vegetables - chunks of potatoes and carrots added 1-2 hrs before serving, then snap beans or pechay or cabbage added 30 minutes (or less if you want it crisper) before serving

Salt or patis to taste

I observed that my in-laws also use the same method of cooking corned beef or ham (as cured by the butcher), hence this dish is welcomed by them as well. However, they serve the meat, potatoes and other veggies separately and without the stock, while we Filipinos love to have them all swimming on our plate full of rice, with the soup stock served in small bowls/cups, on which I also love adding snips of spring onion and a dash of ground white pepper.

If I plan to store some of the stock, I get about 4-6 cups from the stock into a big saucepan to cook the vegetables before serving Bulalo. Then I strain (or I let them stand for a while in wide-mouthed bottles so sediments will settle, refrigerate to harden the oil and remove it first) and freeze the leftover stock in muffin pans (the 6-cup trays I used in my leche flan) for 30 minutes empty containers of cottage cheese/sour cream for at least overnight then transfer them into labeled freezer bags. Great for cooking other beef dishes or as soup base for ramen.

Freezing Fresh Herbs and Spices

When I get parsley, chives, and other fresh herbs from the grocery store, I usually use only about a tbsp or two, and I am left with a lot! Sometimes I also have celery sticks and bell peppers (leftover from parties) that I would hate to waste by throwing away. So, I store them for later use in making soups or spicing up sauces by chopping them, putting them in ice cube trays, filling with water then freezing. When they have turned into ice cubes, I place them in resealable plastic bags (grouped accordingly), ready to be used anytime! (It's the same thing I do with my frozen beef broth pre-measured at 1-cup amounts.) It sure saves time and money!