"Manager's special"

[Pack72]

aka "Watch the sell-by date". I bought and cooked a brisket last week, and I noticed that the sell-by date was 8/23, so on 8/23 I stopped by to check and, sure enough, they had been reduced by about $2 a pound so I bought another one and put it in the freezer. Today I was in the store again, so I checked and found a rack of ribs marked down to half price, so it's in the freezer with the brisket. And literally as I was typing this post I got a text from my daughter that said my 7- year-old grandson "says he wants to try ribs, the kind all hooked together with the bones in them." So when the time comes he's going to help me rub them and put them on the smoker, then take them off (and eat them) when they are done. I couldn't have planned it better. 🙂

 

[Leadchunker]

Yup, a lot of folks get scared when they see expiration dates. I see deals. I watched a tv show on meats that were aged, a loooooong time. Some of the stuff they had I would bury in the back yard. I wouldn’t take a chance somebody might pull it out of my trash can.
The show did confirm my suspicions that older meat taste better. Ymmv

 

[ronn47]

Little store up the road from me is bad about having stuff on the shelf after the due date.
I understand it is still good, but some things I buy and use over the next week or so .
Like Half and Half, I want the freshest I can get.

 

[beamernc]

Some high end restaurants dry age beef up to 200 days or longer. I don't see how they keep it from rotting.

 

[HMP]

Wife is preparing a butt for us right now - bought it short dated/on sale at FL two days ago for cheap.
Love those deals.

 

[Leadchunker]

Some high end restaurants dry age beef up to 200 days or longer. I don't see how they keep it from rotting.

The show I saw on tv showed a hunk of beef that had been aging so long it was covered in a heavy white powdery substance. The color was scary. No way I would have picked that cut on purpose. Definitely no way I would eat it.

 

[GymB]

Aging meat requires a specific temperature and humidity, not the conditions that are in a sealed plastic bag at the store.

I prefer my meat fairly fresh, but I’ll dance around the store date on things other than chicken.

 

[johnnyb]

Some high end restaurants dry age beef up to 200 days or longer. I don't see how they keep it from rotting.

See below

Aging meat requires a specific temperature and humidity, not the conditions that are in a sealed plastic bag at the store.

Also most of the time they trim the “bad” part of the aged beef that you’re seeing on the outside, and there can be considerable loss of weight due to dehydration and trimming

 

[Button Pusher]

Some high end restaurants dry age beef up to 200 days or longer. I don't see how they keep it from rotting.

Temperature and moisture are tightly controlled.

A Guide to Dry-Aged Beef

The steak you typically eat is fresh. A dry-aged steak is, as you surely guessed, aged before eating. Here's your complete guide.

www.artofmanliness.com

 

[Jeppo]

My dad used to scour supermarkets in search of what he referred to as “used meat”. 😂

 

[Supermatch]

I don't know - ever since the start of COVID, I have had a lot of BAD meat well before the expiration/sell by dates. Granted, not with beef, but I've had pork and chicken with the textbook "rotten egg" stench up to a week before the sell-by date. I think a lot of the suppliers are getting fast and loose on packaging. If its not something I'm going to freeze same day, I only buy chicken and pork within a day or two of eating. Preferably, I get whatever meat from the local farmer's market that I can, but they sell out quick.

 

[papa_smurf]

we used to check almost daily for those deals in college. perks of living in walking distance of food lion. Go for a 2 mile jog, stop into food lion and check meat sales, walk to the apt for your cool down. kept us in shape and fed at the same time.

 

[x39r]

I don't know - ever since the start of COVID, I have had a lot of BAD meat well before the expiration/sell by dates. Granted, not with beef, but I've had pork and chicken with the textbook "rotten egg" stench up to a week before the sell-by date. I think a lot of the suppliers are getting fast and loose on packaging. If its not something I'm going to freeze same day, I only buy chicken and pork within a day or two of eating. Preferably, I get whatever meat from the local farmer's market that I can, but they sell out quick.

The major processing plants have been hit really hard by Covid. It ripped through their staff and a ton quit because the pay and working conditions are awful. This ripple effect happened in my industry from top to bottom, from farms to restaurants, to major distributors. There's also been a few bad strains of avian flu hitting the poultry markets over the last few years.