Grocery shopping can be a pain for numerous reasons. I’ve switched to going to the local grocery store, ideally on the weekend in the morning. Primarily because I have more energy and secondly, I have the time to prep all the meat that I will purchase.
I often forget but try to remember to buy things for an easy meal like tacos or lunch meat-type things because I don’t typically have a full meal ready prior to shopping. Either works but trying to make a meal the same day wears me out for the entire weekend.
Why to prep meats the same day as buying them and what does that mean?
I have a mast cell disorder so histamine levels in food increase the likelihood that I will have an attack (which can vary from flushing to weeks of systemic issues). You can find hundreds of various “low-histamine diets” and none of them will match. Here’s the best low-histamine list I’ve found. The more sensitive or primed I am, the stricter I need to follow the guide. Bacteria growth on meat follows a similar trend to histamine.
The good news is that since meats are relatively low in histamine when fresh if you process them quickly, meats aren’t likely to be the issue (keeping in mind how long it was in transit or stored at other sites-no discount meat for me!). There’s more buffer if you don’t have a mast cell disorder.
Histamine levels in meats rise faster after cooking. What this means is that cooked meat is safest stored in the freezer which will hold the histamine level where it is. As it thaws it will continue to increase again.
If you cook the meat the day you buy it and get it to the freezer it will have jumped up from cooking but started lower and ends lower than if you leave it raw in the fridge for a few days, then cook it. This is actually a minutes game. Cooked meat on the counter increases the fastest, in the fridge next, raw meat in the fridge fast, in the freezer it holds steady.
What about lunch meats?
I also have migraines, which means I’m very sensitive to nitrites often used in lunch meats. Personally, I’ve never had trouble with ham as lunch meat. Chicken/Turkey/Beef lasts a long time but I don’t tolerate them as well. I cannot eat summer sausage, whether it’s the age of the seasonings or the nitrites, perhaps both. I have done well with a “No Nitrates or Nitrites Added” Sopressa.
What does preparing meats mean?
So given my meal plan listed on Day 1 (which isn’t always the same), I have to prepare ground beef, flat iron steak, and stew beef. The stew beef is what really requires a lot of time.
I use a colander in a pot to steam my ground beef, which is a low-maintenance process. The ground beef could be prepared just before lunch and used immediately but you can do it at any time and transfer it to the freezer when done.
Sometimes, to reduce the time of cooling meats I transfer it few times. I don’t like to put it in the fridge to pre-cool because I tend to forget it, so generally, I split it into smaller containers and then transfer them to the freezer. There will be a lot of moisture trapped with it which is less efficient for the fridge/freezer unit but if you need to, go straight to the freezer like me.
I start the stew beef in the crockpot first and then prep the other meats. I’ve been playing with settings since mine only has High and Low. Every method I’ve used has ended up with a side that’s a bit hardened but still thoroughly cooked and juicy. I let this cook while I deal with the other meats.
The first time I prepped the stir fry meat, I seasoned and cooked it the same day. This requires a lot of attention though. I used this YouTube video by Cooking with Claudia and just cooked the meat. Then I divided it up into containers and froze them by serving size.
This time, I had guests coming so to save time I just cut the steak into strips that will later have to be thawed and seasoned. I have some of the seasoned ones still so I haven’t seen how well this works. It will have to thaw overnight so there’s no part that’s frozen and it cooks properly.
Ideally, the stew beef gets turned into beef and noodles that evening but I’ve moved the beef into the fridge to be used the next day as well. I generally eat this within the week and don’t have issues so I don’t rush to get it to the freezer. I may have leftover broth which I store to use when I’m ready to make the stir fry or beef and broccoli.
Labeling
This week I added fish spontaneously. I chose to process the fish before starting the flat iron. Fish is a bit less messy than raw beef. I patted it dry, seasoned it, and then used my vacuum sealer. These bags have an area for adding the date which helps me manage the age.
Labeling the meats and meals that I prep can be an issue since you want to reuse the containers. I attempted to use masking tape this time. It wouldn’t stick to the containers that had already been in the fridge but did stick to the container that was warm when I applied it.
Meat preparation and sanitation
This system really helps separate raw meat handling from vegetable handling. On this day, I put away groceries prior to dealing with the meat. Then I have my mist bottle of vinegar water that I use to spray and sit between handling. So after I transfer raw beef into the slow cooker, I’ll spray down the handles for the trash, sink, and other surfaces that may have been handled. I don’t wipe it then because it needs some time to work and I’m moving on to the next thing. You can read more in my past kitchen sanitation post.
Then I transfer the ground beef and repeat. Note that I also rinse all remaining blood off the wrapping used by the butcher. Then I spray them as well. This is as much to reduce the smell as to sanitize the kitchen.
Lastly, I’ll cut up the flat iron on the cutting board. Because this is the first time I need the knife and cutting board, the surfaces begin sanitized. I cut up the flat iron and perhaps transfer it to a pan. If I were to cook it that day, then I would have prepped the necessary seasoning prior to cutting up the flat iron but after I started the other meats cooking.
Then I’ll rinse the cutting board, spray the counter under, wet a washcloth with vinegar and wipe all sides, and put it back in the wire drawer in my cabinet and let it dry. It’s bamboo.
When there is no longer raw meat to deal with, I spray down all counters and touch surfaces with vinegar water. My counters are quartz so vinegar is not an issue.
That is all I do for the day that I go shopping.