Food Sourcing Habits

[JohnnySpice]

Hi There,

My name is John. I'm an enthusiastic home cook who is also new to the forum.

One of the questions I have been asking myself recently centres around the buying habits of a lot of accomplished/professional cooks.

You see, I come from a typical northern UK family whose food was prepared around what we called 'The Big Shop'. This would essentially involve a rather large shopping spree at a supermarket every Saturday morning, souring everything from fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat. The meat would more often than not be frozen to be used as and when needed and bought in the next 'big shop' when we'd run out.

Since living alone, 100% of my meals at home have been cooked from scratch. in addition to this, I've been keeping a keen eye on the quality of the food I buy.

I believe the next thing for me to consider is the following:

• When should I buy my food? - Is the once per week 'big shop' an acceptable routine, or is there a more elegant approach that you guys might be able to suggest? (shopping twice per week, buying meats after leaving work etc.)

• What ingredients would you recommend freezing (without compromising taste)?

With regard to the first question, I must start by saying that I'd look to transition my protein and veg shopping from supermarkets to local butchers and veg markets.a

The last question regarding freezing was brought to my attention during a marathon session of Gordon Ramsay shows (one of my vices). During these shows, he tends to fly off the handle when restaurants cook defrosted seafood and various meats. I'd like to know if there are any foods that I can freeze without compromising, or should I be using my freezer for storing leftovers, stocks etc.?

Any advice you could give me would be appreciated. It would be interesting to get some info on your own buying and storing habits as I think it could be eye opening.

[IndyRob]

I think the Big Shop is also very common in the US. One variation is with one woman I knew who shopped ALL the supermarkets on Saturday. I think it works if you have good planning skills (well, probably more accurately, the desire to plan)

You're trading between economy, quality and convenience. If you're cooking for one, that's another limiting factor.

I have mixed feelings about Ramsay but I think that, generally, when he rails against frozen foods it's in the context of having something better right down the road. Living here in the largest landlocked city in the US, coming across shrimp that have never been frozen is unlikely, and may even be of dubious origins if found. If you are near a coast I'd think it would be well worth your time to try to find seafood right off the boat on a day-of basis.

But IMHO, freezing is not evil. For instance, a freshly baked loaf of bread is the best sort of bread of all. But, sans preservatives, fresh bread frozen as soon as it is cool is infinitely more desirable than day-old bread. I think shrimp frozen on the boat is similar.

Edited March 26, 2013 by IndyRob (log)

[JohnnySpice]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for responding.

I think I agree with you with regards to freezing in the context you said. My concern is whether I should be buying fresh and 'then' freezing, or should I be changing some of my shopping and menu planning habits in order to eat from fresh as much as possible?

Also, to complicate matters further, when I freeze my meats I vacuum pack them with the intention of cooking them sous vide later. Would anyone notice any discernible difference between a freshly cooked steak cooked sous vide, vs a freshly frozen vacuum-packed steak cooked the same way? My logic is that freezing dries out meats, but the combination of the vacuum and the low cooking temperature should negate this. Would the ice crystals damage the meat?

Kind regards,

John

[IndyRob]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for responding.

I think I agree with you with regards to freezing in the context you said. My concern is whether I should be buying fresh and 'then' freezing, or should I be changing some of my shopping and menu planning habits in order to eat from fresh as much as possible?

Also, to complicate matters further, when I freeze my meats I vacuum pack them with the intention of cooking them sous vide later. Would anyone notice any discernible difference between a freshly cooked steak cooked sous vide, vs a freshly frozen vacuum-packed steak cooked the same way? My logic is that freezing dries out meats, but the combination of the vacuum and the low cooking temperature should negate this. Would the ice crystals damage the meat?

Kind regards,

John

In general. if you have the opportunity for fresh (especially at a good price), seize it. Don't freeze the fresh unless you've made some sort of large score. In my case this usually means stalking a grocery store beginning with the morning after a holiday (say, Christmas eve). If they cut too many rib roasts, they're going to have get rid of some at a discount. Since I live in a two person household, some of that meat will be destined for the freezer - but not before I cook the choicest bits from fresh.

I think the conventional wisdom will always come down on the side of never-frozen meat. But I would love to see a true double-blind test.

[pastrygirl]

If it's convenient to shop more often and if you don't find shopping to be a tedious chore, I say definitely shop more often. I keep a few bags of frozen peas, corn, and edamame around for nights when I feel lazy because I think those don't suffer from freezing. Otherwise I buy enough fresh meat and veg for 3-4 days at a time. A lot of seafood seems to be previously frozen, so for quality you generally don't want to be re-freezing already frozen and thawed fish or shrimp, and I only buy 1 or 2 servings of seafood at a time. I might buy more chicken or a pork tenderloin if I'm planning to have it for lunches all week, then cook it all and take a portion with me to work.

I'm pretty sure water molecules expand in sous vide meat the same way they do in everything else, so unless you have a blast chiller I think freezing is freezing. OTOH, cooked sous vide meats are supposed to have a much longer shelf life. If you sous vide your steak and just keep it in the fridge it may very well be fine two weeks later, when it wouldn't have been if you left it raw. I'm not sure how to calculate that extended shelf life, just my understanding.

[Lisa Shock]

I like to shop on Tuesday or Wednesday, because that's when a lot of the fresh food is delivered to the store. Sure, some stores have huge produce walk-ins on site and re-stock as needed, but, my local produce place is noticeably bare on Sunday evening through Monday. Bread is also usually on its last day on Sun-Mon, the store seems to get restocked Mon-Tues, although since I bake most of my own, I rarely buy commercial bread.

I tend to buy large quantities of staples (20lb sacks of rice, 10lb bags of beans, jugs of soy sauce, etc at the asian market and 50lb sacks of flour, 10lb boxes of pasta, etc at Restaurant Depot or Costco) a couple times a year because the asian market and Restaurant Depot are kind of a big trip for me. I save some good money buying in bulk. I am lucky to live within walking distance of a produce market and a supermarket and a Trader Joe's. So, I do fill-in shopping a couple times a week for perishables. Since these stores are really close by, I don't mind dropping in on my way home from work just to see what's new.

The produce market sometimes gets in some slightly damaged produce which they sell super-cheap. The only problem is that it sells quickly, so if you don't visit often you might miss getting a dozen slightly frostbitten artichokes for a dollar. Sometimes, I have no idea what's for dinner besides knowing that I've got plenty of three kinds of rice, some pasta and potatoes. I just go to the produce market and see what's good and plan my meal around it.

[ChrisTaylor]

Buying food on a daily basis on the assumption it'll be fresher isn't always going to work. I mean, maybe--probably, even--the store (supermarket or what have you) isn't supplied every day. Now, maybe that individual store is ... but the warehouse or distributor of <product x> doesn't necessarily receive fresh stock every day. What's in the window on Tuesday might be the same stuff that was in the window on Monday.

That said, I usually shop every day after work: not because I want to buy fresh products (although this is my motivation with fish and vegetables such as celery that don't stay crisp in a domestic fridge) but because I usually haven't decided until mid-afternoon what I'd feel like/have the energy to prepare. On weekends I'm more inclined to pick up some short ribs or pork belly on impulse, dump them in the sous vide rig for a couple days and figure out what to do with them come Tuesday or Wednesday.