OCD, Says She. What Say Ye?

OCD or Not OCD?

  • Yes, OCD

    Votes: 7 15.6%

  • No, just frugal and efficient

    Votes: 38 84.4%
  • Total voters
    45
I have a Sam's club membership because it is convenient and they have a lot of things (paper goods, cleaning supplies, etc) that I need for my business.

About the only thing I buy from them for personal use is their meat. It is several grades above Walmart. It is also better than Publix and I believe it is as good or better than the local butcher shop. I don't know if their meat is worth a membership for you or not, but if you like to buy good meat in fairly large quantities, it may be. I'd ask them if you can have a trial membership, or if they will just allow you to go check out their meats.

RJM62 said:
Nah, it was fresh when purchased and may have been grazing a few days before.

I've walked through Sam's Club many times looking for some reason to buy a membership, but not finding one. Maybe I should look at the meat next time. Not being impressed with WalMart's meat, I never paid attention to the meat at Sam's Club. But if they sell to the food service trade, maybe the quality's higher than that at WalMart.

I used to have a BJ's membership when I lived in Queens, but I let it expire when I moved. I wasn't terribly impressed with their selection and prices, either; but they were less than a mile away and had a good parking lot, which is not something you can take for granted in the five boroughs. Up here, the nearest BJ's is about 50 miles away, and their prices are barely competitive with Price Chopper's.

Also, when I lived in Queens, all the nearby supermarkets sucked. You'd think that New York City would have great supermarkets, but they don't. Most of them are horrible. All of the ones close to my home were either A&Ps, Waldbaum's, or Pathmarks, and because A&P owned both Waldbaum's and Pathmark, there was no real competition. The prices at all three stores were absurdly high. That made BJ's mediocre prices more competitive.

I find Costco to be a lot better than either Sam's Club or BJ's, but their nearest store to where I live now is 115 miles away. That's kind of a schlep for groceries.

Rich
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steingar said:
I do essentially the same thing with cooked beans.
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How do you store the beans? Freezer bags? Plastic containers? Plastic wrap? ???
How long do they stay good?
Any other tips?
 
She obviously is one who always buys only when she has the recipe in mind and buys in the exact quantities. This likely comes from growing up close to a local market where extra trips aren't an issue and not using a FREEZER SERVICE or WAREHOUSE ordering.

If you're going to buy in the bulk quantities and freeze, you have to either have the person you buying it from portion it or you do so you yourself. Frankly, I get a lot of mileage out of my "FOODSAVER" vacuum sealer. Perhaps I'm not as compulsive, I don't tend to weigh out exact increments, but I do break down larger containers of meat, chicken parts, etc.. into meal sized units before freezing them.

I've also been known (with my wife's suggestion) to cook up 10 small roaster chickens when I have the grill out and vacuum seal them up and throw them in the freezer. Pop them into the microwave and you have an easy dinner.

A sharpie labels the date and the contents of the bag (sometimes it's hard to tell whether we've got chicken or pork or whatever). While I don't "restack" my freezer I do pull out the oldest when I go to make stuff.
 
JOhnH said:
How do you store the beans? Freezer bags? Plastic containers? Plastic wrap? ???
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We've used freezer bags in the past which work to good effect. I've now got one of those vacuum storage thingies and store them in those. Also good, and they don't get any freezer burn. That isn't a big deal with beans so long as you're cooking soup or stew.

JOhnH said:
How long do they stay good?
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Years.
JOhnH said:
Any other tips?
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Cook them in soup broth, I use powdered onion soup from a package. I often use the bean cook water in the bean broth, since its thick. Don't use a rice cooker unless you like really, really soft beans.
 
I keep hearing good things about FOODSAVER. I should check it out. Because of the distance and the ever-present possibility of being snowed-in for a while, I do freeze a lot of food.

Rich
 
There is nothing wrong with storing meat, but bringing the amount stored to a specific number (in your case 10 pounds) is a borderline OCD
 
Maybe she's just tired of hamburger?



--

I do the same thing, by the way. I single-dinner portion all kinds of things for freezer storage.
 
Food saver is not as cheap as Ziplocs, but the quality of the meat/food is much better when stored under a vacuum. No freezer burn. Love the Foodsaver.
 
White Bird said:
There is nothing wrong with storing meat, but bringing the amount stored to a specific number (in your case 10 pounds) is a borderline OCD
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Although it's not clear in the picture, part of the reason for that amount is because eight packages, uniformly flattened and stacked, fill the available vertical space in the freezer drawer perfectly.

Rich
 
and that makes perfect sense.....I'm sure you arrived at that number by experimentation? :D
RJM62 said:
Although it's not clear in the picture, part of the reason for that amount is because eight packages, uniformly flattened and stacked, fill the available vertical space in the freezer drawer perfectly.

Rich
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RJM62 said:
Although it's not clear in the picture, part of the reason for that amount is because eight packages, uniformly flattened and stacked, fill the available vertical space in the freezer drawer perfectly.

Rich
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That you have assigned freezer drawer space...;) Like I said, it's not really detrimental so it doesn't qualify as a disorder. Regimentation is a viable option in life, you take it to a level of quirkiness at most.

The thing that separates real OCD people is why they do it. One guy I worked with that had it bad likened it to his Gazoo (little dude appears in the Flintstones and I think The Jetsons as well) that tells him if he doesn't do his little rituals, that bad things will happen, that he will die if he doesn't triple click his pen before he puts it in his pocket. That is really developed OCD bordering on schizophrenic.
 
My wife has been in the education field for about 20 years. I've been an engineer for 25 years. To say we look at things differently would be the understatement of this thread :D
With that as my background, I proclaim you to be absolutely sans OCD :)
 
RJM62 said:
Although it's not clear in the picture, part of the reason for that amount is because eight packages, uniformly flattened and stacked, fill the available vertical space in the freezer drawer perfectly.

Rich
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One question I have is why do you do this?

If it were me, it would probably be because I know I can buy good hamburger on sale periodically. I would buy and store it when it is on sale.

In fact, I do that, but I am not as organized as you and I periodically find a package that is quite out of date in my freezer. I might start using your method. My wife calls MY OCD "Organizationally Confused Disorder".
 
JOhnH said:
One question I have is why do you do this?

If it were me, it would probably be because I know I can buy good hamburger on sale periodically. I would buy and store it when it is on sale.

In fact, I do that, but I am not as organized as you and I periodically find a package that is quite out of date in my freezer. I might start using your method. My wife calls MY OCD "Organizationally Confused Disorder".
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Distance year-round, and snow in the winter. It may seem counter-intuitive, but I have to travel a bit to get local meat. But I usually have other reasons to go to the same area a few times a month, so I combine trips. If the stack (or other stored meats) look around halfway used, I buy more while I'm out.

In the winter, just to minimize the number of trips I have to make in the snow. It's not so much about being "snowed-in" (although that happens, too) as minimizing the amount of driving by buying more each time.

Rich
 
That makes perfect sense.
Conversely, I often buy lower amounts more frequently because we like to walk or ride bicycles to the store. The nearest grocery store is about 2 miles. Can't carry as much that way. But it is always funny when a bagger asks if they can help us carry our groceries.
RJM62 said:
Distance year-round, and snow in the winter. It may seem counter-intuitive, but I have to travel a bit to get local meat. But I usually have other reasons to go to the same area a few times a month, so I combine trips. If the stack (or other stored meats) look around halfway used, I buy more while I'm out.

In the winter, just to minimize the number of trips I have to make in the snow. It's not so much about being "snowed-in" (although that happens, too) as minimizing the amount of driving by buying more each time.

Rich
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dell30rb said:
Share recipe.

I am out sick today with a cold and thinking about cooking something up
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Well, that's a little difficult because I don't have the recipe or proportions written down anywhere. But basically...

1. Pour some olive oil in a pot, and into that pot toss some chopped onions, basil, and oregano. Saute for a while on low heat, just until the onions start to clarify a bit.

2. Toss the meat in the pot and mix in some salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, a splash of red wine, and a little cinnamon. Brown the meat until... well, browned.

The cinnamon is essential, but be very careful with it. It really shouldn't stand out in the finished product. It's kind of a stealth ingredient.

3. Add diced or crushed tomatoes to a slightly watery consistency for the amount of meat, then slowly bring to a boil and let some of the water boil off. Turn down the heat and add some chopped green peppers, grated Parmesan, Asiago, or Romano cheese, hot pepper sauce to the taste of the group, and beans if desired.

And that's about it. Nothing fancy as far as I'm concerned. But my friends rave about it and ask me to bring it to picnics and pot lucks, so I guess it's pretty good.

Rich
 
The beans I made Saturday were one of my best batches:

Diced two white potatoes, three carrots, two stems of celery and one onion. Chopped up a sprig of broccoli and diced the stem (minus the outer fibrous layer). Sauted the potatoes and carrots for about 10 minutes, then added the rest along with a few cloves of garlic and cooked until just tender.

In the mean time I mixed a quarter cup of vegetable oil and a quarter cup of flour in my cast iron loaf pan. That went into a 350 degree oven for an hour.

In the mean time I chopped and washed a pound of kale and boiled it in soup broth for 45 minutes. Cooled that and chopped it. The kale went into the pot with the veggies and a pound of frozen white beans. The beans thawed in the pot.

Once cool I mixed the roux with the cook water from the kale and a half cup of dry sherry. That went into the beans along with some tarragon, cumin, and coriander. Added some prepared tomato sauce for salt. Got enough to feed us for a couple weeks, utterly delicious and low in fat and sodium, high in protein and fiber. Goes great with my amaranth biscuits. I can add some soup broth and get a yummy bean soup, too.
 
Rich,

I butchered your recipe a bit because I usually do chili in a crock pot. I followed your steps 1 and 2, then dumped everything in the crock pot with canned tomatoes, beans, and corn.

Just tasted it and the seasonings are spot on. The cinnamon is a nice touch. :thumbsup:

Steingar- If I ever have the urge for beans and kale I would consider that recipe. Maybe I could just skip the kale. What in the world is an amaranth biscuit.
 
dell30rb said:
Rich,

I butchered your recipe a bit because I usually do chili in a crock pot. I followed your steps 1 and 2, then dumped everything in the crock pot with canned tomatoes, beans, and corn.

Just tasted it and the seasonings are spot on. The cinnamon is a nice touch. :thumbsup:

Steingar- If I ever have the urge for beans and kale I would consider that recipe. Maybe I could just skip the kale. What in the world is an amaranth biscuit.
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Thanks. I'm actually making some now as we speak.

As for my daughter, she's now citing my Armor-Alling of the engine cover of my car as evidence of my OCD. Kids these days...

Rich
 

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RJM62 said:
Thanks. I'm actually making some now as we speak.

As for my daughter, she's now citing my Armor-Alling of the engine cover of my car as evidence of my OCD. Kids these days...

Rich
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LOL, she is giving you a run for your money....... just remind her, when she looks at you that she is seeing pretty much how she will be when she reaches your age..... hopefully without the beard though...
 
I wouldn't really say OCD...



If the FAA were in earshot. ;)
 
I know someone that wrote (with perm. Marker) the date & details on pretty much everything installed at their house. Mailbox, refrigerator, radios, sink, furniture, grill, etc. THAT is OCD.....
 
wsuffa said:
I know someone that wrote (with perm. Marker) the date & details on pretty much everything installed at their house. Mailbox, refrigerator, radios, sink, furniture, grill, etc. THAT is OCD.....
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Made me think of this:
 

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Had a freezer and a food service ,worked for me. Could be a cross of ocd and being frugal.
 
wsuffa said:
I know someone that wrote (with perm. Marker) the date & details on pretty much everything installed at their house. Mailbox, refrigerator, radios, sink, furniture, grill, etc. THAT is OCD.....
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Amateurs. Gotta use the P-Touch. ;)
 
wsuffa said:
I know someone that wrote (with perm. Marker) the date & details on pretty much everything installed at their house. Mailbox, refrigerator, radios, sink, furniture, grill, etc. THAT is OCD.....
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I once worked with someone who waxed the washer/dryer and outside A/C unit on a schedule, and arranged candy bars on people's desks in alphabetical order. Now that, is OCD.

:yes:
 
wsuffa said:
I know someone that wrote (with perm. Marker) the date & details on pretty much everything installed at their house. Mailbox, refrigerator, radios, sink, furniture, grill, etc. THAT is OCD.....
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*****, I'm officially diagnosed. If you want to see the water heater let me know :eek:
 
I also foodsaver various sizes (roughly two portion and also pounds) of left over pork from our Memorial Day party. I smoke a whole pig and typically have 30 pounds of meat left over. (I used to just do a couple of pork shoulders, but I'd run out of meat).
 
You're retired, correct?
 
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