I always buy chicken and ground beef in club packs because it’s significantly cheaper. The store-to-freezer hassle for chicken was just solved by Wegmans’ ingenious decision to start using “keeps fresh” packaging, separating the chicken into two-piece sections.
So far, no monumental improvements with ground beef packaging. However, if you separate the club pack of ground beef into smaller packages (1-pound or 1 1/2-pound balls), you will at least be ahead of the game when you want to take some out to use it. I’ve done this for a long time, but until recently, I always rolled each pile of beef into a ball before wrapping it. And every time, it takes FOREVER to defrost.
My husband finally asked me why I didn’t package ground beef into flat packages so it would defrost more quickly and evenly. Ha – why, you ask? Simply because I never thought of it! So now, I always freeze ground beef (or ground turkey, veal or pork) in flat packages.
I know you’re thinking these don’t look very flat… I know. I think I was in a hurry the last time I did this, and I ripped off pieces of foil that were too small. Instead of wasting all the tin foil, I had to squish the meat into a smaller shape. But you get the idea.
