Corned beef from 2016, unearthed from freezer

Submitted by Teresa from Hershey on Fri, 10/08/2021 - 12:32

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Crockpots are so useful.

I unearthed a slab of cryofrozen corned beef from our freezer. According to the label, it was packed back in late summer of 2016. It was packed and processed with a heavily seasoned marinade, spice packet in case you didn't think there was enough mustard and other such stuff, all sealed in a heavy, thick plastic bag.

It was bought and paid for a long time ago so I wasn't throwing it out.

I rinsed off much of the marinade (which I would have done even if I'd bought it yesterday), cut up the slab, and put it into the crockpot with plenty of onions and carrots. To add liquid, I added a can of Progresso mushroom soup dating back to 2015. It had been lurking at the back of the pantry.

Everything came out great! The meat and gravy tasted fine, served over plain rice. The remains got converted into soup which we ate last night.

The crockpot makes it much easier to use potentially freezer-burned meat. If you don't have one, I highly recommend getting one. They're not expensive and if you've got a family, they're very useful.

If you're a small household, they're less useful because they work best if they're full. That's nearly a gallon of soup, stew, or pot-roasted meat which means you'll be eating that meal for days. But for a larger household? They're gold.

Thrifty1

Fri, 10/08/2021 - 15:57

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I'd second that; your stew

I'd second that; your stew sounds excellent! We have three crockpots, or slow cookers as we call them over here, two large and one small. One for meat dishes, one for the vegetarian options ( our two daughters are pescatarians, i.e. they eat fish but not meat, and mostly vegetables) and a much smaller one for puddings. I'd used them for many years, ever since I met my Other Half and we were both working twenty-somethings who liked to come home to a cooked meal at the end of a long day, before I realised that you could actually make sweet dishes in them too! So when my mother gave up cooking - at 95, she now lives happily in a care home - I took her tiny old slow cooker on to make cakes & puddings in, rather than send it to the dump. You can also use it, on low, to simmer an overnight porridge of oats, dried fruit & spices; an excellent, hearty & inexpensive breakfast on a cold morning.

Teresa from Hershey

Sat, 10/09/2021 - 11:37

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I never thought of overnight oatmeal!

Wow. I never thought of overnight oatmeal. Thank you.

I also didn't know you could make cake in a crockpot.

We have a tiny sauce-heater size crockpot that Mark uses to make cheese fondue. Maybe it would work for a pudding, although it's quite small. About three cups max.

kma

Sat, 10/09/2021 - 07:00

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Sounds delicious!

I'm also a fan of the crockpot. My favorite use is saving meats bones and throwing them in overnight on slow with bay leaves to make stock. I then freeze that in old yogurt and sour cream containers. Duel purpose of having small amounts of stock ready to go and creating some efficiency in the empty spots of our chest freezer.