I stopped by the grocery store this morning after work to grab some fresh fruits and veggies for juicing (link to last juicing post). As is customary, I text Wifey to make sure there wasn't anything she needed before I left. There's nothing worse than the dreaded "...wish I had known you were going, I needed some xyz..."
She replied we needed some sandwich meat for the kids school lunches so I headed over to the lunch meat section. The average price for ONE pound of pre-sliced ham was $3.38-$4.50 depending on brand. I've posted in the past about how we bought a meat slicer we found on CraigsList and slice our own meats to save money.
$7.98 for 5lbs whole.
I headed over to the meat counter and checked on the price of a whole ham. A 5 lb whole ham was $7.98. So 5lbs for $8 and I slice it or 5lb for $20 (averaged at $4/lb) and it's pre-sliced. Wow. Talk about paying for convenience. I chuckled to myself and tossed a whole ham into my basket.
If you're looking to save money, and in this economy I don't know who isn't, consider slicing your own meats to save some serious cash.
When you talk about a meat slicer, what does it look like, OJD? I mean, is it shielded or something to protect you while you are using it? That sounds like a good idea but I'd hate to cut my thumb off and I tend to be absent minded when I'm working with tools.
I have a meat slicer as well...but when I went to the grocery store and went to the deli counter, I found out they will slice it for free. I am not sure how this saves any money??
We bought it from a guy off of CraigsList for around $20. It looks like a small version of an industrial type but works well for our little amount of usage.
@Brandy I will FOR SURE be asking my deli if they will slice mine. The whole ham that I buy isn't actually act the deli counter. At our store, the deli counter is at the front of the store. The whole hams are at the back of the store next to the bacon, sausage, steaks etc. But you make a great point, I will certainly be asking! Thanks for suggesting it!
I looked at the picture. I see the blade is recessed back into the casing. You think it is pretty fool proof? I mean, would it be likely you'd cut yourself if something distracted you?
I would like to have one because I store country hams whole. The store will cut them up if I ask them to, but I want them to stay in the sack and with the salt on the ham intact until I'm ready to start eating it. Cutting that country ham with a butcher knife is hard.
@Arsenius The blade on this model is adjustable, as you noticed. You can change the depth of the cut to make shaved ham or ham steaks (pretty thick). I can't say it completely fool proof. You talking to a guy that cut his hand deep enough to require stitches...and all I was doing was holding a 1980's Cadillac hood (delivered parts in high school, those damn things were heavy and I lost my grip as it slid through my hands).
Anyway, I think you'd be pretty safe as long as you watched what you were doing. Now that you mention freezing the whole ham, that's actually what I do. I buy a few, throw one or two in the freezer and slice up one. I wonder if they'd keep well if they were already sliced up from the deli counter?
There's a safety gadget on my model. The ham goes between the safety gadget and the blade and you move the slide arm back and forth on the blade with the safety gadget so your hand never gets close to the blade. My gadget is pretty flimsy so I removed it and slide the ham with my bare hand. When I get down to the nub of the ham, I toss it to the dog rather than try to skim the last little chunk and risk a finger. Puppy like it that way too.
Good post, OJD ...gave me lots of things to consider for our situation. As for the last little nub of ham on your meat slicer... I was thinking about when I used to help my dad on building projects and he always had a two-foot scrap of 2x2 he used for keeping the wood tight to the blade for that last slice. Don't tell the puppy, but you could use a potato masher (wide flat surface at a right angle to the handle) as a pusher for that last nub. Just something to keep in mind ...in case the puppy gets fat and you need to stop giving him the nub.
When you talk about a meat slicer, what does it look like, OJD? I mean, is it shielded or something to protect you while you are using it? That sounds like a good idea but I'd hate to cut my thumb off and I tend to be absent minded when I'm working with tools.
ReplyDeleteI have a meat slicer as well...but when I went to the grocery store and went to the deli counter, I found out they will slice it for free. I am not sure how this saves any money??
ReplyDelete@Arsenius The prior post that shows the slicer is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://orangejeepdad.blogspot.com/2011/05/save-money-on-meat-one-slice-at-time_14.html
We bought it from a guy off of CraigsList for around $20. It looks like a small version of an industrial type but works well for our little amount of usage.
@Brandy I will FOR SURE be asking my deli if they will slice mine. The whole ham that I buy isn't actually act the deli counter. At our store, the deli counter is at the front of the store. The whole hams are at the back of the store next to the bacon, sausage, steaks etc. But you make a great point, I will certainly be asking! Thanks for suggesting it!
I looked at the picture. I see the blade is recessed back into the casing. You think it is pretty fool proof? I mean, would it be likely you'd cut yourself if something distracted you?
ReplyDeleteI would like to have one because I store country hams whole. The store will cut them up if I ask them to, but I want them to stay in the sack and with the salt on the ham intact until I'm ready to start eating it. Cutting that country ham with a butcher knife is hard.
@Arsenius The blade on this model is adjustable, as you noticed. You can change the depth of the cut to make shaved ham or ham steaks (pretty thick). I can't say it completely fool proof. You talking to a guy that cut his hand deep enough to require stitches...and all I was doing was holding a 1980's Cadillac hood (delivered parts in high school, those damn things were heavy and I lost my grip as it slid through my hands).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think you'd be pretty safe as long as you watched what you were doing. Now that you mention freezing the whole ham, that's actually what I do. I buy a few, throw one or two in the freezer and slice up one. I wonder if they'd keep well if they were already sliced up from the deli counter?
There's a safety gadget on my model. The ham goes between the safety gadget and the blade and you move the slide arm back and forth on the blade with the safety gadget so your hand never gets close to the blade. My gadget is pretty flimsy so I removed it and slide the ham with my bare hand. When I get down to the nub of the ham, I toss it to the dog rather than try to skim the last little chunk and risk a finger. Puppy like it that way too.
Good post, OJD ...gave me lots of things to consider for our situation. As for the last little nub of ham on your meat slicer... I was thinking about when I used to help my dad on building projects and he always had a two-foot scrap of 2x2 he used for keeping the wood tight to the blade for that last slice. Don't tell the puppy, but you could use a potato masher (wide flat surface at a right angle to the handle) as a pusher for that last nub. Just something to keep in mind ...in case the puppy gets fat and you need to stop giving him the nub.
ReplyDelete: )