Freeze That Pork!

There’s not much that’s more versatile than pork. From the breakfast pan to the taco shell to the sammich to the ball park, you’ll find pork.

We eat a lot of it in our house and when I find it on sale, I never walk away.

A while back I posted about freezing pork stock and cooking up a big pork booty. That’s what you can do with the bones and fat from this hunk of meat, once it’s been cooked, chopped, bagged and tagged.

This is what to do with ALL THAT MEAT.

 

First off, I’ve got to praise Food City for their prices. Seriously, hands down, my favorite store to shop at. Plus, the staff is so freaking friendly they cut up fruit for me to snack on while I shop. Um, thank you! (I’m always hungry.)

8.5 lbs of meat will make me about 6-7 dinners with leftovers, so maybe less than double that in actual meals, let’s say 13. The broth, I get about 8 quarts from a roast this size, and about a quart each gets used every time, in something like rice or refried beans or chile verde. Since I make those in bulk and use a quart in each, the rice is split into about 4 quarts, the beans make 5-6 and the child verde, about 6. So, between 20 and 30 dinners with leftovers… Do you see where I’m heading? Cents on a meal for this pork.

The trick is to not eat it all while it’s cooling, fresh out of the oven…

There’s no trick to storing this pork. Once it cools, you’ll find as you’re breaking it apart that parts shred easily, other parts are better diced. Dice and shred accordingly. I use the shredded meat for knock off Chipotle carnitas, chipotle carnitas chili, bbq pulled pork sammies, green chile carnitas tacos. The diced pork I use for nachos, other chili’s and pork chile verde.

Throw everything in the freezer and voila! You’ve got “fresh” pork for your favorite dishes, with like, none of the hassle. It’s truly a life saver around here when I’ve got a night shift or have worked my tukus off all day. Rawr. I said tukus whilst blogging about pork ass. Oops.

We’re about done here.

What’s your favorite way to use pork and what’s your favorite cut?