Farmer H rarely requests anything when I ask what he wants from the store. So all the pressure is on ME to decide what meals we're having, and what to buy. Sure, it's not a task on par with keeping a nuclear reactor from overheating, but still, it's a tedious task that never ends.
Anyhoo... last week Farmer H spoke up.
"Them hamburgers you got for the 4th of July? Them was good. You can get some more of those if they have any, and I'll grill them on Sunday."
This was last Friday, July 14. I wheeled my car/walker along the meat aisle of Country Mart. Aha! There were some pre-made burgers. I don't mind patting them out myself, but the last two packs of hamburger I got at Country Mart were like hamburger from the Devil's Playground! It reacted like water had been added to make you pay more for not-meat. When cooked in the skillet, the grease it emitted had bubbles like water. I know my grease! I always soak it up with stale bread for the dog treats. The pre-made burgers were normal greasy, not water-greasy.
Anyhoo... looking at these burgers, I saw that they were CHEDDAR BURGERS. I don't like anything added into my hamburgers. I looked them over, but decided I'd only get a couple, and Farmer H could have them for himself.
WAIT A MINUTE! On the shelf above them were some 2-packs of regular burgers. Just like the ones we had for July 4. I picked up a package to check the date. WHAT IN THE NOT-HEAVEN???
USE OR FREEZE BY JULY 2
Hold on! This was July 14! How could Country Mart be selling these burgers now? I felt them. They were quite firm and a bit frosty on the top of the package. I assumed they had been frozen on July 2. Farmer H really wanted them. So I put them in my cart.
At the checkout, I told the gray-haired checker,
"That date on the burgers is JULY 2! I guess you guys froze them that day..."
"Oh, yes! Yes. We freeze them."
Huh. Doesn't seem quite right. Since they had set them out again in the refrigerator case, where they would be thawing, and thus NOT frozen or used by July 2. Still, if idiots like me will buy them, I guess they're smarter than the customers.
When I got home, I told Farmer H about the date, and put them in the freezer immediately. They were still hard in the center, though softening up around the edges. It was, after all, 96 degrees, and my little soft-side cooler is not a miracle worker. Saturday night, I moved a pack from the freezer into FRIG II to thaw out overnight.
Farmer H grilled the burgers with BBQ sauce on Sunday evening. We had them with onion, pickle, and a fresh tomato somebody gave Farmer H.
THEY WERE DELICIOUS!
4 comments:
I would have been afraid of the expiration date. But I am sure I have eaten things beyond the date and am still alive! I am glad they were tasty.
Kathy,
Not gonna lie... I though of only feeding them to Farmer H! But I am glad I partook, due to the deliciousness.
I would have worried about the date too and not bought them. I might have tried the cheddar ones though.
Do you not add anything at all to burgers? Just pat out the meat into burger shapes? I add all kinds of stuff. Garlic pepper, salt, parsley, a smidge of tomato sauce, all for the taste and all held together with a beaten egg and some seasoned stuffing mix.
River,
We have had the cheddar bratwursts from Save A Lot, and I did not like them. We prefer our burgers with nothing in them. Just some black pepper ground on both sides, then BBQ sauce when grilling. Done medium, nice and juicy. If those burgers had been mushy and not still hard from not thawing, I would not have bought them.
I DO add egg, bread crumbs, dry onion soup mix, Worcestershire Sauce, and steak sauce to my meat loaf. But nothing inside the burgers.
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