Steak on Wheels

[HeelSpur]

Earlier today a small pick-up truck pulled into my driveway and a young man got out of the truck and came to my door. He was selling meat and had 2 freezers on the bed of his truck. Said he would give me a great deal, $3 per steak and had some chicken too. I told him I had no freezer space, so he said buy the contents of one of the freezers and I can have the freezer for free.
I said thanks but no thanks and was also previously told the steak is just like Walmart steak, gross. Anybody ever try the steaks on wheels deal?

[chickenslayer]

Yeah those guys show up here once in a while, I never buy any food from traveling salesmen

[Farmerwilly2]

I always figured it was rustled cattle cut up in somebodys garage. No thankee, I'll raise my own.

[3legdonkey]

I talked to a guy near FLW a year ago that was selling meat. From what he told me he was making very good money while still undercutting the grocery stores. It would seem reasonable that cutting out the wholesaler and buying directly from the slaughterhouse you could provide a good product at a good price. Then again if you have the mans of production I see no reason to buy from a middle man.

[halfpint]

I've tasted the meat from one of these that a friend bought. It was much better than Wal-mart meat,and the price was good also. They've come to my house once but we didn't purchase anything as I thought the prices were too high for not being organic, and I wasn't offered as good a price as my friend was.
Dawn

[L.A.]

Free freezer?? Propane type? I don't get it

[Pelenaka]

Not sure if this is the same set up as the meat men who was trolling our hood earlier this month. These guys drive white pick ups Ford Ranger types and have a freezer cargo area in the back.

Here's the story - hubby & his friend who has a huge pick up & a car trailer had just pulled up to our house with a load of firewood when these two meat men came rolling down the street. One yells out that they'll help us unload if we let them demo their line of blah blah blah meat. Sure I say in my best Long Island accent all the while thinking of Huck Finn & that white picket fence. Hubby & his friend are rolling their eyes.

LSS they do their meat demo. After each inquiry of "what's your favorite cut of meat/chicken/seafood", I answer I'm unemployed. Sometimes I deviate with I'm jobless.
They go on about how they take cc, food stamps, checks, debit cards.
I ask if I have to show ID for the credit card this time in my best Brooklyn accent.

So they turn there attention to hubby who is a very skilled haggler very skilled but they don't know that. He gets them to take out this box & that box til they have almost one box of everything they have opened up for him to inspect.
The box of 6 T-bone steaks that had originally started out @ $30 went into our freezer for $15. Better price than the mega grocery store quality also slightly better.
Not the best steaks we've had not the worst.
Next door neighbor's step son bought a package deal a few months back and he said per their verbal agreement the meat man agreed to split the payment up. Half one month half the next. Only once he had their fs# he took the full payment out @ once.

They show up about twice a week across the street even though the renters don't have money to pay Rent-A-Center or the landlord. No doubt some bartering going on there.

I guess my point is that don't be afraid to haggle hard if you feel that it's worth it (for those of us who don't raise beef in the back yard).


~~ pelenaka ~~

[Harry Chickpea]

Ever see "Fried Green Tomatoes"? Look at them crosseyed, grin, and suggest "Is the secret in the sauce?" and snort a couple of times while reaching in your pocket to caress your CC. You could get a bargain.

[radiofish]

OK someone you have never seen before shows up, trying to sell you meat out of the back of their truck?

For me that is a huge 'red flag'!!

Well having grown up with my dad working in the meat packing industry, and I have worked at a few 'custom cut and slaughter' meat processing plants - I would be very wary of those deals.

Who knows if the meat has been kept frozen/ in the fridge continously?
Or has it been thawed and then refrozen multiple times?
Has there freezer been shut off at times - in order to save money?
Do the sales persons have a business card? Business License (if required)?
Or are they a 'fly by night' outfit?

If I needed to buy meat, I would go to the market. Heck the meat department employees will custom cut a whole rib eye or other cut - if asked at most markets for no extra charge!
Or going to one of the local meat processor - where you can buy a whole, half, quarter, or even 1/8th of a beef.

One that has been USDA inspected, and you know that sanitary standards have been maintained.

Those cheap steaks may have come from a steer that was down in the field and would not pass a USDA inspection, before and after being slaughtered.
Let alone was it processed/ cut up in someone's garage?

Heck that is my biggest concern (cleanliness/ food safety), for when I butcher and process deer for the freezer here. I know what to watch for, have bleach, food grade soap, and running water, to make sure everything is sanitary...

[FarmerRob]

I my youth I sold for one of the companies that do that--I quit after two weeks. I am sure that the product quality varies from one company to the next but the folks I worked for were selling ungraded beef that had been run through a perforator and then packaged in a vacuum sealed bag with a beef broth for flavor and flash frozen. They would give us boxes of the steaks as a bonus when we had a decent day. I have to admit that they did not taste bad at the time, however, I would probably not have paid money for such a product--sure wouldn't today.

BTW the Wal-Mart steak is not ungraded beef--it is sometimes Choice but is often Select Grade--the next step down from Choice. If you buy Select then you may want to use a marinade to tenderize it.

[mountainlaurel]

This has been going on for years in our area. It's called Capitol Meats. They drive around all day in pick up trucks with a freezer on the back. They don't stop here since we have a sign that advertises we sell grass-fed beef. But they go to the neighbors.
They use the freezers as coolers. Unless they have a small freezer truck which is rare. I wouldn't buy from them.

[geo in mi]

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. Waitaminute, here comes a truckload of meat......



geo

[Ardie/WI]

The Lord only knows where that meat has been!

[sammyd]

Brother in law runs a steak on wheels place.
the meat is good quality.
been at it for a number of years now

[foxtrapper]

The truck guys work our area as well. I've tried some of their meats, as well some of the mail order companies. Can't say I've ever found their meats particularly note worthy.

The truck meats would worry me far less than some of the grocery stores.

[Pelenaka]

Radiofish, I've gotten more than a few things off the back of a truck before most good or great quality, but I do hear what your saying.
I just wanted to point out that there is haggle room & that on occassion you might even get your firewood hauled up your driveway.


~~ pelenaka ~~

[Silvercreek Farmer]

$3 steaks don't sound bad, but when you consider they are probably only 6 oz or so, it's about the same price as the grocery store (when they are on sale, which is the only time I buy meat). And as someone else already mentioned, you can probably be assured that they are injected with brine (which I actually like) but you are paying for salt water. Guy I knew in college bought some, but didn't know how to cook, so he said as long as I cooked him one too, I could cook as many as I wanted, so needless to say, I ate a bunch of them. They were round steaks labeled "fillets" and wrapped in bacon, note that they were missing the word "mignon". They were not bad, but they were not tenderloin, just dressed up to look that way.

Another buddy brought some "fillets" wrapped in bacon, over to the house not so long ago. We cooked them on the campfire along with some other brand steak. Both were cooked medium well, yet the "fillets" still had a very distinct pink color slightly different than a medium rare steak would have. It was all one shade, not grayer around the edges like a typical steak, which led me to believe that the meat was artificially colored. Strange, but I am not too picky so I ate it anyway!

[DryHeat]

I had an encounter with a sales guy with the local variation of those companies a couple years ago while I was with a car repairman working on my MIL's vehicle, shadetree style. As described, various cuts of meat vac-packed stored in a freezer in a small pickup truck. The salesman gave an elaborate story about how he'd get a $300 bonus if he could just sell the $200 worth of meat he had left that day. I mumbled something about how maybe he should borrow $200, buy the meat himself, then keep the meat and $100 but was ignored, lol. He did a LOT of fast talking about prices and discounts then when the guy with me actually was buying a couple packets to give to somebody he owed a favor to, weaseled out of the prices he'd started with. Huge red flag to me but he did make a minor sale to the repairman with all his jabbering. This was a neighborhood of very small houses built in the 50's, bordered by older trailer courts, so it looked like their style was to prey on lower-middle areas with retirees and elderly in a typical con-job like sales approach. A step up from peddling left-over asphalt but not a very large step upwards.

[tojo66]

We've had 2 of those trucks here this week. Both scenarios went like this: Them:"Got a minute for me to show you the awesome steaks on special this week?" Me: "No, I'm really busy." Them:"But we've got a great deal on freezer beef!" Me: "We don't buy much beef, sorry." Them: "Well would you like to see our chicken breasts?" I swear, both times, right after they said that, my rooster crowed! They both decided to try the house "down the road."

[HeelSpur]

Originally Posted by L.A.

Free freezer?? Propane type? I don't get it

Me either, I was thinkin' stolen merchandice but who knows.