Bacon Question.
 

We were going to the eye doctor on Thursday and then to my Brothers for a gallon of honey. We came out of the eye doctor and the road goes by the Winco store. I happened to look up at the sign and it said "Bacon 1lb 2.99". We went on, got the honey, talked a while. On the way back I told Sweetie, I was going to stop in and look at the bacon. Bought 4 packages.

It is Big Buy brand, A product of Seaboard Brand, Shawnee Mission, Kansas 66202. 1 lb thick, Hardwood smoked. Cured with water, salt, sodium phosphate, honey, flavoring, sodium nitrite. Freeze by date Oct 2014. Has the U.S inspected and passed by Department of Agriculture stamp. Hardwood smoked. Vacuum sealed for flavor protection.

My questions, anyone know this company. Is it made in this country. I put it in the oven and cooked it as per their instructions. Very little shrinkage, little grease. Flavor is very mild. Slices are thick and 2/3 meat, 1/3 fat. Not real salty. We really like it. I would like to buy 50 lbs, can 30 lbs and freeze the rest. We don't have room to freeze 50 lbs. We have 3 more pounds that we want to can in pints to see how we like it, never canned bacon before. Is it best to put in oven then can? Anyone done this? How good is it for BLTs after canning. I think it costs me this much to make bacon from "free" raccoons:huh:.

I just called and asked them if I bought 50 lbs if they would give me a better deal. And I quote the store manager "I will sell you 50 lbs for $2.50 a lb. This product is no longer being made, we will be going to our own store brand next week". I bought 50 lbs. Pickup on Wednesday. What do you all think. Has the company gone out of business?

....James

I don't see Big Buys brand here. I have Emailed my questions to them....James

http://www.seaboardfoods.com/contact-general/Index.htm

Well they aren't raising hogs in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, I can tell you that. It's a suburb, nothing there zoned for ag.

Here is the company's web site, they look to be still in business, but maybe there is another brand name that replaced the one you bought?
http://www.seaboardfoods.com/Index.asp?~=

ETA: Good score on the bacon!

If its from kansas you know its good..seaboardfoods has several hog operations in the state, I think most of them are located in western kansas where the processing plants are

I buy Big Buy bacon all the time here at the local grocery outlet. It has always been excellent and is normally $2.99 lb. I will have to look on the package and see where it is made but I am sure that it is in the USA. I didn't know that they were going out of business!!!!! I better stock up too!!!! Kim - in Oregon

Part of Seabord Farms they have hog facilities strung all across Oklahoma including across the river from me. Their kill plant is in Guymon Ok.

Big Buy bacon is a "private label" brand, made on lots, for retail groceries, etc. wanting a brand to sell. The bacon itself comes straight off the production line and goes into the box until they switch boxes. http://www.seaboardfoods.com/Retaile...abel/Index.htm I imagine you would get the same bacon, maybe even of a slightly higher quality from Seaboard's main brand, "Daily's Bacon" http://www.seaboardfoods.com/Daily/R...ilBacon.05.htm .....just a different box.

Seaboard is one of the nation's largest producer of pork products. As an integrated corporation, it controls the product from the sow to the meat counter. It does not buy pork on the "open" market, so the entire quality of the pork is controlled from start to finish. Just like the city buyer likes it--sort of like MacDonalds--any burger will look and taste the same anywhere you go........... same with a pork chop or rack of ribs.

Seaboard also gets grain and other "proteins" from foreign sourcing--to feed the pigs.... http://www.seaboardcorp.com/our-comp...eaboard-foods/

Welcome to the world of mass-produced, standardized, integrated, globalized, computerized food "products" :)


geo

This is the Email I received....James

Thank you for the inquiry in regards to our bacon. Big Buy brand bacon is our #2 (by-product) that is produced from our normal Daily's brand, center cut bacon. It's great bacon, but doesn't fit the specifications to be in a Daily's label. That being said, there is obviously only a certain amount we can produce because it is a by-product of normal operations.
We practically sell ALL this Big Buy bacon into a warehouse called "Western Boxed Meats", they are in Portland, OR. I'm sorry I don't have the distribution tracking after that. Western Box Meats sells this product under their business transactions, but you might inquire with them. 503-284-3314

Best Regards,

Daily's Premium Meats
A division of Seaboard Foods, LLC
3535 South 500 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

there is a hog disease that entails diahr..so a lot of people are dumping their hogs and getting out of the business..there were other hog problems before this new one..price of pork will go thru the roof in the next few weeks..so you probably did a good thing..I'd try to freeze it ..maybe someone you know has freezer room..they are pretty flat and store easily..if you were here I'd let you use freezer space for a couple of pounds..(although I prefer to buy uncured nitrate free bacon)

Everytime I see this thread title all I want to say is, "Yes, eat it all. Eat all the bacons!!!!"

Sounds like you are getting ends and pieces? I bought my bacon that way a while back. Lots of variety. Sometimes I'd get a box that was real meaty, sometimes I'd get hunks of fat.
Local butcher runs a good smoker and has thick cut meaty bacon and Canadian bacon for about the price of Walmart junk. When he processes my pork, I run out of bacon and sausage first.
That pig disease is still killing pigs, up to 8 million so far. PEDv.

No it is full thick slices, 14 slices to a pound. All uniform and look like all off one piece, matching the one on each side.
We decided we would just go ahead and freeze it at DDs house instead of canning it. We have an upright freezer there with the room. We will just pick up 4 packages as needed.
We will can some just to see, while we are canning peaches tomorrow....James

Mmmmmmmmmmm bacon. I believe that if sex was a food, it would be some type of bacon.

I love that you're tracking this down...like a bacon detective.

I would guess the new store brand will probably be the same bacon with a different label. It's pretty common for grocery chains to do that to cut out a middle man (distributor) and/or to build their own brand up. They may be sourcing it directly from Daily's now instead of through Western Boxed Meats. I would go in and buy a package of the new store brand to compare.

Very interesting thread!!!

I have often wondered about the bacon business. Seems that most grocers, especially Walmart, will change brands from week to week. Of course, they have the same Oscar Meyer and other national brands each week, and these don't change. But any of the off-brands? Those seem to change every week.

Once upon a time, Walmart was carrying a brand of bacon, and had 6 shelves full of the stuff. There were coupons galore for this product, so I collected all of the coupons I could to make for a big bacon buy, and low and behold, Walmart had quit carrying that brand, and had changed to another brand!!! I never got to make my big bacon buy, and have often wondered about it. I have noticed that bacon brands continuously change at some grocery stores.

I have a theory that since pork bellies are sold as a commodity, those companies in the bacon business who are buying large amounts of contracts probably have several dozen private label or brand names, and they wholesale or dump those onto the market. Retailers, like Walmart play the game, and try to buy as cheap as they can, within standards, and they could care less what the brand name might be.

This would hold true for those in the production of hogs and the packing of their own bacon, and not only limited to those buying futures contracts.

In my best guesstimation, that is probably the reason that you see different brands sold from week to week. In many cases, I bet that it is the same exact bacon in many of the private label brands. The first 800,000 packages will have a Kroger brand, and the next 750,000 packages will have a Smith Brothers label, and the next 500,000 packages will have a Down Home, Old Style label.

Can any one confirm this?

So, jwal, did you buy the 50 pounds of bacon?

At that price, I would have. Some people thought we were crazy to have bought 25 packages at 1.99, right before the price skyrocketed, which was simply dumb luck on our part.

Wow! Is this how rumours get started?

Jwal10 said, "Are they going out of business?"

COSunflower responded:

We did buy the 50 lbs. We canned 3 lbs yesterday, in pints. Looks good but we haven't opened any. We decided not to can any more. We froze it at DD house.

The company is not going out of business, I asked here, after what I was told at the store. The store told me it was not being made anymore, not true. When I went back to the store, they had a sign that they were going to another brand, said what brand they would be stocking, and yes, they are now selling said brand. No more Big Buys bacon in the cooler. New price, $4.99, Special, the sign says.

Now, we have bought bacon there before, ends and pieces. DS picked it up for us. Problem being, these ends and pieces were not a stock item, just at certain times as they held it back until they had enough to put out as a special of the day. We used to make all our own bacon but with the neighbor cutting back on the number of sows he is keeping, we don't get many ruptured or runt pigs anymore. The last year I have only made bacon from 2 smaller pigs, a bunch of raccoons and a bear. We like our BLTs and the kids do too. We have eaten a lot more salmon since last fall, while very good, it is not bacon. DD wanted 20 lbs, DS 15 and 15 more for us....James

Could you tell us how you canned it? We get local bacon and would love to reduce my dependency on freezer space.

Update. We were at the Roths' supermarket today picking up a few things on their "Friday Specials" for DS and they had the same bacon on for $2.88 today. We got another 50 lbs for the same $2.50 we paid before. We haven't been to this store in a year so don't know when they started carrying this brand. Anyway enough for us, DS and DD for a while. I think we still have 3 lbs of the first left. Never did can anymore. it is not the best use for us....James

Sorry, didn't see this response. We put the bacon in the oven at 325 until slightly browned, packed it in the jars and pressure canned it as the Ball book said. Can't remember right now. It isn't bad, just needs cooked anyway so better to just cook once for us. We still put it in a cast iron skillet to finish. It isn't real crisp. We used 1 pint to make scalloped potatoes and cheese, that was very good....James

It's only recently (in the past 6 months) that we've increased our purchase of bacon. We store it in the freezer but not in the original packaging. All of it is fried in the skillet, drained on a metal tray, broken into small pieces and put into small serving freezer bags. It doesn't take up freezer space, it's almost instantly ready to add to recipes or sprinkle on top of salads, add to omelets, etc. We don't use added salt so the bacon becomes a quick way to add a salty flavoring to our menu. All of the bacon grease is collected and saved by either storing it in a covered glass jar in the fridge or freezing it mixed with butter in candy molds. About the only time we eat full strips of bacon is when the first tomatoes ripen and we make BLTs. Prices for bacon depend on what type of bacon it is and where it's purchased. We found a local source for packaged cured bacon at $3.50 a pound and bought 10 pounds that will last us a year or more. Kroger has their brand on sale for $2.99 lb this week.

How do you can bacon?

sorry, didn't read far enough

bacon is really easy to make at home! here's how:

https://www.backwoodsmanmag.com/imag...uckboard_4.pdf

i use a recipe very much like this. i use a little less sugar, and prefer maple syrup to sugar. almost any boneless cut of pork will work - be sure to allow longer curing times for thicker pieces. cuts with bones will cure this way too, but you can't slice them as bacon. also works on beef and other meats.
brisket comes out like pastrami if you adjust the spices just right! hot red pepper? garlic? cumin for a chili like flavor? let your imagination be your guide.

Okay James, twice now you have mentioned making bacon from racoons. Please tell us more. I am very curious.

Sometimes our area is nearly overrun with racoons. It would be great to have something really useful to do with them.

I stocked up some time ago.....price 4 one pound packs of big buy for 5dollars on July 4th 2011.
.....

I save to buy meat on July 4th at country foods IGA. I vacuum packed five packs together. We ate tons of blts into late fall....it was cheap eats.....we got tired of the bacon. To the point that I vacuumed it. But came summer the next year it was bacon with anything from the garden.

I only hunt raccoons in the fall when they come into the orchard and eat fruit. The fat young boars get big. I skin and clean just like a bear and hang in the smokehouse and hot smoke for 6 hours. The fat just drips off. Then I cut the bellies off and make bacon out of them. Remove rump and shoulders to make hams. Different flavor but good bacon, I do this with bear too....James

At one time it seemed as everyone was selling 'Big Buy Bacon' around here in Washington state, but has since been more difficult to find as grocers change up their product line in order to make more profit. Atleast that is how I see it. I've bought that brand before & we've really liked it. Although it wasn't as thick or lean as you described, and that's okay with us as we like the crispy fat of bacon anyway.
Now several grocers are selling Gusto brand pork products (bacon & ham) as their cheap brand and to me anyway tastes nasty. blech