I remember my Grandparents always bought a side or quarter of beef and had a butcher shop store it for them. I can remember as a child stopping in Oregon City and waiting while Grandma or Gramps went in to pick-up what they wanted/needed. Are these services still available? Curiosity... Greg
Any one here still rent a meat locker?
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My parents used to rent a meat locker in the 50’s. My Dad would buy a 1/4 or 1/2of a steer and my Uncle Joe, who was a butcher would come to house and cut it up in the laundry room.
Then they would take it to the meat locker freezer to store it. Mom used to stop and pick up the meat we needed on her way home from driving us to school. I haven’t heard of anyone having a meat locker for YEARS. I kinda doubt they exist anymore with most homes having fairly large freezers attached to their home refrigerators.
When I lived in Petaluma, Calif.in the early 80’s I recall that there was a store front on the street where we lived that had meat locker freezer compartments that they rented out.
Eddie
Then they would take it to the meat locker freezer to store it. Mom used to stop and pick up the meat we needed on her way home from driving us to school. I haven’t heard of anyone having a meat locker for YEARS. I kinda doubt they exist anymore with most homes having fairly large freezers attached to their home refrigerators.
When I lived in Petaluma, Calif.in the early 80’s I recall that there was a store front on the street where we lived that had meat locker freezer compartments that they rented out.
Eddie
I don't recall my family ever renting a meat locker, nor have I ever known of any friends or neighbors doing that.
These days for less than $300 you can purchase a chest freezer which I imagine easily could hold a side of beef, for longer and with less spoilage than a refrigerated meat locker. It might have to be cut up first, which would make thawing and prep easier later as well.
This got me wondering, so below is a link to a discussion. I have a 14 cu ft chest freezer, which should be more than enough to hold a side of beef. Of course I'd want the side to be sectioned in advance to make things easier. That said, I'd probably never want to get a side of beef in the first place. Too much beef!
extension.okstate.edu
These days for less than $300 you can purchase a chest freezer which I imagine easily could hold a side of beef, for longer and with less spoilage than a refrigerated meat locker. It might have to be cut up first, which would make thawing and prep easier later as well.
This got me wondering, so below is a link to a discussion. I have a 14 cu ft chest freezer, which should be more than enough to hold a side of beef. Of course I'd want the side to be sectioned in advance to make things easier. That said, I'd probably never want to get a side of beef in the first place. Too much beef!
Buying Beef for Home Freezers - Oklahoma State University
A summary of common questions and advice to aid an individual when considering purchasing beef.
extension.okstate.edu
Rich, the meat lockers that people rented in the 50’s weren’t refrigerated they were freezers. This was because most people didn’t have freezers in their homes other than the small freezer section in the family refrigerator.
My Dad was a hunter, both deer and ducks and thats why he originally rented a meat locker, to keep the venison and ducks he’d shot. Since his brother was a butcher and my parents entertained a lot it seemed like a good idea to buy beef in bulk and have Uncle Joe butcher it. Why he never invested in buying a deep freezer I’ll never know. We had a huge ranch style home in El Sobrante, Calif. with a beautiful brick barbecue.
We had large parties and Dad would barbecue for the crowd. He was an attorney and he used to throw a big party every year for all the Contra Costa and Solano county CHP. We had room to park easily 30 cars. Our home sat on top of a hill on a couple of acres. And when those CHP officers left the party they each went home with a quart of their booze of choice from the several cases Dad had laid in for the party.
My Dad wanted to create good will with the CHP so they were always cooperative if he ever needed them to testify in a case that my Dad was litigating. He was also a fast driver and never got a ticket when one of these CHP officers stopped him. It was a different world in the 50’s and early 60’s.
Eddie
My Dad was a hunter, both deer and ducks and thats why he originally rented a meat locker, to keep the venison and ducks he’d shot. Since his brother was a butcher and my parents entertained a lot it seemed like a good idea to buy beef in bulk and have Uncle Joe butcher it. Why he never invested in buying a deep freezer I’ll never know. We had a huge ranch style home in El Sobrante, Calif. with a beautiful brick barbecue.
We had large parties and Dad would barbecue for the crowd. He was an attorney and he used to throw a big party every year for all the Contra Costa and Solano county CHP. We had room to park easily 30 cars. Our home sat on top of a hill on a couple of acres. And when those CHP officers left the party they each went home with a quart of their booze of choice from the several cases Dad had laid in for the party.
My Dad wanted to create good will with the CHP so they were always cooperative if he ever needed them to testify in a case that my Dad was litigating. He was also a fast driver and never got a ticket when one of these CHP officers stopped him. It was a different world in the 50’s and early 60’s.
Eddie
Hey Eddie,
What's up with the "Frosty Acres" facility that's become a landmark along U.S. 101 up there in Novato? Was it ever a meat locker or is it a packing plant?
What's up with the "Frosty Acres" facility that's become a landmark along U.S. 101 up there in Novato? Was it ever a meat locker or is it a packing plant?
You know Ralph I must have driven by that place at least a thousand times and never gave it a thought. Thats a good question and I don’t know to tell the truth. But my guess would be some sort of a plant as thats a sort of industrial area.
Eddie
Eddie
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Thanks for the explanation, Eddie. It makes far more sense that the meat lockers are actually freezers. My dad never hunted (to my knowledge), and AFAIK we never had a gun in the house. He did serve in the Army/Air Force in WWII in Africa and Italy, so I'm sure at some point he carried and fired a gun, even if only in training. Well, we did have a BB gun, but even that disappeared after a bit.
I've been to El Sobrante many times, mostly on my way to somewhere else, LOL. I believe the name is Spanish and translates to "The Leftovers". But it sounds like you had a great childhood home there; top of the hill, several acres. That's so unusual in the Bay Area now.
Wining and dining the cops was a smart move, too. LOL.
Thanks for the explanation, Eddie. It makes far more sense that the meat lockers are actually freezers. My dad never hunted (to my knowledge), and AFAIK we never had a gun in the house. He did serve in the Army/Air Force in WWII in Africa and Italy, so I'm sure at some point he carried and fired a gun, even if only in training. Well, we did have a BB gun, but even that disappeared after a bit.
I've been to El Sobrante many times, mostly on my way to somewhere else, LOL. I believe the name is Spanish and translates to "The Leftovers". But it sounds like you had a great childhood home there; top of the hill, several acres. That's so unusual in the Bay Area now.
Wining and dining the cops was a smart move, too. LOL.
Rich
we moved to El Sobrante in Feb of ‘58 and moved from there to El Cerrito in May ‘62 one month to the day later almost my father was killed in an auto accident in Applegate, Calif. on Hwy 50. My life changed dramatically from that day forward. A classic reversal of fortune you might say.
El Sobrante was like the country in ‘58. A wonderful place for little kids. We had an acre of fruit trees and a large vegetable garden. There were vacant fields to three sides of us and a long private driveway to the top of the hill. My brother and I and the other neighborhood kids would spend all day on Saturdays and on summer days exploring. Our parents never had to worry about us. The East Bay Area was really magic to me as a little boy. When we moved to Sonoma Co. in ‘63 I thought my life was over. Happily it was a wonderful blessing to move north then and I’ve never regretted it.
But yes, you’re it was a great childhood home.
Eddie
we moved to El Sobrante in Feb of ‘58 and moved from there to El Cerrito in May ‘62 one month to the day later almost my father was killed in an auto accident in Applegate, Calif. on Hwy 50. My life changed dramatically from that day forward. A classic reversal of fortune you might say.
El Sobrante was like the country in ‘58. A wonderful place for little kids. We had an acre of fruit trees and a large vegetable garden. There were vacant fields to three sides of us and a long private driveway to the top of the hill. My brother and I and the other neighborhood kids would spend all day on Saturdays and on summer days exploring. Our parents never had to worry about us. The East Bay Area was really magic to me as a little boy. When we moved to Sonoma Co. in ‘63 I thought my life was over. Happily it was a wonderful blessing to move north then and I’ve never regretted it.
But yes, you’re it was a great childhood home.
Eddie
Apparently renting meat lockers still is a thing for some.
https://www.thekitchn.com/not-enough-freezer-space-you-can-now-rent-a-meat-locker-224168
https://www.rosevillemeats.com/locker-rentals/
https://consumerist.com/2015/09/23/...e-the-freezer-space-consider-the-meat-locker/
This sums up why:
"When frozen food was first introduced, home freezers were not yet prevalent and shoppers needed a place to store the frozen meat they bought. So butchers and grocers set up chilled rooms adjacent to their shops. These “meat lockers” were filled with individual bins—often complete with their own keys—that consumers rented and could visit whenever they needed to pick up their meat.
Today, people who want to buy and store the quantities of meat that many farmers sell directly, through meat-buying clubs, or in community supported agriculture (CSA) meat shares, are in a similar bind. If they lack space for an extra freezer, or can’t afford one, they’re essentially unable to access the most affordable kind of local, pasture-raised meat there is—animals sold in bulk.
“People bristle at the cost of local meat because they look at farmers’ market prices,” says Matthew LeRoux, agriculture marketing specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County in New York. “But if they buy a whole or a quarter of an animal, they’re really able to save money.”
civileats.com
https://www.thekitchn.com/not-enough-freezer-space-you-can-now-rent-a-meat-locker-224168
https://www.rosevillemeats.com/locker-rentals/
https://consumerist.com/2015/09/23/...e-the-freezer-space-consider-the-meat-locker/
This sums up why:
"When frozen food was first introduced, home freezers were not yet prevalent and shoppers needed a place to store the frozen meat they bought. So butchers and grocers set up chilled rooms adjacent to their shops. These “meat lockers” were filled with individual bins—often complete with their own keys—that consumers rented and could visit whenever they needed to pick up their meat.
Today, people who want to buy and store the quantities of meat that many farmers sell directly, through meat-buying clubs, or in community supported agriculture (CSA) meat shares, are in a similar bind. If they lack space for an extra freezer, or can’t afford one, they’re essentially unable to access the most affordable kind of local, pasture-raised meat there is—animals sold in bulk.
“People bristle at the cost of local meat because they look at farmers’ market prices,” says Matthew LeRoux, agriculture marketing specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County in New York. “But if they buy a whole or a quarter of an animal, they’re really able to save money.”
Communal Meat Lockers Could Help Scale Up Sustainable Meat
Community meat lockers in New York are supporting farmers and making meat more affordable. Click to read more about food system news on Civil Eats!
Wow...
I drove by Rosevillemeats for decades and never knew it. Funny how that happens in life.
All of this talk about meat reminds me how I used to answer inhouse phone calls at work when I was feeling frisky:
"Bob's meat market, you can't beat our meat."
I drove by Rosevillemeats for decades and never knew it. Funny how that happens in life.
All of this talk about meat reminds me how I used to answer inhouse phone calls at work when I was feeling frisky:
"Bob's meat market, you can't beat our meat."
On the topic of old timey kitchen stuff, my brother is a member of a freezer plan...they stock and inventory it and loan them a freezer while they're a customer. Sounds like it's akin to a more-organized Schwan's man.
I remember my aunt and uncle were in one of those home freezer plans back in the late 50s/ early 60s. Not sure if they rented or bought the freezer or it was on payments, but either way you could join regardless I believe, as I'd see ads in newspapers, at least until sometime in the 70s. I don't recall meat lockers though that doesn't mean there weren't any around here. The thing I remember most about my aunt and uncles freezer was it was a Deep Freeze, and they always got these big boxes of shelled peanuts that were frozen.. loved digging into those.
Can perhaps understand a household not having space for an extra freezer, but cost shouldn't be a problem. You can find new chest or upright freezers going for very little money on fleaPay, CL, etc.... This both used, slightly, vintage, barely used, new, etc...
Quite frankly have always felt renting of any major appliance is sort of racket. If one does the sums surely after a year or so more has been paid in renting that would had just gone out and purchased something used/second hand.
Quite frankly have always felt renting of any major appliance is sort of racket. If one does the sums surely after a year or so more has been paid in renting that would had just gone out and purchased something used/second hand.
