Meat Display at Farmer’s Market

[Does’ Leap]

Anyone have any creative ideas for displaying meat at a summer Farmer’s Market (with no power) while keeping it frozen? After 8 years of trying, there seems to be a tradeoff between visibility and keeping the meat from partially thawing. Last summer I used ice in a cooler with a sign above it in front of my stand. Customers could rifle through the offerings and pick what they want. It worked ok, but the ice would partially melt and then stick to the cuts of cryovaced meat. Any unsold cuts would go back in the freezer after market with bits of ice stuck to the packaging. Any ideas would be appreciated.

George

[Livewater Farm]

we did markets for over 20yrs what we would do is take pictures of different cuts unwrapped then laminate the pictures display pictures with a discription and methods of cooking people then chose what they wanted and we retreived from cooler no hands in coolers but our own
Bill

[dominiquer60]

Friends of mine raise beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken, turkey and duck. They keep everything in various coolers behind the table in the shade, each cooler is labeled with what it contains and how many cuts of each, in hot weather the coolers are covered with insulating blankets. They keep track of every cut sold so they know what is in there without shuffling thru everything. On hot days they use ice packs, some commercially made and some just ziplocks with frozen water in them. They have a couple black trays from home depot, I think that they are for mixing mortar, many meat vendors use these. Some freeze water in the bottom (easier with a walk in cooler) others use crushed or cubed ice. They all put these trays on an blanket for insulation and have an insulated display box with a plexyglass or better yet lexan cover, generally on hinges. My favorite ones have angled tops and hinges in the front so that the vendor can open it easily and reach in for products, this also vents the warmest air at the top of the display. The vendors I know will keep a sampling of what they have that day in the display box and rotate frequently either from selling the products or swapping them for one in the coolers in back. Some other subtleties are having a squeegee to wipe condensation off the clear display top, keep the display box deep enough to corral the cold air when you open the top, bring an extra insulating blanket to cover the display when it is really hot or business is slow.

Letting customers handle the product opens you up to possible damage to your meat packaging which leads to possible freezer burn and unsaleable product.

[near horse]

George,

What type of coolers are you using? Just a standard “ice chest” style? Many don’t have much for insulation so I’m wondering about some home built jobs (similar to Andy’s freeze resistant waterer but not so big) for the storage. They do also make an insulated bag (breifcase sized) that comes with a gel pack that is removable and covers the bottom. It’s meant for heating in the microwave and then holding heat to keep food warm but I’m pretty sure it is also approved for freezing. Might that work for an up front sample of your product?

[Kevin Cunningham]

We sell our chickens from standard igloo coolers from Costco. I know of other farmers that get super expensive coolers, like the Yeti, and maybe some day we’ll have the cash for that. But ours work relatively well. The frozen solid whole chickens keep great without ice but the cryo’d (I thought I’d give that one a try) cuts tend to thaw. Our signs displays the parts and we get the chicken. I agree that this is best rather than who knows what getting into the coolers. I also like the laminated picture idea and a local beef rancher here uses that way to sell her beef. It works well for her. Perhaps the best thing is informed customers. The ones who walk up and ask for exactly what they want, and they know all the different parts and how to cook them. Can you imagine how easy it would be if everybody was like that!

[Kevin Cunningham]

here is the Yeti cooler site:

http://store.yeticoolers.com/?gclid=CO-y5aDDgbUCFWrZQgodZBcAaQ

[bsmit24]

The Engel is another high end cooler to compare the Yeti to but the Coleman Extreme is probably the best bang for the buck.

[Andy Carson]

I would be tempted to make something, but that is always my answer… Plexiglass top, insulated walls, nice paint job. People can see in and you get some advertizing space. Cold air sinks, so you don’t have to worry about sealing the top as tightly as it the stuff inside was hot and it was cold outside. Anyone who has put salt on ice (or made old fashioned ice cream) can see that adding salt lowers the freezing point of water. For meat, salt and other solutes lower the melting temperature of meat a couple degrees. If you are using pure water in a freezer pack, it is going to start melting at 32 degrees. The means your meat is going to melt before your ice melts. Of course, you can prevent some of this with packing things, using really cold ice, mixing, etc so ice and meat thaw at about the same time, but the closeness of the thawing temp of the ice and the meat is always a limitation. Contrast this with those handy-dandy little blue ice packs. They have solutes dissolved that raise the boiling temp and also lower the melting temp. The result is that your cooler is kept at 20-25 degrees F (or similar), which is well below the melting temp of meat. Well insulated, the temp will remain at 20-25 until all the blue ice thaws. Only then does the meat start to thaw. They sell those blue ice packs to people like they are special: regular old table salt does the same thing… You can get that same degree of freezing point depression by adding 1 1/2 to 1 2/3 cups salt a gallon of water. Make sure the salt is dissolved and then deep freeze. These will keep a cooler well below the freezing point of meat and have the same heat capacity as any other jug of frozen water. You are still taking advantage of the enormous heat capacity of a phase transition (solid to liquid), just adjusting the temp at which this occures by adding salt. Of course, you can use the jugs over and over again and if they spill or break, it’s just table salt. Just an idea…

PS. I didn’t bore you all with the math for this. If anyone wants to see it, let me know.

[Does’ Leap]

Thanks for the ideas. I am leaning toward making a display case along the lines of Andy’s idea – an insulated box with plexiglass cover. We use the blue ice packs in all our coolers – they are cheap, durable and keep cheese and meat cold. I found this ICE BLANKET (link) that might work well with this design. I don’t think there is a substitute for people being able to actually see the meat. I have a couple of months until the first market. I will post some pictures of what I come up with.

George

[efdgoon]

When I was in the north west woods of Maine, they had a propane freezer chest that worked very well. I know the Amish use propane appliances. Just a thought.

[Does’ Leap]

I lived in a yurt for 5 years and the propane fridge was our centerpiece, high-end appliance – indispensable. It would be a little bulky to haul to farmer’s market though:).

George

[near horse]

Not practical but certainly a marketing tool ……. haul your team and one of those HD treadmills to power a freezer. That would bring some more interested parties to your stand!!

[Anonymous]

The beef guy next to us at the market built a double walled insulated box out of wood with a plexiglass lid, fills it with ice and keeps it out of the sun. it seems to work well for him, we may give it a try this year. he keeps rotating the cuts out on hot days, it only holds enough for display.

Jared

[Author]

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