Don't Waste Money On Precooked Bacon!

 

Money Can't Buy Happiness. But It Can Buy Bacon, And That's Close Enough

I've decided to stop turning around in the grocery store because it seems like every time I turn around, the prices have doubled. This is especially true for my favorite porky ambrosia and yours...say it with me now... “mmmm...bacon!”

I'm old enough to remember when bacon sold for sixty-five cents a pound. The good stuff is going for upwards of $7 a pound now. You can still get cheap store brands for less, but you usually get what you pay for, you know? I can buy restaurant quality bacon through a restaurant supplier and it costs me a lot less; in fact, I just brought home the bacon – five pounds of it – for about $16. You can, too. There are a lot of restaurant supply outlets across the country that are open to the public. They may not be as convenient as your neighborhood grocery store, but......

And, speaking of convenience, let's talk about precooked bacon. I love the stuff. It's like instant bacon when you want to throw a couple of slices on a sandwich or a burger or crumble it over a baked potato or in a salad. But who wants to spend the time and clean up the mess involved in cooking up two slices of bacon for something like that? Enter the modern marketing marvel that is precooked bacon.

As the package says, it's real bacon, fully cooked and ready to use. Just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and it's good to go. Because the high salt content and cooking method preserve the meat from bacteria, precooked bacon is shelf-stable in the store and you just toss it in the fridge after you open it. It'll be good for at least a couple of weeks.

That said, if I balk at paying seven bucks for a pound of uncooked bacon, there's no way I'm going to fork over five or six dollars for a measly two or three ounce package of the precooked stuff. There are usually sixteen to eighteen slices of uncooked bacon in a one-pound package. The precooked stuff averages about ten slices per package. No way.

So here's what I do: when I bring home my five-pound pack of bacon, I prep it for freezing via the method I discuss elsewhere on this site. (See “Bacon Is A Terrible Thing To Waste”) But I separate out about a pound that doesn't go right into the freezer.

First, I start my oven preheating to 400° F. Then I grab a rimmed baking sheet (½ sheet pan) and a cooling rack to fit inside. I line the bottom of the tray with foil before setting in the rack just to make for easier cleanup later. Next, I lay out as much bacon as I can fit on the rack, usually about ten or eleven slices. It's okay if it overlaps a little because it will shrink up some as it cooks. Into the preheated oven it goes for fifteen to twenty minutes. The time depends on how you like your bacon. I know people who want it to “oink” when they pick it up and I know people who want it so crisp it shatters into bacon bits when they pick it up. I'm pretty much in the middle of the two extremes, so I start peeking into the oven after about fifteen minutes. No flipping necessary, I just put it in there and keep an eye on it. When it's done to my preference, I drain it on paper towels.

Now, what you have here is – are you ready for this? – precooked bacon! The same stuff they're going to charge you an arm and a leg for in the grocery store. All you need to do now is wait until it cools completely, then lay it out on the same sheet pan (assuming you've cooled and cleaned it) and stick it in the freezer for an hour or two to flash freeze it. Portion it out in single slices or in twos or threes or whatever and wrap the portions in wax paper or parchment paper. Stick the wrapped bacon in a zip lock bag and put it back in the freezer. It'll stay nice and tasty for two or three months.

When you want a quick bacon fix, take a portion out of the bag and microwave it for a few seconds. Or, if you're really super-prepared and all, you can put it in the fridge a couple of hours ahead of time to thaw. Now it's ready for your sandwich, your burger, your salad, your baked potato, your pizza, or you can scarf it down next to a couple of eggs or all by itself. Heat it up or not, depending on what you're going to do with it.

And all the while you're devouring your precooked portion of porcine pleasure, you can smile because you didn't fall prey to the latest time-saving-but-money-wasting marketing gimmick. Win-win!

You know, money can't buy happiness. But it can buy bacon, and that's close enough.