Beef from a pickup truck

[Alpo]

Anybody ever bought any of that?

 

I'm walking down the street yesterday and this guy in the van stops and says something to me about steak night. I asked for a repeat of what he said and he said something again about steak night, and then asked me if I ate steak. He said he sold Omaha steaks. Through the window in the door I could see he had a large chest freezer in the back of the van.

 

I shook my head and walked on down the road.

 

I have not seen anything like that for at least 10 years. But it used to be very common. People driving around in a pickup truck with a chest freezer in the back of it, selling me the people they saw out in their yards.

 

Just wondered if anyone had ever bought anything from these people? If so, was it good meat? I doubt it was Omaha steaks. That's not the way they do it. I'm thinking that if I asked him if he had any Kobe beef, he would have told me yes and handed me something. And of course if it is rotten, or just tough as hell, it's hard to complain because he's driven on down the road.

[Rip Snorter]

Used to be Seafood trucks where I lived years back.  Can't recall the name, but they had good product at reasonable prices.  Trucks were branded, and if you had bought in the past, they would stop by.  Omaha steaks are very good but silly expensive.  I think they only sell online.

[Yul Lose]

They’re around here quite often. We’ve bought some of their steaks in the past and liked them. Haven’t seen them in awhile. A seafood guy used to be around in a van but haven’t seen him in a long time.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Decades ago a truck with a freezer parked in a Kroger parking lot was selling steaks at almost 1/2 what the stores were selling them for. Turns out he was selling horse meat as Beef. So I'm wary of these sellers out of trucks.

[Choctaw Jack]

As I have said on the Wire before, I retired as a butcher after more than 50 years in the meat business, so I think I have a little background here.

We used to call these types of street vendors"gypsies" ,because they seldom stayed in one place very long.

Many of them sold misrepresented, inferior ,low-grade products as higher grade,or premium,cuts.One such seller in our area is advertising " 20 boneless ribeyes for $39.95".

In today's economic conditions(or any  other in the last 75 years ), it is impossible to sell any premium cut of meat for that price. A customer told me he couldn't pass up a deal like that ,and bought a box of these "ribeyes".He reported that they were so thin you could just about read the newspaper through them, and about as tough as shoe leather.

In this instance  I guess the old saying was pretty accurate;

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Choctaw

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748]

I will not buy that crap they call steaks from those trucks.
Most are chemically aged and tenderized. 
Coincidentally I had a guy try to sell me steaks from a truck just this weekend. I was in my garage and he pulled up in front of my house and called me “Friend” and asked me if I wanted to buy some premium steaks. 
I said “No thank you”

He started giving me some BS about just selling my neighbor some steaks and how I needed to “get with the program”. 
I asked him “What part of ‘no thank you’ did you not understand?”

 

This is the first time I have seen any of these guys in 3 1/2 years. I guess they figure on making sales due to the high cost of meat. Screw these jaspers. They sell garbage. 

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

I never have or never would buy steaks or seafood from someone in a truck! Too risky on a couple levels!

[Cypress Sun]

I would never buy meat or seafood from some street salesman no matter how good the "deal" was.

 

On my front door and at the doorbell, there are No Soliciting signs. Does that stop the people like that from ringing the doorbell? Nope.

 

I used to attempt to be polite about it, not anymore. Now, the nicest that I am is to tell them that I don't buy anything or do business with individuals that have no reading comprehension...after that it's gets worse, a lot worse.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

3 hours ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Decades ago a truck with a freezer parked in a Kroger parking lot was selling steaks at almost 1/2 what the stores were selling them for. Turns out he was selling horse meat as Beef. So I'm wary of these sellers out of trucks.

 

fellow teacher and I had the same experience.  Can tell you from experience, horse meat does NOT taste like beef . . . or chicken either!

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

I used to like horse meat but it gave me the trots.

[Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428]

NEVER eat ceviche being sold out of a van! Don’t ask me how I know, just believe me when I say I know….

[Sarge]

There was a group operating in northern Ohio and southern Michigan.  They drove around in white Ford Ranger pickups with freezers bolted to the back.  They mostly operated in rural areas.  Many of their employees were convicted felons.  There were many break-ins on their routes.

[Alpo]

49 minutes ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

horse meat does NOT taste like beef . . . or chicken either!

I have been told that it is sweeter than beef.

[Rip Snorter]

The French value horsemeat and believed it a very healthy alternative.  My folks were great friends with a French family living in the U.S..  I had it on an occasion or two as a teen and don't recall any unusual flavor, but then again, the lady of the house was an accomplished French cook.

[Utah Bob #35998]

This is one of the rackets that Travelers and Roma run. Along with roofing.

[Buckshot Sheridan]

See a few doing steaks occasionally, but the seafood ones regularly. The seafood isn’t too surprising as there are quite a few who bring stuff up from the Sea of Cortez about 3 hours away.