Real Crunchy Step: Homemade Lunchmeat

A drink, lunchmeat sandwich, a piece of fruit, two snacks: one that is junk food (such as a tastycake) and the other what I would consider a “medium” snack which is neither healthy nor completely unhealthy (such as a granola bar).  This is the lunch that my Husband, Danny, has packed for himself since he was a boy in school.  My Daughters and I are not big on lunchmeat sandwiches, only eating one on occasion. For the past 10 years since Danny and I have been married, I’ve bought at least a half a pound of ham, turkey, or roast beef lunchmeat almost every week.  This may not come as a surprise to you, but lunchmeat is expensive!  It’s also full of sodium and nitrates, and is not good for you.  For the past few months, every time I went up to the deli counter I would say to myself, “this is the last time you’re buying lunchmeat, next week you will make it yourself.”  This week was that week!

Following directions I found here: 

I coated my eye roast in olive oil, then covered it in black pepper, salt, and garlic powder (if I had onion powder, I would have thrown that on, too).

I lined a pan with foil, and put a wire rack on it. 

I roasted my roast at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, then at 300 for 40 minutes more. 

The directions said to loosely cover your roast for 20 minutes, then slice, however it was still too hot to slice, so I put it in the fridge. When it was cooled, I sliced it (with a very sharp, non-serrated knife) as thin as I could get it.  (Unfortunately, I didn’t get it as thin as I wanted it to be.)

 I then wrapped it tightly in wax paper, and put it in a baggie. If I were to freeze a portion of this (as I normally would), I would have wrapped the wax paper in a paper towel, and then put it in a freezer bag.

Cost comparison: Acme and Shop Rite both had Eye Roast Deli Meat on sale for $7.99lb.  Acme had whole eye roasts on sale for $2.99lb.  My 2.44lbs eye roast cost $7.30.  If I bought 2.44 lbs of the eye roast deli meat, I would have spent $19.50.  I already had the oil and spices on hand, so I didn’t spend anything on them. 

Was this a success?  Almost!  I think I could have sliced it thinner if I waited until it was completely cold.  I also got a tip that if I froze it a little, it would be easier to slice it thinly.  I was happy with the tasty, healthier lunchmeat that was a lot less expensive. Next time, I will try out the deli slicer that my Mother-in-Law owns!

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Denise is the wife of Danny and mommy to three little girls.  She blogs at Better Than My Best about life and homemaking.

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