Man I just started working in the meat dept. of my store, and while I appreciate all the info, that "freeze to death" line just hits too hard. Love that you did this.
I definetly love working in the meat department I actually started back in February of this year and since then have been offered the meat manager assistant position which I happily took!
I'm about to go in for an interview for the meat department tomorrow, thank you for making this video, I was reading the equipment and stuff on the page on what I'd be working with, and this helped me get a better idea very helpful :)
Meat Wrapper-Counter Clerk position I don't know exactly what all they do, but it had a pretty big list of different equipment I might be needing to work with eventually.
Awesome video, it’s crazy how much the meat market has changed and continues to change in food lion; I would love to do more processing and cutting but nowadays it seems that every thing is becoming case-ready
Getting cross training in a few weeks for this :D currently a grocery associate Edit: transferring completely now!! A meat associate left so i'm filling in
I start in 2 weeks was a meat cutter for harps groceries store and I have never done anything like this before so I'm excited but real nervous. I hope o can retain all that I learn as fast as possible
I'm so happy that we don't have to hand rap stuff in my store. We have a Digi Auto Wrapper. 75 family packs of ground beef wrapped and tagged in 5 mins bahah
BRO FOR REAL!!! we had to hand wrap during the pandemic panic buying that sucked so baaad but because we made a good profit off sales we were able to get an auto wrapper
Jeez that's amazing!! We had to do it all by hand and when you don't have months of experience and muscle memory it looks so bad sometimes. That would have been SO useful at my job as a meat associate
I started and the first day I got trained I did nothing then the second and third I did about half. (Always asking questions btw) then by the 4 and 5 day I did it all and then the 6th day I did it by myself in the department. Been doing by myself since.
So I started today in 2023 in the meat department fun fact now you only grind 3 types of ground beef and only cut 2 types of steak everything else comes precut and wrapped you just type a number it prints out a label with a bar code you pick it up put the sticker on the right of it and you just fill up the areas where you need meat only things you do your self joe are Grind 3 diffrent types of ground meats different lean levels And cut only 2 types of steak Everything else is pre packed all you do it tag it 🎉🎉 welcome to foodlion your welcome
That cleaning was wrong. Break the saw down when you clean it. Atleast take the gaurds off and the blade cleaners because the meat and bone dust get stuck in place you can't get to with the sprayer. Also I would turn the saw on and spray the blade on each side really good while it's spinning I find that's the easiest way to clean the blade and the wheels.
Yeah definitely. It takes a while until you can get put up to cutter. I've been a wrapper in the meat department for close to a year now. Wrapping, doing grinds, hamburger patties, and sausage.
I’m watching this because the job I’m working at makes me work at meat department even though in didn’t apply for that position, they didn’t train me at all, and I don’t even eat red meat.
Wtf this dude looks like he's chillin! Why does Costco Meat department choose to overwork their employees? We are understaffed for the amount of traffic of customers we get swarmed by. They rather us work faster with less people and I'm getting burnt out. Please MTV pimp my ride! No seriously I need to get out of this department I'm a hard worker who gives it 100% and they straight take advantage. Might be cool to work in a meat department somewhere else but Costco will make you work for those benefits. I'm tired...
@@deathisofficial4859 At my location it is I'm not sure if it's every Costco but mine is pretty rough man not gonna lie, I'm on carts now on lot patrol. So much more chill seriously.
They get tubes of course ground meat, 10 pound tubes. They also add the trimmings from beef they cut in the shop. They separate primal, natural, organic,and pre rough ground, when grinding don't want to contaminate steroid beef with organic hehe. They use all parts of the cow, you can ask them to grind a filet mignon if you choose.
@@purpleguy5226 hehe, I started in the meat department of a grocery store 2 years ago, thank God I no longer work in that hell hole. I was the closer and was responsible for cleaning the shop eh
Yeah definitely. Otherwise, its a pain in the ass to get all the meat off the saw. I take that bitch off every single time I clean. All he had to do was pull the lever lol
Gloves are only required when touching RTE(Ready To Eat) food. Raw food is going to be cooked, therefore there is no danger of cross-contamination. Sorry, but any restaurant you've been to has touched raw ingredients with their bare hands.
Do you know how unsafe it is to handle a knife with a slippery glove on? Even with a chainmail glove on your non-dominant hand, you shouldn't do it. All of the food is raw and will be cooked eventually anyways.
Ulrich Patterson you should only need one glove for the hand not holding the knife because you shouldn't need to use your knife hand to handle the product
Gloves are not required to handle raw meat. Also you should never wear gloves when cutting on a saw. They can catch on the teeth and pull your hand/arm in.
Gloves should not be used while operating a bandsaw because the bandsaw blade would grab hold of the glove and pull the the hand with the glove down and cause injury
I had to stop at the the 3:28 mark. I'm still an apprentice cutter myself. But man.. sawing into the meat like that makes for some really uneven cuts. and actually screws with the surface grain when it comes to package display. I haven't been at this long but I even know at best with a knife that big 2 strokes down, at worst three, to cut your roast or steak off yelds the best results... good lord.
Steve Uberfiend it can be if you aren't consistent. If you know where and what your knife is doing you can saw at it however much you like. But if you're doing it right you really shouldn't have to ;)
I agree just started my training and my manager was very persistent on the one fluid slice through instead of sawing through the meat. It makes for a clean cut
Steve Uberfiend interesting you felt the need to comment on that part but not the fact that they didnt wipe the meat down for bone dust after cutting it with a saw...
Its been said to never wear gloves while working on the saw or cube steak machine. If the gloves gets caught up, it’ll pull your hand in and you could sustain serious injury if not loss.
fun fact. most of your food is touched with gloveless hands and they just wash their hands constantly. (coming from somebody who worked in a local butcher and is currently a line cook in a commercial kitchen.)
Two problems I had, you guys didnt wipe down the meat to clean off bone dust after cutting with the saw and that you guys touch both the meat and the outside of the tray with the same hands. You guys wind up grabbing the outside later when you wrap and then the outside of the wrap so it contaminates the customers hands and whatever the pick up to buy next
Sports daily Why? I came in to our meat department a year ago with no prior experience and I've found it's very rewarding if you're willing to work and pay attention.
You do not need to wear gloves to process meat, its raw and has to be cooked no violation. Actually OSHA regulations ban meat cutters from operating a saw with gloves on.
@@wreckingtestes2885 no where I work Osha forbids gloves on the saw. Most of us cutters only wear a glove over our cutting glove no glove on knife hand.
I wear pajama pants under my work pants and a sweatshirt under my meat coat as well as a winter hat. Guys that can do this every day in regular gear are moslty miserable
Starting in the meat department next week. Thank you for a run-down on some of the duties I’m looking forward to doing. Great video to help with any pre-work jitters. Thank you.
I worked in the meat dept. at my local grocery store a couple months ago, while there are a lot of positive comments on here, let me just warn you this job is not for everyone! You will be overworked to the point where you can barely move your hands & legs, you'll be expected to work days, nights, holidays, pretty much whenever the they need you, there is no real set schedule unless you are higher up in the department. I thought that getting into the meat dept. would be great, because well.. butchery is awesome! But it turned out to be one of the worst overworked & repetitive experiences of my life that does not pay nearly enough money! They will advertise positions online and make their "apprenticeships" sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread, but there is a reason these departments are often short staffed, expect that when you are the "new guy" to have the higher ups work load "aka things they decide they don't want to do anymore" dumped into your lap, and if you can't meet the ridiculous quotas, that's too bad you're fired. If none of this bothers you, I'd say go for it.
You’re not wrong. I was an audio engineer for 8 years got laid off and took the meat department job because it was the first place that called. I’m doing 48+ hours a week and am literally borderline the meat janitor. Cutters don’t clean up after themselves at all and they expect me to be out by 9pm when everyday they literally ask me to do 2-3 more tasks. However the only positive side is. The upper management has said that due to my professionalism and reliability I won’t be doing it for long
@@Deadletter6 Yeah, I'm a night custodian now for a school district. The only downside is you're working nights, but the bonus is it pays more than being a meat packer, I don't have to deal with idiots who want you to do all their work anymore, and I have an office to relax in whenever. Getting out of the grocery store meat dept. was the best decision I ever made. But hey, whatever suits you, it's a job and does pay good, if you can make it past the hard beginning part and move up, all the power to ya.
i just started working the meat dept. about 4 weeks back and that line about "we dont cut poultry because of cross contamination" hit me and made me laugh because at my store we do, and often times we well.. "we" use the same knives and tables when cutting chicken and pork so thats wild to see that 8 years ago other chains gave more of a damn about cross contamination than my po-dunk chain in alabama in 2023 other than that, their meat room looks near identical to ours, same machines for the most part, the grinder we have is more modern and sleek af, and we have one of those auto-wrappers that LOVES to eat type 25 trays lol
Fuck, Costco pays 30 for shit right out of the box. But I also work on the side at my buddies shop breaking down the carcasses for another 150 bucks a day.
Beef , pork, veal, lamb, ice box chicken, sausage making, full seafood counter and all the things involved. Lots of time time spent with the grinder, doing both bench trim and tubes. Mostly box but a fair amount on the rail. Circling back I’m working part time in a meat company that does custom cutting, mostly on the boning table. Relearning some of what I’ve forgotten and acquiring new skills. Started in 1992..
just applied at meat seafood dept. reason i applied because they had bad meat laying around lol i feel like i can do a better job.graduated as a chef but became sahm for 8yrs . now im ready to try!
I just started as a wrapper and clean up guy. Thank you for this video. I'm excited to learn more about different cuts of meat. And learning all of the techniques.
Been cutting meat since 1980- Started at Wegmans in a Journeyman program. Own a small farm now raising pigs and chickens. Also do deer in the fall. I work part-time at BJ's and it's a joke on how many people have been thru the place in the last year over seven meat Clerks the young people just don't like working. On the cell phones or talking on the cell with ear piece thinking no one will know. No call no show Lazy. Whole foods is opening here in Rochester paying just 15.00 a hr. Are you kidding me. Making 22 part-time doing three jobs. Cut and wrap and work the counter. Working now just to buy feed for the pigs and Chickens due to the cost.
Yup true story that saw blade cuts you and most of the time you never even know it till you see your blood instead of the cows blood on the saw haha Happened to me like 8 years ago
Worked as a meat wrapper and only lasted 2 weeks. The job was hard. It's like working at a fast food restaurant. This makes it look slow but it was not for me lol
I’ve been cutting at Coscto, for over 3 years now. And on the side, I do complete carcass breakdowns, and fabrication at my buddies shop. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t choose anything else!
Let me stop you right there. 5:41 cube stake is not country fried stake by any means. People are stupid. I had a lady the other week try to tell me that the London Broil was not beef and she was looking for the one that was on sale for $2.99. Like bitch. The people who read ads and don’t pay attention. Especially the ones who come in before the weekend sale looking for the weekend sale. 🤦🏽 “Since filing this documentary as continues to work hard and freeze to death.” The story of my life. 🤣💀
I enjoy watching videos like this on how they work around meat from how they cut to wrapping. Thank you very much for putting this video together, God bless.
We use to have a the same pusher plate, but then , about a year ago. They gave us new slides to our bandsaws that have the pusher plate it stalled via a little bar, they suuuuck. We’ve always just used meat as a buffer in place of the pusher blade. The meat cutting instructor, even told me he didn’t like these, and prefers the old ones/using meat as a buffer.
Just recently got hired for sams club for senior meat cutter its good to see people who have years of experience with cuts makes me inspired to help others and create something cool for food production
