First trip to H-E-B today - what to get?

[realdocBBQ]

Looking for pork belly - skin-off hopefully. If they don't have, I'll swing down to the local Costco (Melissa/McKinney, TX) and check there. I'll be picking up a pair of bone-in Berkshire pork bellies either this evening or tomorrow from Oklahoma State University's butcher shop, so I'll console myself if I don't find any.

I've seen people here raving about the fresh tortillas, so I'll definitely get some of those - do these freeze well? I'm assuming so, we freeze the regular ones from WalMart pretty regularly and I haven't noticed a significant diminishment in their quality.

What about... things like sausages at H-E-B? I love me a good sausage - kielbasa, bratwurst, an authentic chorizo, something along those lines? Hot links, yes, but not red hots. I like a bit of heat, but not melt your face off. So, if they have a top notch brand of any of those types, I'd be up for trying them.

I know they have brisket, but I don't do a lot of brisket these days, family isn't around (just me and The Wife, kids don't ever come home from college anymore), and The Wife doesn't crave brisket like she does other things, mostly pork, like ribs & pulled pork. So... I might actually pass on the brisket, at today's prices. But pork belly is high on my list if they have nice looking and thick ones.

I think... salsas of some kind? Don't they have their own line of salsas? I've been getting the Siete brand of green chile salsa at WalMart and have been pretty pleased with it for making enchiladas. I follow Brian Lagerstrom's method and he is where I heard about it, and I was impressed, for a WalMart product - but I'm open to trying others.

What do you think, folks? What else should I look at to fill an ice chest or two?

I'll be coming home today, same day trip, down and back. Just delivering a smoker, so... thought I'd swing by the mecca of Texas grocery and see what it's all about.

[Kevin Fuess]

I keep a package (or 2) of their tortillas in the freezer all the time. Take out what I need and it works great. As for sausage I buy the HEB Hot Premium Pork sausage. Also keep a few in the freezer.

[STEbbq]

I think you are going about it the right way in focusing on food you eat regularly and upgrading to HEB brand if you were.

If it were me, I’d take a careful walk through the store and see if there are any other HEB brand products that you eat a lot of and get that too.

[jayjordan]

HEB has several store brands https://www.heb.com/brand/h-e-b/b627sOj6by
H‑E‑B Mi Tienda brand has a lot of products that are very good.

Also, if you don’t see something in meat department you’re looking for ask one of the butchers.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah I'll give it a try. I'd been told that about Costco numerous times - but they confirmed in person and one of their butchers I talked to online, they won't do anything custom anymore. They told me they just can't do requests. But I will ask, if they don't have what I'm looking for.

[Panhead John]

I’ve found that the HEB butchers will try to accommodate you with whatever you’re looking for, if they have it. The two stores that I go to have a huge selection of meats with a lot of Prime and Wagyu grades available.

[Panhead John]

Here ya go! I’ve tried a ton of different salsas over the years and I always wind up buying one of these two. Not HEB brand but better. A few of my suggestions are also sold at Walmart, at least here in Texas. The hot salsas are my perfect heat level, not scorch your tongue hot, but enough to let you know it’s there. Milder versions available too.
Kylito’s is my favorite…….





I know you didn’t ask for this, but you’ll be making a mistake if you go home without em’. Julio’s Tortilla Chips are by far the best tasting tortilla chips I’ve ever had! I brought a bag to the La. MeatUp and they were a hit with everyone. These are the only tortilla chips I’ve found that I can eat like potato chips with no salsa or dip required. Trust me on this one….


Also, be sure to go to the bakery for your tortillas. They make their own in store tortillas daily, don’t miss out on their buttery tortillas. Buy from the bakery before hitting the regular store shelves.





I don’t have any particular sausage favorites but this is my favorite boudin. Hickory smoke it off the heat for about 20-30 minutes…..

[Mosca]

There are two H-E-B tortillas: the ones Panhead John pictured, which are under a sign that says “Tortillaria”, and are made fresh constantly, and others that are pre-made and pre-packaged. That package looks like this:



I mean, sure. But get the fresh ones. There is quite a difference that is all in the freshness. They’d better freeze well, I have 180 of them in the freezer right now.

Otherwise, I’ve never shopped in H-E-B with the intent of filling my pantry. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the beef, and the low price, but I think that can be expected in Texas.

[Panhead John]

You’re in luck Tom, the fresh, made in-house tortillas freeze just fine. Place a layer of wax paper between each one and vac-seal 7-8 at a time. 👍

[Mosca]

I had to make a concession to buying them on my first day in Texas: I froze the packages in my hotel room, with 20 each in them, then packed them in the insulated bag to travel. But they come with a piece of deli paper between each one. I vac sealed them when I got home.

[Panhead John]

On your recommendation for chorizo, I’ve had this before and it’s legit! 👍



Last suggestion, I think…Most of the beef HEB sells is Choice or Prime. I’d put their meat up there with almost any retailer, including Costco. If anyone doesn’t know this, HEB’s prices on identical items are the same as Walmart. I’ve got both the HEB and Walmart apps. A while back I was comparing prices between the two and found that on everyday items HEB was the same price as Walmart! Every name brand product I checked that was sold at both stores….same price. Anywho, you should try some of their steaks. Most of their locations, but not all, the butcher will cut your steaks for you to your specifications. Their Prime steaks are extremely well marbled, if you buy Prime from them, you can guarantee it’s Prime. I’ve found that most of their pre-cut Porterhouse steaks sold in the cooler are about 1” thick. If you ask the butcher, they’ll cut you one thicker if you want. Here’s a 1 1/2” thick Prime Porterhouse they cut for me last month.

[Mosca]

HEB prime ribeye is about $6/lb less than choice ribeye here in NEPA.

[Michael_in_TX]

I'll second John's recommendation for the chorizo, that is my favorite of all of the ones my HEB carries as well.

[TripleB]

I don’t think all HEB’s are created equal. During the San Marcos Meat-up, we stopped off at a HEB coming back from City Market to buy some beer. It was a small HEB and very underwhelming. Kinda like an AlphaBeta in South Central LA. I expected more from all the hoopla on AR. But at least they did not card me and I got a 6 pack of Shiner Bock. Good beer

[58limited]

Yeah, some of the older stores are small and pretty much like any other grocery store although they carry the store brand items which are excellent. There is also a version called HEB Pantry - a small store with mostly staples and nothing else. No meat counter, they get meats by truck and place it on the cooler display shelves.

[theroc]

Definitely a "HEB-Lite" in Luling.

[Panhead John]

Wish I’d have known y’all were gonna go to HEB, I’d have sent you to the one in San Marcos….much bigger and mo bettah!

[realdocBBQ]

All I can say is...


WOW.



Oh, and I am going to start job hunting in Texas.

[Panhead John]

What all did you buy and which store did you go to?

[Michael_in_TX]

Teehee. See, we're not making this stuff up.

(And you know....the largest medical center in the country is right here. Come on down!)

[klflowers]

I ended up buying several skirt steaks and a few bags of the butter tortillas. You can really taste the butter. The skirt steaks looked a lot better than what I can buy at home.

[Michael_in_TX]

I've been very happy with HEB's skirts. They are the less-tender "inside" ones, but they often have great marbling that makes up for that.

[realdocBBQ]

I've yet to find outside skirt anywhere besides ordering online anyways.

[realdocBBQ]

What did I buy? Wow, well... let's see....

I think I ended up with 8 packs of tortillas? 4 packs of 20 of the regular 6" ones, 2 packs of 10 of the 'Southwestern' ones, I think. And I got 2 packs of the larger ones for my son, as he wanted the bigger ones.

I got a LOT of sausages. Like, a LOT. Even though I can make my own, I wanted to try theirs. The uncooked, I think I got a couple packs of brats, one or two mild Italian and one or two of something else. Those were the fresh sausages. Later I found the cured sausage section in a whole other part of the store and went to town. Got a couple each of Andouille, beef & pork smoked sausages umm... heck, I don't know. A lot. Like, I essentially filled up my whole ice chest with sausage. Probably 10-12 packages of the cured in various varieties. Oh, the jalapeno cheddar, I didn't get the mesquite.

Bought a couple bags of their house-brand corn tortilla chips for my son, he likes to snack on those.

And sauces/salsas - I got 1-2 of almost all their house-brand variety. lol. Well, not all, no, but a number. The Thick & Chunky salsa, several varieties of their enchilada sauce, both rojo and verde, also their regular sauces - verde, rojo, rojo mole and... I think one more. Can't remember. I ended up with maybe 10 or 12 jars of sauces and salsas altogether. It was a good trip.

Oh, and tamales - I got a couple of their large tamale packs - I know one is spicy pork, the other... maybe chicken and cheese, I might have some jalapeno kind in there, too.

And breads - oh they have fresh bread stuff. Nice. I got 2 packs of regular bagels, one of Asiago cheese bagels and one medium loaf of Asiago cheese bread.

I didn't buy ANY fresh meat. I checked out their briskets and they have several variations, most looked pretty good. They have regular packer style, and one they have removed the deckle fat so it is narrower, but I'm guessing people complained about a 2lb chunk of fat they had to pay for that they weren't going to use. Meh. Then they had a couple that were heavily trimmed. Each was slightly different in price, but all looked good. Altogether, they prolly had... 12 or so out in the case. Then they had a few points and flats in trimmed config.

Only place I think I have seen picanha sitting out. Very cool.

About every cut of meat you could want, and it all looked fresh and nice.

As for pork belly - they had some Swift brand half-bellies, skin on. UGH. This is the same thing I get at my own Costco now, but cut down to half. I passed. They have their own H-E-B branded half bellies which WERE skinless, but I also passed. They looked ok, but none that really stood out to me and I was running low what I knew would be cooler space - plus, I was picking up a couple on the way home...

I met my son in Tulsa and he brought me a couple of bellies I ordered from the OSU meat shop - I didn't know this was a thing, but makes sense. I got in touch with one of their guys, went back and forth a little bit, and now I am the proud owner of 2 full BERKSHIRE BONE IN PORK BELLIES. That's right, that's right... you can bow in supplication now. Bone in, meaning the belly without trimming off the ribs, which later become St. Louis ribs.

These will be for doing Leroy & Lewis Bacon Ribs.

W00T!

I'll prolly put one to cure today, and put one belly in the freezer.

Met The Boy at Texas de Brazil in Tulsa and we gorged ourselves and left with the meat sweats. Came home, unloaded only what I had to in the truck - really just pulled the bellies out to put in the fridge, the rest of the stuff that needed refrigerated was all still packed in ice, so I left it.

Then I crashed. In bed and OUT like a light by like... 2130. Long day, but man, I gotta say - H-E-B is LEGIT.


OH OH OH, I FORGOT!!!!

I also got 3 or 4 packs each of both Linguiça and Longaniza! W00T!

[klflowers]

Yep. I am an HEB fanboy. That’s a word I will only use for HEB

[yakima]

It feels to me like a good chunk of the smoker sale proceeds got left in Texas.

[realdocBBQ]

Well, you know... when you leave your residents with more of their own money, they tend to spend said money. Then it goes to local businesses and people. It kinda seems to work out that way - wish some of our .gov folks could understand how that works... <rolleyes>