Corona Virus Update 3-16-20As much as I don't want to, I'm going to suspend this group buy for a few weeks at least. The level of uncertainty with my traveling back and forth from AK, and within WA state while I am there, is too high over these next few weeks. I will send a text to each of you who ordered tonight to see if you still want me to hold on to your order for when I am able to make it back down. I am attempting to reschedule some commitments I have to allow for a potential Washington speed run sometime before my July king opener up here.
Thanks everybody for your continued support and understanding. The reaction to the virus has been far more dramatic than I thought it would ever be, and I'm trying to make the best decisions I can for both my loyal customers and my own business.
I'll be sending the texts out tonight to check in on everybody who still has orders with me.
Thank you,
Chris Hanson
Hey folks, I'm going to be in WA for a few weeks in late March/Early April and would like to offer up one more group buy before I get real scarce for the summer. I'm sold out of a few things so the offering isn't as extensive as my last buy, but hoping this should keep most folks covered until I can get back and fire up another frozen fish group buy next winter. I do have a very limited new item I got from a customer up here that I can sell cheap this time around - Cooked Dungeness Crab Clusters from Alaska - see details below.
We'll be doing the orders and drop-offs a little differently. The first, most important change is I can't confirm an order unless I get a cell phone number to contact you on. Communicating through the site is great, but when push comes to shove I need a better way to stay in contact with you. My cell is 206-579-6715. Feel free to send me your order via text if you like. If you order on the site, I'll PM you for your cell. Easy deal. If someone is uncomfortable with this, or doesn't have a cell, please let me know and we'll see if we can work something else out.
The second change is that the following locations will be the designated drop off points. I will update this with dates, times and additional locations as soon as I get my schedule figured out, so we all know before the sale is final. I think this will be better for everybody. You won't have to wait until the last minute to find out where to meet me, and I won't have to make a bunch of smaller stops to cover everybody - or drive right by one. If the locations below could be improved upon, let me know - I don't mind changing them up early, but as people order I want them to know where to go before they commit to buying. Locations:
Spokane Valley - Albertsons on Highway 27 on North side of lot
Spokane North - Safeway parking lot on Francis and Monroe, just east of the Fuel Station
Moses Lake - Walgreen's parking lot on Stratford and E Broadway
Ellensburg - NW Corner of Super 1 Foods parking lot
Tri Cities - HAPO Center parking lot (formerly the TRAC)
Yakima - Burger King on East Yakima Ave off I-82
Issaquah - T Mobile parking lot on 12th and NW Sammamish
Bellevue - Safeway on 150th Ave and I-90, north side of lot
Bothell - Chevron parking lot on NE 195th St and North Creek Parkway
Marysville - Haggen parking lot in Plaza 88 on 88th (we've outgrown the Buzz Inn, fellas!)
Burlington - McDonald's parking lot off the freeway
Bellingham - Fred Meyer Fuel Center parking lot on Lakeway Drive and I-5
North Seattle - Northgate mall parking lot by the Key Bank on NE Northgate Way ad 5th Ave NE
South Seattle - Southcenter Hampton Inn on S 156th and West Valley Highway
Auburn - Subway parking lot, 15th and W Valley Hwy
Graham - Safeway parking lot, SE corner
Fife - Sportco Parking lot
Olympia - Martin Way Park and Ride off Martin Way and I-5
Chehalis - Love's TravelStop parking lot on Rush Rd
Longview - Coweeman Park and Ride off of 432 by Dick Hannah toyota
Vancouver - Henderson and Daughter Windows parking lot (just north of Chucks Produce on Hwy 99 and NE 117th St)
Spot Prawn Tails, IQFAs before, I have some Individually Quick Frozen spot prawn tails for sale. They're running a bit bigger this year than last year on average. Going to do them by the
box, bag and case.
Boxes are now 1 kg (2.21#) instead of 2.5# to meet commercial expectations. Bags are the same as last year, and the case is a deal for the guys that want to split up a batch among friends.
*I've only got 300# left as of right now, and have a few commercial customers that are still calling me for a case here and there. As soon as I've sold out on these I'll post up a notice
1 kg box (2.21#) = $35, 2 for $65 (Out of the 1 KG boxes)
4lb bag = $55
50# case = $650Ocean Troll Chum Salmon, FAS carcassReally nice ocean chum salmon, Frozen At Sea. Headed and gutted, fish carcass sizes range from 3.5# to just under 10#. Treated exactly the same as my kings and coho - pressure bled, frozen immediately and glazed. I catch a few of these every year while king and coho fishing, and have a small amount I haven't yet sold. Chum have gotten a bad rap over the years, but these dime-bright ocean fish will impress. I'm offering these up here because I think there's probably a group of folks that want to put a big smoker load project together, or maybe some folks that just want to try them on the grill. I've pickled them with great results as well.
The FAS Chum is priced at $4.50/# by the fish, $4/# for 50# and up. Black Cod / SablefishProduct of my co-op in Sitka. As mentioned in some posts below, Sablefish are very rich. They have a high fat content and it is a super tasty fish. These are deep water fish, hook-and-line caught out of anywhere from 1200 to 5000'+ feet deep.
These portions are pin-bone-out, skin-on, 5-7 oz portions in a vacuum pack. I'm offering these by the pound or by the case.
Sablefish vacpac portions, PBO, skin on, 5-7oz = $15.00/#, or $140 for a 10# box (contains about 25 portions). HalibutA product of my co-op in Sitka. There's a fair chance some of the halibut I caught this year ended up in these vac-pac portions. These are cut a bit bigger than the sablefish at 7-9 oz's per vacpac portion. North Pacific hook and line caught halibut, processed in Sitka close to the grounds. No skin, no bones - easy meal prep!
Halibut vacpac portions, skin off, 7-9oz = $18/#, or $170 for a 10# box.Albacore LoinsI'm pretty excited about this one - the Cooperative is letting me have a shot at the FAS albacore loin stock. A bit of information regarding these loins-
Albacore is landed in Washington one of three ways - fresh, brine frozen, and Frozen At Sea. Fresh is self-explanatory, but the frozen types are quite different. Brine frozen fish are caught, bled and then tossed into a super salt saturated liquid brine tank that is chilled down to -10 degrees F. These fish are destined for the canners. Our FAS fish are caught primarily on jigs, bled and then hung by the tail in the blast freezer. This creates a ram-rod straight fish. They are then offloaded to a processor who actually bandsaws the fish while frozen into lengthwise quarters, then literally grinds off the skin and backbone! The full sized, clean loin is then vacuum packed frozen - so they never thaw out from the first freezing. This makes a huge difference in the quality of a delicate meat like albacore. These loins have not been available to us members for two years, so getting access to them now that we've had a good tuna year is pretty neat.
Washington Albacore loins, vacpac = $11.25/#, or $230 for a 22# boxSmoked Coho gift pack, 1# portionI went to a different smoked fish processor this year, and the packaging is a little less fancy - but I get to pass a bit of savings on to you folks that way. This is your standard 1# coho filet, smoked and packed in a foil pouch. Multi-year shelf life, great to send as a gift. Next year I'll have my own box made for it, but this year it's a standard gift box and the price reflects that. This is a
Smoked Coho gift pack, 1# portion = $22 each, 2 for $40.Ocean Troll Coho PortionsAnother Cooperative product, and something I may have supplied product to produce. These are 5-7 oz, skin-on, pin bone out, vacpac coho portions. Easy meal to deal with, and these portions are great for those smaller meals. All hook and line, no nets. You know the deal!
Ocean Troll Coho Portions = $12.50/#, $115 for a 10# box.Alaskan Dungeness Crab Cooked ClustersSOLD OUTA new offering, I am helping a customer of mine clean out his cold storage. These clusters are from 2018, so they are discounted to make room for the 2019 stock. So if you’re willing to take a flyer on a great price on cooked crab clusters, jump on it fast. I’ve only got three 25# cases. I’m selling in 5# lots, or whole 25# case.
SOLD OUTDungeness Crab Clusters, cooked and frozen, $40 for 5 lb bag, or $175 for a 25# case S (If we decide we like this and want to keep doing it in future buys, I’ll need to raise the price quite a bit. This is a one-time buy at these prices, just an FYI).
Thanks again for the interest and spurring me into doing another group buy before I get serious about the boat work to get ready for the next salmon season. They're swimming our way right now... I can smell em! 