Attn: HEB shrimp shoppers

Village Idiot

I bought a couple of pounds of shrimp (on sale) the other week from HEB.  When I went to cook them the next day, they were rotten.  Living in Austin now, I miss the super fresh shrimp from Houston.  I had to go to Houston yesterday, and my plan was to buy a few pounds of fresh shrimp, freeze them when I got home for later use.  However, my shrimp monger was closed for the holidays.

So, today, I was at HEB and I asked the butcher when they get their shrimp deliveries.  He told me that he gets the "previously frozen" shrimp frozen, and he thaws them himself and put them on the shelf.  The bags he gets are 2 pound bags.  BINGO !  I bought 2 bags that were frozen, and put them in my freezer.  None of this "freeze", "thaw", "refreeze", "rethaw".  Also, there's not a chance of the shrimp sitting out on the shelf at HEB for several days.

This should be about the freshest shrimp you can get (except for buying them direct from the boat, which is illegal in Texas).  I understand that the current large shrmpers freeze the shrimp right after they catch them and while they're still on the boat.

Note: they're 10/15 count (very large)

By the way, the bag was $19.94 ($9.97/pound) which is the same price you'd pay on the shelf.

NPHuskerFL

I guess living in FL I don't normally buy shrimp at the grocery store because I am so used to buying Atlantic wild caught shrimp fresh off the boat from peddlers & also bartering with them on price according to size and quality of catch. But, price wise looks like a decent deal ya got there in TX.

Village Idiot

Back in the early '70s, we used to go down to the Kemah area and wait for the shrimp boats to come in.  We'd buy them straight from their shrimp wells on the boat for a cheap price.  Some of the shrimp were still flopping around.  As I recall, they were already sorted by size.  I guess the shrimp hands did that on the ride back to shore.  I miss those days.

CPARKTX

Good tip, thanks. I miss good seafood too (grew up in Louisiana).

travisstrick

Gary knows this but I'll say it for everyone else.

I used to fish for a living and I cleaned fish at a seafood market while I went to school in Tallahassee. I grew up on the beach. I could catch shrimp, redfish, speckled trout, flounder, mullet and you name it off my dad's dock in the front yard.

90% of the time for 99% of all people, buying frozen shrimp is the absolute way to go. It's almost impossible to get good never frozen shrimp.

When I buy shrimp, even back home, I get frozen.

caliking

We have bought fresh shrimp in Seabrook a couple of times and it was pretty good shrimp, but I usually stick to HEB - never frozen if I can find it. I freeze it in water as soon as I get home, and I've never had issues with it after thawing. 

Eggcelsior

The best shrimp I have had is at Magwoods of of Shem Creek in Mt Pleasant, SC. 7/lb for large, heads off if I recall correctly. Caught that morning and in my belly less than 12 hours later. Can not be beat.

warwoman

We used to get them from the boats when the boats were way off shore. They would shrimp, anchor way off shore, and then cull their catch at night, throwing the shrimp on ice in the holds. Along about "light thirty", we would drift behind the boats and offer any hand that was up, a case of beer for shrimp. More likely than not, we would have takers.....a case of beer for an igloo of shrimp! After the exchange, we would begin our fishing of the "slick" behind the anchored boat, which was, at times, miles long behind the boat and down current. All the cull from the night before was nothing less than a gigantic dinner bell for any type and size of fish that crossed the slick.Screaming reels were normal, and sometimes screaming neophyte anglers who tried to slow down the reel stripping with their thumbs. Damn, was that fun!!!