Starkizzer

Even if you can't buy "fancy" beef, try to look for some that is not super lean. The collagen in meat is what provides tenderness. Cooking to about the med rare point is when collagen turns to a gelatinous state (making meat soft and tender) cooking for too long will cause the collagen to harden and make your meat tuff.

If you can avoid freezing meat it will turn out better but if you can't a slow defrost will work better. Freezing does cause drip loss in beef. When foods freeze slowly crystalline ice structures form, these ice structures cause a loss of textural integrity. If you have to freeze meats buy pre-frozen meats and get them home to the freezer as quickly as possible. In the food industry if they are selling frozen foods, most likely, for quality reasons they will flash freeze. This does not allow the water to form in crystal structures, instead it will form glassy sheets which take up less space in the food.

Yay food science!

On more of a cooking advice, I like to by flat steak, cut into strips place into a crock pot with onions and bell peppers, some low sodium beef or vegetable broth. This plus some spices make for a great start of a beef sandwich, we make ours philly style.

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Frivolity, at the edge of a Moral Swamp, hears Hymn-Singing in the Distance and dons the Galoshes of Remorse. ~Edward Gorey