Is it just me, or has chicken been incredibly expensive as of late? It almost never goes on sale anymore -- I even talked to my butcher about it a few months ago. It's not just me. He had noticed it, too, and didn't really have a good explanation other than the economy and oil prices. However, in God's goodness yesterday, Matt brought in a random newspaper that's been sitting on the sidewalk for a few days. It had the Safeway ad in it which revealed that they were having their last day of a BOGO sale on ground beef, chicken, and pot roast! Woo hoo! I admit, I felt like I needed to explain to my cashier and other customers why I had 4 four-pound packages of ground beef, 4 packages of chicken, and 2 packages of roast in my cart at 8:30pm. It was a good sale, and I had a just-off-bedrest-but-still-pregnant friend who wanted a piece of the sale, too! Stop looking at me like I'm a voracious carnivore! :-)
Obviously, buying that much meat at one time means freezing it! I thought it would be a good opportunity to share how I freeze my meat to save freezer space and stretch the chicken. (First video post for this blog comin' up!) By taking advantage of this sale, I saved about $40.00!
For ground beef, I use my little kitchen scale and quart-sized freezer bags. It's a very simple process. First, take out as many bags as you will need and flip the tops inside out. This reduces the amount of contact your icky hands will make with the outside of the bags. Take your hand jewelry off, and wash your hands. Weigh out a pound of beef. Put it in a ziploc bag. Repeat until all the meat is measured out. Wash your hands well! Then, flip the bag tops back up. Mash each flat, getting all the air out and being careful when you get to the tops to not get any meat in the "zippers." When you're finished, stack 'em up and freeze. Once they are frozen, you can stand them upright in a container for organization or just leave them flat 'n stacked.
Bags and scale ready!
Hubz was my photo/videographer. Can you tell? ;-) Thanks for the help, Samson.
Eight meals just waiting to be cooked!
Now for the chicken. It has always bugged me that chicken breasts seem to be hard to cook evenly because of the varied thickness. One end is thin while the other is a big bulge. And a whole chicken breast, for me, is a bit too much to eat. And chicken is EXPENSIVE! And, for whatever reason, I can not stand the taste of reheated chicken (esp. microwaved). Something happens to the flavor, and I just can't eat it anymore. So I try to avoid chicken dish leftovers. All of those things added up to me one day figuring out how to butcher my chicken in order to stretch chicken dollars and avoid lots of leftovers I won't eat. The portion sizes of the chicken may be small for our "American" serving sizes, but they are truly more appropriate for what we should be eating. Hungry hubby or boys? Just let them have two. The sides of your meal should also be substantial enough for good nutrition and will lessen the need for a huge chunk o' chicken on your plate. Instead of trying to put it into words, Hubz videoed me so you can SEE it done. Any questions, just ask! :-) (Ps - I've never purchased boneless thighs before, and that is way different than butchering chicken breasts for stretching and storing. No video on those!) (Another Ps - Hubz said I could make the videos all spiffy with Movie Maker. But I didn't wanna wait!)
Nice post! We stretch our chicken that way too! Sometimes I'll take it one step further with the beef and instead of freezing it raw by the pound I go ahead a fry it up with some peppers and onions for italian-type dishes or with taco spices and freeze it pre-cooked and seasoned. Makes taco-night that much easier--and you only have to clean the pan and discard the fat (one of my least favorite chores!) once!
We stretch our chicken the same way, too and then some! :-)
Same as Emily, I cook some of the beef so I do not have to do it later AND I cook some of the chicken, too. I'll throw a bunch of chicken breasts in a pan and cook for 30 minutes at 350. Once cooled I will cube and shred before packaging to freeze. :-) I have noticed beef and chicken taste much better if they are cooked before freezing!
Good tips, Ladies! I prefer not to cook my meat just because I like to have absolute freedom to choose what to make. It's hard to make hamburgers with already cooked beef. And I don't cook the chicken because, again, I really don't prefer the flavor of reheated chicken. Emily, dishes are my least favorite chore for sure!
6 comments:
Nicely done, Dawn!! I also noticed how nicely that knife sliced through that chicken ;)
Yes, that's one of my new knives. :-) A good, sharp knife makes cutting the chicken this way MUCH easier (and safer!).
Nice post! We stretch our chicken that way too! Sometimes I'll take it one step further with the beef and instead of freezing it raw by the pound I go ahead a fry it up with some peppers and onions for italian-type dishes or with taco spices and freeze it pre-cooked and seasoned. Makes taco-night that much easier--and you only have to clean the pan and discard the fat (one of my least favorite chores!) once!
We stretch our chicken the same way, too and then some! :-)
Same as Emily, I cook some of the beef so I do not have to do it later AND I cook some of the chicken, too. I'll throw a bunch of chicken breasts in a pan and cook for 30 minutes at 350. Once cooled I will cube and shred before packaging to freeze. :-) I have noticed beef and chicken taste much better if they are cooked before freezing!
Good tips, Ladies! I prefer not to cook my meat just because I like to have absolute freedom to choose what to make. It's hard to make hamburgers with already cooked beef. And I don't cook the chicken because, again, I really don't prefer the flavor of reheated chicken. Emily, dishes are my least favorite chore for sure!
I can't view the videos. It says they're private.
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