Freezing Lots of Chicken

Dear Sisters:

This is the absolute lowest price I have ever seen for Boneless Chicken Breasts.  The sale will only last one week, so it’s a great time to buy.  I know 40 lbs seems like a lot, but if you have room in your freezer and some time to spare, you will thank yourself later!  See my further comments/instructions below:

Preparing Chicken for the Freezer

The process I’m about to describe may seem daunting, but I have done it for many years when Maceys has this sale (one year I did 60 lbs), and it’s so nice to have chicken cleaned and ready when you need it—and at such an awesome price!  

First, buy your box of chicken and take it straight home to your fridge until you have time to deal with it (hopefully that day or the next).  Make sure the box is clean from meat juices and will not cross-contaminate things in your fridge.  I've had times when the outside of the box had some leakage, but usually they are nice and clean. 

When you are ready to start, remove about a dozen pieces at a time and clean them (leaving the rest to stay cold in the fridge, or outside the back door or garage if it's cold enough).  First rinse them off in a large bowl of cold water and drain. Then get out your cutting board, and using your sharpest knife, cut off anything you wouldn’t want to eat. There shouldn’t be much waste, but it will take some time.  The goal is to get them entirely ready to use before freezing, so you don't have to deal with them later.

Once you get a nice pile of cleaned breasts, decide how you want to cut them.  I usually do some whole breast portions (but sometimes a breast can be huge, so cut these into two portions), some thick strips (for lemon chicken--see below), some good sized chunks (for chicken nuggets or kabobs), some fillets (breasts split through the center so they are thin enough to marinate and make grilled chicken sandwiches in the summer), and some bite sized pieces for casseroles.  

(These strips will be used later for Lemon Chicken)

Bag the chicken with the number of portions you need for a meal into freezer style zip-lock bags (or if you have a food saver machine that removes all the air, even better).  I portion some bags for when it’s just us, and some larger for when I’m feeding more people, labeling the number of portions with a permanent marker. Be sure to squeeze all the air out, and be sure to not get chicken juices on the outsides of the bags. Flatten the bags out for easy stacking, then put them right in the freezer, spreading them out individually so they will freeze quickly (you can stack them together later).  

Repeat this process until the whole box is done.  Then it’s time to get out the Clorox and sanitize your kitchen, including sinks and counter tops, cutting boards and knives.  You will be so happy when you are ready to make a recipe using chicken that you don’t have to contaminate your kitchen every time. What a time saver! The chicken is all clean, cut, and ready for your recipes (like dumping it into the slow cooker without having to touch it—my favorite part). 

You will be sorry when it is all gone and wish you had summoned up the courage (or had enough freezer space) to do even more.  Good luck!