Chicken leg quarters were on sale this week at my grocery store for $.69 a pound. That’s pretty hard to pass up, although I remember that about 7-8 years ago, they used to go on sale for $.33 a pound. Those were the days…
Anyways, when chicken is on sale, it usually comes in enormous packages. That’s great if you’re immediately having a large barbeque, but not so great if you want to use the chicken a little at a time.
I used to throw the whole package in the freezer, but then I never felt like defrosting the whole thing, and it was very difficult to remove just a few pieces once it was frozen into a large, forbidding chunk. So now I get out a baking sheet or two, spray it with nonstick cooking spray, arrange the pieces on it, and freeze the chicken for several hours, or until it’s hard.
Once the chicken is frozen, it can easily be put into zipper bags(which, of course, I store in the freezer).
Since it’s already hard when it goes into the bag, the pieces don’t freeze together into a large chunk and it’s very, very easy to remove the quantity that I need at any given time. I’m much less prone to letting the chicken get freezer burnt this way, which means I don’t produce as much food waste.
By the way, you’ve probably noticed that these ziploc bags have been reused a number of times. I don’t ever reuse bags that have held raw meat, though…these bags have just been used for bread stuffs so far and after I use the chicken I’ll throw the bags away. It’s probably possible to wash them so thoroughly that they’d be safe to use, but that just makes me feel a little nervous. Plus, when I freeze meat, I try to use bags that have had a decent life-cycle already, so that way I’m not throwing out nearly-new bags.
Anne
Friday 18th of October 2019
How do you store your used freezer bags and keep them organized? I find that the fact that I don't have a good way to store used bags often keeps me from reusing them.
Kristen
Friday 18th of October 2019
Clean and dry ones just go in my plastic bag drawer in my kitchen. I fold them up a bit and stack them in there.
Jen (Modern Beet)
Friday 29th of August 2008
I too find that freezing in individual portion / meal sizes works better for me than freezing huge packages -- it's so much more manageable! Like Stacey, I usually wrap individual portions in saran wrap, then put all the portions into a single freezer bag -- then I can reuse the bag without worrying whether the meat has touched it etc.
Kristen
Thursday 21st of August 2008
Hi Stacey! I've done that before with hamburger. I divide it into one-pound portions and wrap those in plastic wrap. It's so much handier than having an enormous hunk of frozen ground beef! I save the ziploc bags when I do it that way just like you do.
Unfortunately, I'm still throwing away plastic that way. I wonder, though, if ground beef would work in plastic containers...it could fit the shape of the container, and then there would be less air hitting the meat.
Stacey
Thursday 21st of August 2008
We wrap our "meal size" chicken and porkchops portions in plastic wrap, and then put that into the ziploc bag. We typically use 3 breasts or chops per meal, so I wrap them into units of three. It keeps the mess down as the chicken is defrosting in the fridge, too. I wash the plastic bags out in hot, soapy water after each use.
Kristen
Thursday 21st of August 2008
Well, the problem with plastic containers is that they allow more air to come in contact with the food(air, of course, is an enemy of frozen food). And then if I have freezer burnt food, I don't want to eat it, and then I end up throwing it away(can't compost chicken!). It is tricky to know what to do. I suppose being vegetarian is the way to go! =P I don't think I can sell my husband on that idea, though.