A week or so ago I stopped by a small local grocery store to grab a couple cans of coffee on sale. Turkeys caught my eye for .99 cents a pound on a managers special, this one was 16 pounds. It cost me a hair under $16. I bought two. At a time when threats of meat shortages are hanging over our head any meat under $1 a pound catches my eye.
I took them home and put one in the freezer and thawed this one out. O Wise One skinned it for me.
The skin and trimmings went in a bag for a pot of broth later.
Then he cut off the breast meat and put it on a baking sheet and I put it in the freezer to firm up for a bit.
Then he sliced the breast meat into turkey cutlets. These will make great additions to our make ahead meals. It ended up being 20 cutlets. These are great in any recipe that calls for chicken breast.
The remainder of the meat he cut off the bones from the legs and such and ran it through the grinder. Ground turkey is very versatile and we use it just like ground beef. I use it sometimes to make a white chili.
At a time when lean ground beef is going for $4 and more a pound this alone would be $16 worth of meat.
And we had 8 bags of cutlets to go in the freezer. 2 cutlets each in 6 bags and 2 bags had 4 smaller cutlets. So that is cutlets for 8 meals.
And 6 pounds of skin and carcass was put in a bag in the freezer to pull out on a rainy day and process and can for turkey broth in jars. SO for $16 i can possibly make 12 meals from that 1 bird not counting broth. Average cost $1.33 a meal for lean white meat is a good bargain in this day and time. Especially with meat prices what they are today and meat availability questionable.
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
Exactly. I noticed turkey for $1.49 a pound at Walmart. I need to make room in my freezer and get one (maybe two?) Buying like this allows one to stretch meals so much further. I just cook the whole turkey and then my Old Wise One cuts it up to freeze. That way we pull it out of the freezer already cooked for turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole, etc.
ReplyDeleteYep in times like this you have to think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great deal! I do this with ham when it's on sale after Christmas and Easter.
ReplyDeleteI do that too
DeleteWhat will you do with the frozen one once you thaw it? Just cook it? I recently cooked one and then portioned it out and froze for future meals but I find thawed cooked Turkey isn't quite as tasty as cooked fresh so maybe next time I'll use your method and freeze in raw portions like I do chicken.
ReplyDeleteAnother option I have done is to cook and debone then can in broth for soups and casseroles.
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