Speaking of meat.....bone-in split chicken breasts?

[GrantsMom]

I am new to "frugal village" and right now my main focus is cutting corners and saving money on our grocery bills.

This week the grocery store (Price Chopper/Northeast) has split chicken breasts (bone-in) on sale for $1 a pound. I am hoping to buy 10-15 pounds of chicken.

Any suggestions on how to freeze/prep this for future meals? I am not creative when it comes to cooking so the boring me will simply divide up the breasts in freezer bags and freeze whole/uncooked.

I was thinking of baking up a whole bunch of them next weekend and then try to meal plan and freeze for future meals. But I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions/ideas would be great!

[frugalwarrior2]

I have done both. It is nice to have precooked stuff. I used to get cheap ground round from Sams club and make like 200 meatballs for soup and subs. Break them apart for tacos,stews,spaghetti,etc.
I will make soup w/ chicken. I just cook the breasts,take off the bone and sometimes shred. They last longer whole though. less freeze burn. Just make sure there's the least air possible.

I also used to cook gallon bags worth of ground beef and lay flat on a cookie sheetin the freezer til frozen and stack them in the freezer. If I was cooking I could "break off the meat" I wanted for tacos or whatever. I found it kinda amusing too!

[dcompton]

I like to have precooked meats too, so you could do at least part of them that way. Baked and frozen would be ok. I would remove them from the bone after they are cooked because boning is much easier when they are hot/warm. I agree - freeze them whole. Once you take them out, you can eat them "as is" or slice or chop them and heat them in skillet with BBQ sauce or Italian dressing. It's also convenient to have them precooked for things like casseroles, chicken salad, fried rice, etc.

I'm going to buy a lot of bone in breasts after work today. One of our stores has them .88 lb, and my freezer is almost empty, so I'm going to stock up.

[frugalwarrior2]

Wow. I got perdue boneless for $1.77# and was happy. I will look again but I don't think I can get that/ Costco has $2.99 for boneless.Yikes.

[Contrary Housewife]

I try to de-bone them (once you figure it out it is very easy) and then freeze them raw with skins on (to protect them) in meal sized portions. I either do them 2 or 4 to a bag, and don't squish them together so I can just get one or two out of the bag if that's all I need.

If you de-bone a bunch of them not only will they lay flatter in the freezer, but then you can take all the bones and make stock at once.

[Spirit Deer]

I'd cook up ten pounds and take the meat off the bones and freeze the cooked meat, same as suggested above. Very handy for so many things.

Save all the bones, too. Put them in a bag in the freezer. Start another gallon bag for veggie scraps such as carrot peelings, onion scraps, garlic scraps, etc. When the bag is full, put the scraps and bones in three gallons of water and simmer for a couple of hours, covered. Then strain through cheesecloth, cool, and freeze in two-cup containers. Free broth, what could be better?

[GrantsMom]

Thanks for the tips/hints and suggestions.

Meat here is usually pretty pricey so I really want to try and get the most out of my money. $1/lb is a price I can't pass up.

[mndtrp]

I would freeze half uncooked, and cook the other half in the crock pot. After cooking, pull off the meat, and then freeze.

I just did that this weekend, actually.

[brenda67]

Thank you GM...I boil it w/ a few chicken cubes skin it,debone it shred/cube it and foodsaver into 2-cup individual bag's..


p.s. I live close 1/2 hour away from Hudson,NY...do you live near me? I ask this because our PC has the same sale.

[GrantsMom]

p.s. I live close 1/2 hour away from Hudson,NY...do you live near me? I ask this because our PC has the same sale.

I live right on the MA/NY border (in MA). It is about a 30 minute drive to Troy, NY.

[nuisance26]

~Great deal! I like keeping diced cooked chicken in the freezer to use for enchiladas, quesadillas, chicken cheese steaks and BBQ chicken pizza.
Split breasts are great because you get mostly meat but you still have bones for broth. That's a great price too.~

[freebs]

My local store had bone in breast for .89¢ a lb but also had legs and thighs for .78¢ a lb between the 2 i got 40lbs. I am going to cook on the bone then take them off the bone. I have never tried to bone them first tho.

[lisaflex]

a super easy bone in chix recipe is this.....put in a roaster pour on lots of bbq sce and cook on 225 or 250 for 4 hours. then throw on the grill for grill flavor. very good!

throw in CP w/ bbq sce and debone when done and have shredded bbq chix is another easy one

[Brat]

I like to take bone in breast and put frozen orange juice and ginger on it and bake or put in crockpot...Serve over rice..