Last week I got a crazy wicked awesome deal and I thought I'd share it with you as a way to be a bit frugal. Lots of people have posted on the cost benefits of buying and cutting up a whole chicken rather than purchasing already cut, boned and skinned pieces. It's true, doing it this way is cheaper but can be more work. Last week whole turkey's were on sale for 1.00/lb at my local grocery store. I went and bought a 12 pounder (can you guess how much it cost?). The Fabulous Dude isn't a huge fan of roast turkey (WHAT? Is he serious?) and we didn't really have enough room in the freezer to fit it in without doing some MAJOR reshuffling so I decided to thaw it in the fridge and cook it immediately.
So, that's what I did. I didn't get brave enough to cut the whole turkey up and skin it and all that jazz so I just roasted it as is. Then, when it was done, I carved it just as you would to serve it for a meal but instead of eating it, I then froze the cooked meat in "meal size portions". I deliberately left a bit of meat on the bones so I could boil the carcass for soup and have that meat fall off the bones in the process.
From that turkey, I have enough to make 7 meals (which will also include leftovers) and a big pot of soup.
This is my plan for the turkey this month:
Turkey Soup (which I already made - we've each had 3 or 4 bowls and I have 8 bowls worth in the freezer).
Turkey and Cornbread Casserole
Turkey Tettrazini
Baked Turkey Penne
Turkey and Cheese Calzones
Turkey Jambalaya
Turkey Enchiladas
Turkey Pot Pie
So, my purchase got me at least 7 suppers plus leftovers for lunch, plus soup. I'd say that is a lot of bang for my buck, wouldn't you? It is definitely worth it to watch for sales and buy larger portions of meat at once and either cook and freeze for later use, or (if it comes fresh) divide and freeze in portions that suit your family. I think we'll be Turkeyed out by the end of this month.
5 comments:
Wow- impressive. I might have to try that . . . with the help of the Mr. of course!
Great deal girl! In my hometown in PA, around Thanksgiving, every store is trying to outdo one another with prices for turkeys. They get down as low as 16 cents a pound! Our Walmart consistently sells them for less than $4 for a whole turkey!! It's nuts. I was so hoping ot buy some whole chickens this week...they were an amazing deal for aroudn here, $1 a pound or buy one get one free. Wouldn't you know that their supplier didn't have enough adn I didn't get any. I was so bummed! I had planned on buying 4!
Hey, great job! I never buy a whole turkey, and only rarely a whole chicken, but I know it would save money.
You know, next time you find a deal like that, you should contact your local family of five to share the good news!
Turkeys are onsale this week for us...99 cents a pound. I'm going to scoop one up...or maybe two! And refer to your post for some ideas. Thanks!
Post a Comment