Saturday, August 7, 2010

To save a little time

With school starting this upcoming week, this is my last "free" weekend I have again until next May. (I know, I know...gripe about teachers having holidays off and three whole months of summer - I like to call it my sanity break). I thought I would give myself a little help, so I took a trip to Sam's Wholesale Club. I bought four packages of boneless/skinless chicken breasts (6-7 lbs each), two packages of 90% lean ground hamburger (5 lbs each), and 2 packages of 93% lean ground turkey (2.5 lbs each).

I break it down into one pound and I prepare all meat, use our Food Savor, label, and then put in our deep freezer. I cooked some of the chicken with taco seasoning (and then shredded it), some with Italian dressing, and some just salt & pepper. The hamburger and turkey I will combine and split between being seasoned with chili and Italian flavors.

The following is how I prepare each "recipe" (all chicken is trimmed of any fat before starting):
Taco: Put chicken into lightly greased baking pan and then cover both sides with taco seasoning. Cover with foil and bake until done. Today I had the over at 400 and baked for about 45 minutes. I let the chicken cool to the touch then put through my food processor and then measure out into one pound increments.



Italian: Divide chicken into one pound servings, place in freezer bag, pour in Italian dressing and freeze. In the past I've tried baking it before freezing, but the chicken just dried out. Now, I just get everything ready and it is quick to thaw and already marinated!
Salt & Pepper: I find it easiest to place in a jelly roll pan and salt/pepper all sides at one time, then flip and repeat.



Italian Seasoned Turkey/Hamburger: Cook desired amount (I usually do 2 lbs at a time) with your Italian seasonings. I brown the mixture with chopped onion and garlic, let cool, then separate into one pound servings.
Chili Seasoned Turkey/Hamburger*: Cook desired amount (I usually do 2 lbs at a time) with your chili seasonings. I prefer William's seasonings and I just follow the directions on the package. (1 package of seasoning per pound of meat.)

*I have also done the turkey/hamburger mixture using taco seasoning as well.

2 comments:

  1. I love the pictures! Thanks for the great ideas. You know how much I love looking at food!

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  2. Thanks! Got the idea from you and Casey "pushed" me into just doing it!

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