Two-hour Tuesday: Chicken Scratch

I do something every four to six weeks that saves me a ton of cash and time. I had never really thought about it before, not until yesterday that is. Yesterday we went grocery shopping. We bought several packs of bone-in chicken breasts because they were on sale. I am not a fan of dark meat, so this was a steal for us. I busily set to work prepping the chicken for later use and it dawned on me that bone-in breasts are cheaper because people shy away from the extra work in prepping them. Yet for just a little bit of time you save quite a bit, even when they aren’t on sale.

It also goes without saying that buying other types of meat in bulk saves money. We also routinely buy steaks and other beef cuts right at their expiration date when they are marked way down for quick sale. People bypass them because they don’t think they can use up all the meat in time, but you don’t have to! It is perfectly fine to freeze it for later use. What follows here is my basic meat routine when we return from a grocery trip.

-I fill my largest pot with water and bring it to a boil. While the water heats, I skin and de-bone the chicken, tossing the bones into the pot.

-I throw any vegetables that are past their peak into the pot. Celery, carrots onions and fresh herbs that aren’t so fresh anymore all add flavor to the stock. I leave this to simmer on the stove as I finish working.

-I sometimes pre-cook some chicken, usually by baking, then package it up in freezer bags for quick meals down the road. Usually I just wrap each raw chicken breast in in a double layer of cling wrap and pop it into the freezer.

-I split open all the huge packs of meat and divide them into single meal portions. In my house we use meat more as a side than a main course, so a portion of ground beef is usually only ¼ pound. I do make a few larger portions for grilling hamburgers and such.

-Double wrap the portioned meat in plastic wrap and toss in in the freezer. Even meat at its sell-by date can be safely frozen for a few months. Just rotate the stuff in the freezer so you use the oldest items first.

-I strain the vegetables and chicken bones out of the stock. I let it cool to room temperature then stick the whole pot in the fridge for about an hour. Later, I remove it and skim the hardened fat off the surface and discard.

-There are several ways to freeze chicken stock. I pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen I pop out the stock cubes and store them in a heavy duty plastic bag in the freezer. I can just pull out as many cubes as I need for whatever I am cooking.

Chicken stock is an awesome addition to your freezer. Use it as a base for soups, to add richness to sauces, to boil rice in, or in any recipe that calls for bullion cubes or chicken stock. You can also save more time down the road by pre-cooking some of the meat prior to freezing it. Cook up some ground beef crumbles for tacos later in the month, or throw together some meatballs and freeze them. It just takes a couple hours worth of time to prep a month’s worth of meat, saving you money now and time throughout the month.

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