40 lbs of Chicken

This morning I picked up an order of Zaycon chicken. It isn't organic, but it is hormone-free and additive-free and of very good quality in my experience. Also, the price is very reasonable. So, I spent a good portion of my day dividing this chicken up to be frozen or prepared for something else. I should give a warning right now for those of you who are queasy about such things, that this post will contain images of raw chicken. But first, check out this awesome quilt I won in a raffle at the Y!

I was very excited about winning this... The raffle was a fundraiser for youth programs so I donated some money and the quilt is lovely. I know it's something I would probably not take the time to make, and yet I really do understand the time and love that went into making it. I'm looking forward to using and enjoying it!
Alright, back to the subject at hand... Ready?
Raw chicken is a substance that rates very high on my gross-out list. I don't like dealing with it at all. But if I want my family to eat healthy chicken that doesn't come in nugget form, I'm going to have to get my hands dirty at some point... So, if I can manage to go through this only once or twice a year I'm a happy lady. A friend of mine congratulated me on how I was able to make our last 40lb chicken order last so long... I ordered some this time last year and I still have a bit of it left. That got me thinking, maybe other moms would like to know how I divide mine up. I should mention that we rarely eat chicken more than once a week - usually less than that.  We currently have a lot of grass-fed beef and Alaskan cod in our freezer, and I spent much of the winter making soups that were mostly vegetable or legume-based. We are meat eaters, but don't eat it every night and we don't eat huge portions when we do. So, I can make 40lbs of chicken last all year if I do this right - juggle it with other meats, and occasionally indulge in a $5.99 rotisserie chicken. (I am weak - don't judge.)
I find 40lbs is a very manageable amount. I know some people just throw it into bags and put it in the freezer, but let me make this clear - I do NOT want to touch the chicken again until it is cooked and on my plate. Therefore, I take the time to make it just perfect for cooking and eating before I store it. This way I can just empty the freezer bags into the pot or baking dish without doing anything else to the chicken.
I'm very methodical about this, so I'll break it down for my readers. I'm left-handed, but I cut with my right - so my right hand is the one that stays clean. This is my knife hand and the one that will open all the storage bags. Phil bought me a nifty new Foodsaver, so I made my own bags (slightly over 12 inches long.)

I labeled these before I began - but since my kitchen is small, and I didn't know how many I would be making I started out with six bags... and eventually ended up with 12 bags this size. I also filled 6 quart-sized pre-made bags, but more on that later. I use a cutting board (preferably one with a well around the edge to catch icky chicken juices) and use my left hand to lift the chicken onto the board. By keeping one hand clean I minimize the spread of any bacteria - I can use my clean hand to open the pouches and pump the soap when I need to wash off the hand that is coated in chicken goop. Here is what the chicken breast looks like before I begin cutting. Zaycon chicken breasts are pretty large, so it makes sense to cut them up for meals.

I cut off the fat and separate the two halves. Now, the chicken breast half looks sort of like a heart. I make two piles on my cutting board. One pile has the fat, and the other pile has the smaller bits of good chicken that happened to come off with the fat - I don't want it to go to waste.

This pile of small pieces will be saved for stir fry dishes and divided into quart-size bags. I ended up with two bags worth.
Next, I cut off the bottom point of the "heart".

This is my first portion-sized piece of chicken. You can't really see it here, but the top part of the "heart" is a lot thicker than the bottom point - so this isn't a large piece of chicken. However, it is big enough for a child and I put it in the bag. I have a family of six, so there will be six portions in each bag to be frozen. Then, you are left with a rather hefty piece... You could leave it as is - but truthfully this is much more than one portion of meat. I cut off that side part (on the left in the above pic) to be used for canning. (I use the raw-pack method shown here.) Canning chicken is easy, but time-consuming and I wasn't ambitious enough to get that done today - so I put the larger pieces that were cut off into a glass container to put in the fridge.

You are left with a fist-size piece of meat appropriate for an adult. I put this in the bag, so eventually I have 3 small pieces of chicken and 3 large pieces of chicken in the bag to be frozen.

I set the bags aside as I finish each one... and then seal them all at once.

Then, I stack them on a baking sheet so they freeze nice and flat and place them in the freezer.

So, like I said earlier I ended up with 12 bags with six portions each. I didn't add any marinade so I could make some choices later. In the past I have thawed these for baking or thrown them frozen into the crockpot with marinade, or slow-cooked and then shredded them for tacos, grilled them on the barbeque, etc. If I shred them, or cut them up after grilling I can usually make them last for two meals and not just one.
After filling the portioned bags, I had enough small bits of chicken to fill 2 bags for stir fry.
There were still six breast halves left to deal with, and I chose to put them in a baking dish with some lemon pepper and baked them at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes. The kids and I had two of them for dinner tonight - and I cut the rest up for salads before freezing those also.

That makes another 4 bags to be used for meals - we're up to 18 bags which can be used for at least 18 meals right? That's not including the chicken that I've got in my fridge now for canning. I use the canned chicken to make chicken salad for sandwiches. I'm guessing I'll be able to make 6-8 jars. So with all of it divided up like this, I think we can make it last. What do you think?