A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for $5.80. Of course my freezer's been so full I couldn't possible cram 10 lbs of chicken legs in it! So I went ahead and cooked it up, shredded it, and then just had some much smaller bags of chicken which I could cram in the freezer. And I have cooked chicken meat ready for a variety of dishes. Batch cooking like this makes my life so much easier!
If you've never had 10 full pounds of chicken legs, believe me, its a lot of meat. I don't have a single pot large enough to cook all of it, so I split it in half. One half simmered on the stove in my big stockpot with some salt and pepper, parsley out of the garden, a bunch of vegetable remnants from the freezer I save for just such a purpose, and enough water to cover it all. I let it simmer all day (about 8 hours), then pulled the chicken out and shredded the meat off the bones. I strained the liquid and kept it for chicken broth. The meat got split into 3 bags which should each be enough for one meal and put in the freezer.
The second half of the chicken went into the crockpot, along with 2 packets worth of taco seasoning mix, and about 1 cup of water. I cooked it on low all day, and shredded the meat from the bones and froze it. This yielded about another 3 meals worth of prepared meat which went into the freezer.
We had some of the taco seasoned chicken in quesadillas last night and it was delicious! Having all this meat on hand is great for casseroles and soups, or even throwing on top of a salad.
Check out more ideas for your crockpot over at Crockpot Wednesday!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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2 comments:
great idea! I often buy meat in bulk, and that's my problem too! Now I know what to do :)
Such a great idea and time saver. I really appreciate the post to Crock Pot Wednesday and hope to see you there each week.
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