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Freezing left-over Turkey

12 years ago

Does anyone freeze their left-over turkey. DD#3 cooked an extra turkey breast for me and Bob and we will never finish it or if we do we'll be sick of it. I think I've frozen roast chicken before and wasn't crazy about it. Maybe it was the texture. How do you freeze yours, do anything special? And then there's the gallon of stock that I'm afraid I don't have room for in my freezer. I am NOT getting the pressure canner out again at this stage of the season.:( Whine, whine.

jude

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Comments (7)

Olychick
12 years ago
I can't help with your freezing question and will be interested in what others say. I just bone mine and put it in serving size portions and freeze with no special technique. I use it within a short time as it seems to deteriorate quickly. But I was wondering if you could freeze the stock in quart size ziplock bags (maybe with the turkey right in the stock) and lay them flat in your freezer. I seem to get more things packed in that way, rather than trying to use regular containers.
lindac
12 years ago
Freezes fine.....wrap itwell....very well...pack the turkey together and wrap in saran, then in foil....or better yet use a food saver vacuum pack.
Boil that stock down to 2 quarts....better flavor and less room.
Good idea may be to freeze the turkey moistened with some of that stock.
Or....make something and freeze the "something"....like turkey tetrazinni...
Linda C
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I look forward to homemade turkey soup like my mother used to make. I failed every time I tried, until last year when I realized that I had a copy of the old cookbook that my mother had use--The Way to a Man's Heart: The Settlement Cookbook. A friend had the book on her shelf, and I commented that she had the same cookbook that my mother had had. She gave it to me on the spot, and I finally realized 15 years later that maybe the way Mom had made soup was in there. So I checked, and sure enough, I had never thought to save the left over gravy and drippings to make the soup. Made all the difference in the world. (My mom died when I was 12, and my father when I was 20. His sister was the executor, and she sold everything she could. We were not allowed to take anything except our clothing. So no one had her cookbook or recipe box or anything. Fortunately, my mean aunt had set aside Mom's good china, crystal and silver, which had been wedding presents. So years later we were told it was in storage and split it among us kids.)
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cynic
12 years ago
Sometimes if I'm not going to eat all of a turkey breast within probably a week, I'll freeze it. I don't go for long-term storage though. Just into a freezer bag, squeeze the air out and into the freezer. Use it within a couple weeks and it's unaffected. Lately though I wind up using it up. I like turkey.
anoriginal
12 years ago
Have a second-hand food saver (yard sale find). When I have turkey left-overs, I vac seal plain meat and portion out gravy in separate containers.
coconut_nj
12 years ago
Since it's only the two of us, I always cut the second breast off the bone in one piece and freeze it the same night. This year I also froze a leg and thing combo. I freeze gravy too so some will get used for hot turkey sandwiches one night and I'll cut up the rest for turkey salad. I'll eat that as sandwiches with some of the broth I'll freeze or can, made into a noodle soup. I love turkey salad. I made some already yesterday with most of the leg meat and some white.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
12 years ago
It is not the freezing that effects the quality of the meat. Lots of times it's the reheating that overcooks the meat that make it dry and tough.

Try reheating in the bag and cook it in a pot of hot water that's about 150 F.

dcarch
cspittell
12 years ago
We like our leftover turkey in the form of hot turkey sandwiches (known as "turkey toast" in our family) so I slice and freeze the turkey in gravy.

The meat doesn't dry out and all I need to do is thaw and heat.

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