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Freezing left-over Turkey

14 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
14 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
14 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 was more careless (or less paranoid) when I was young. Maybe because almost everything we ate except flour or sugar we raised or grew, so from barn or field to table it was entirely under our control. But now I'm older and cooking meat I buy in a store. I have DH with health problems and there's been lots of illness in the older generation, so I've become very aware of the increased risk with compromised immune systems. It's made me pay more attention. I just figured it was time to develop better habits. You've got to break in that canner sometime! What a perfect opportunity. As far as coming home to frozen meat, ahem . . . if it's canned, no problem. OK, I've hit that enough. Usually at such times I go for ground beef and just cook it in the pan frozen, breaking it apart as it thaws. Then I use it for casserole, spaghetti sauce, etc. The time's about equal. I also keep minestrone, stuffed green peppers, spaghetti sauce, etc. in the freezer. They can be thawed while heating stovetop or while baking. Carol
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cynic
14 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
14 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
14 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
14 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
14 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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