This week chicken was on sale so I picked up six packages and decided to see what I could do with them and freeze. Yesterday I used two packages for the chicken lime taco filling in the crock pot.
I decided to trim the fat off of all of these breasts and stick them in a big pot, fill it with water and boil it on the stove, otherwise known as poaching. I really really don't like touching raw chicken. For a long time, I wouldn't even eat the chicken that I had to touch, it grossed me out that much. I am aware that women used to (and I even know one that still does) go out and get their own live chicken and well you know. I realize this is very wimpy of me, but it's just the truth! So, I'm thinking if I can just deal with all this raw chicken at once and not have to do it again for awhile, I will be thanking myself later!
I pulled the chicken out of the water and I realized that I had a lot of chicken to shred! I thought there has to be a better way than two forks. So, I did what I always do, I googled it. I found one great way to do it was use the paddle attachment on your kitchen aide. One problem, I don't have a kitchen aide. I saw some warnings about shredding chicken in a food processor, but I thought I would just put one breast in there and try it out!
To my excitement, it worked beautifully! It does shred super fast, so just use the low setting and it only takes a few seconds. I just did one chicken breast at a time.
I then put together two cheaters chicken and dumplings (recipe below) in freezer bags like yesterday. The cut up tortiallas, aka cheater dumplings will be added when it cooks later.
Then I put together a poppy seed chicken (click here for recipe, I halved it) to eat tonight. Instead of making any more meals, I decided to just freeze the remaining shredded chicken in freezer bags. I chose to freeze three cups to a bag.
I ended up with five bags of chicken. They can be used for chicken salads, soups, casseroles, or anything that calls for shredded chicken. I hope this helps, if I learn any more tricks to freezer cooking, I'll pass them along!
Update January 2012: I am no longer cooking with several of the ingredients shown. I am now making my own broth and don't use any "cream of ..." soups. With this said, I still think the sky is the limit for freezer cooking and it can still be a great way to save time. Click here to see of my family's journey to eating foods made by God.
