[ recipe ] :: how to freeze ground turkey

Every once in a while, I'll buy 10 or 15 pounds of meat that I find on sale. The Hubs thinks that it is totally looney, since I then have to spend an afternoon in the kitchen cooking and freezing meat. A few months ago, there was a sale on ground turkey at Kroger for $1.79/lb...so I got 10 pounds of it. What to do with all of that turkey?

We ended up eating 4 pounds of it throughout the week (dinners and lunches), and I cooked the rest and froze it for later use. I had never frozen cooked ground turkey before so this was a bit of an experiment for me.

I decided to cook and season it first so we could use it in chili. Next, I labeled my freezer bag (name, date, weight) and weighed out equal-ish portions. (I love my Cuisaid kitchen scale from Amazon!)

The next step was to remove as much air as possible from the bag. Air is the main culprit behind freezer burn, so this step is very important for maintaining a good texture on the meat. A vacuum sealer would be ideal for this, but you can do it the "cheap" way, too.

I inserted a straw into one corner of the baggie and zipped it up as much as possible. Then, I sucked the air out. Make sure you don't inhale any meat pieces. Gross.

This is what the final product looked like:

This has saved us some money over the past few months. I haven't found ground turkey on sale this cheap since I originally bought it (in October), and I've used two of the four bags I froze. The texture is not exactly the same as freshly cooked ground turkey, but it is fine for chili and soup (probably not for tacos, though).

You can use this same process on other meats like ground beef, chicken, or pork, and on raw meat as well. However, I don't recommend using the straw method in bags of raw meat...it creeps me out...so I press as much air out as possible.

Maybe The Hubs will get me this little beauty for Valentine's Day...(hint hint)...

FoodSaver V2244 Vacuum Sealing System

- Maggie White