Lets Talk Turkey

[Deleted]

Turkeys are cheap this time of year and I just don't have the freezer space for a whole bird

I have wondered about ways to add some $.39/lb meat to our budget and was hoping that someone else has ideas.
Pretty Please

Grinding it: I buy ground turkey in the store and it's never less than $1.50/lb, I have a family member with a grinder (fairly certain I can borrow it). Any tips on this? Anyone else tried it? I was thinking of thawing a turkey and cutting off most of the meat (no skin but dark/white mixed) and grinding it up together. Tossing the legs into the freezer to put into beans in the crock-pot and boiling the rest for soup.

Seems pretty easy but that's what I said the day I spent 12 hours making 200 tamales.

[Kathy]

MM, Have you considered buying a small chest freezer?? When I lived on the farm I had two 25 cu ft freezers to hold all the processed meat and veggies I grew. That was so nice when there was anything on sale-I had room!

Once I moved to an apartment; I missed not having a freezer that really froze items since the small refrigerator freezer is not meant for long term storage. So I bought a 9 cu ft one at Lowes for under $200. I could store a lot of food in that 9 cu ft and it wasn't all that big-I put it in the corner of a bedroom with a pretty cloth over it. ;D

Fast forward again, now I'm in a small (900 cu ft) house and I just bought a 7 cu ft chest freezer for $172. I have over 140# of food in that little guy along with 2 turkeys that I picked up at 28 cents a pound!

I have never tried processing the turkeys that were originally frozen. It's probably because I'd have to thaw them out then process and refreeze part of the new item. I try not to thaw and refreeze meat-just one of my many hangups. ;D

If I could can it; then that's what my preferred method would be. Brown, drain and pressure can for use in spaghetti, etc. Or cube up some for pot pies-again pressure can.

I'll try to add more thoughts later; my lights are flickering due to the thunderstorm we're having here. I'm going to submit this post before I lose the whole darn post.

[bbird]

When I was little I joined the circus, I was the only one who could walk on my hands on the tightrope! Did you know that my great great grandfather invented potatos? Yesterday was so fun, a space ship landed in our yard, and the aliens asked me...yes ME, to accompany them to a far off galaxy. While there I realized that everyone there looked exactly like me. So bizarre!

That reminds me, one day I thought I was dreaming when the polar bear entered the house but when I felt his cold nose nudge me on the arm I realized I was wide awake! Talk about scary! At least I was able to communicate with the bear, so we sat down outside and shared a picnic basket and stories of our youth. An excellent day for sure!

I already know what I am getting for christmas because I peeked. My wonderful loving dh, has hidden a black hummer behind the barn. I'm so excited! Of course, I am pretending to not know, but while he is at work I drive around in it and then park it exactly in the spot he had it hidden. Oh man, it drives like a dream!
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Okay, I hope the phrase "talking turkey" is a universal slang for talking gibberish and untruths, or this post is not going to make any sense to anyone besides me! ;D

[Deleted]

admin said:

Once I moved to an apartment; I missed not having a freezer that really froze items since the small refrigerator freezer is not meant for long term storage. So I bought a 9 cu ft one at Lowes for under $200. I could store a lot of food in that 9 cu ft and it wasn't all that big-I put it in the corner of a bedroom with a pretty cloth over it. ;D

I did the same thing!

mm, can you cook some and chunk it up, then freeze it to throw into casseroles, "chicken" salad, etc?

/VM

[Deleted]

If you do not have freezer room, can it. It is great for pot pie or you can also grind it into burger, brown it, & then can that to use as you would any other ground burger. Plus it won't spoil if you lose power.

[Deleted]

BBird I was worried about you there for a minute.

I had no idea that's what 'Talking Turkey' meant. I just thought it sounded catchy (I'm from the advertising generation give me break.. anyone else thinking chocolate?)

I want a freezer and a pressure canner and a food processor and a stand mixer with the grinder attachments and, well, a farm... DH is overwhelmed with my Christmas list this year. I have been told that I will need to prioritize (I HATE that) and pick 1 thing I must have right now and I hate choosing, I just know I'll pick something that I never use and long for something else. I think I'll just make up a little poll, see what everyone else thinks.

That said, could you guys please post (if you have a couple of minutes) how you can various meats. Do you cook with onions and garlic, do you season, do you rinse the fat off, approximately how many lbs of ground meat will go into a jar? Do you pack it in gravy like the stuff at the store? Can you can meatballs? If so, do you pack them in tomato sauce? (I'm going to stop here, I could go on forever).

THANKS

[Deleted]

mm, I'm fairly new to canning and this site was very informative for me => www.uga.edu/nchfp/

This section in particular has info about canning meat => www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can5_meat.html

Another thing that was really helpful for me was the Ball Blue Book.

HTH!

/VM

[bbird]

My favorite way to can turkey is to raw pack them, and put them in the pressure cooker. The blue ball book has the instructions in there I know. If you are buying frozen meat, just thaw it out, cut the meat into one inch cubes and pack it tight into a jar. Don't add water the meat will make their own juice while cooking it. For turkey I do a little of a bunch of things. We eat a lot of turkey for sandwiches, and when I do it that way I add onion powder, garlic powder, some pepper, maybe some jars I add red peppers to. It flavors the meat up. So, when I make sandwiches and open a jar of turkey it comes out like canned tuna or chicken and you just mince it with your fork. Because of the flavoring, we don't even mix mayo with it. A lot of the times we will just eat it out of the jar because it tastes so good.

I do make just plain one's to add to rice, cassaroles, pot pies ect. We didn't get any turkeys this summer so I am down to about 10 quarts of turkey, and only one more whole frozen turkey. I refuse to buy store bought turkey, so I'm rationing the supply until we get more turkeys this summer, lol.