Freeze turkey successfully?

[Pie4me]

I asked this in another forum but looking for
some quick answers....

Can you freeze turkey meat and thaw it successfully?

I wanted to cook a whole turkey so I would have plenty
of meat but wanted to freeze it and didn't know if it
tasted the same/texture was the same etc after it
thawed.

If is works...is there anything I need to do to it before
I freeze it or after I take it out of the freezer to use it?

I use so much turkey and chicken that freezing would
be helpful...if it works. Thanks



Pie4me

[smc90]

Re: Freeze turkey successfully?

I've frozen turkey and chicken successfully (although I don't wait much longer than 3 months to use it). I always de-bone/de-skin the meat, and I try to "seal in" any juices possible (I find this keeps it from getting too dry). To do this, I prepare it for the freezer as soon as it's done cooking - I use rubber dishwashing gloves (marked "chicken" that reside under my sink ) and place the meat into small, individual (or enough for two) serving foodsaver bags (another convenience I am fortunate to have - this is the vacuum sealer device that "sucks" out all the air and seals the bag). I know people who do a lot of freezer cooking say you can get similiar results with the "vacuum packing" by placing a straw in a ziplock bag and sucking out the air before sealing. Never tried it, but there's no reason it shouldn't work fairly well. Good luck!

[love2beeamom]

Re: Freeze turkey successfully?

my mom used to throw it ina freezer bag after Thanksgiving, and thaw it when we needed it.. I always thought it tasted pretty good.maybe a little dry though.

[Kent]

Re: Freeze turkey successfully?

Here's my suggestion to cheat to get a more juicy end product. After freezing the stuff, during the thawing time put it in a chicken broth bath. Use the good stuff from the box with a pouring spout (not the can). You'll get a much better result IMO.