There is one thing I really, really hate and that’s touching raw chicken. I won’t go into details, but I’ll just say that I try to do it as little as possible.
If you’re a regular reader of the blog you know that I always have really low prices listed for my boneless, skinless chicken breast. That’s because I pretty much only buy it when it is on sale. After I buy the chicken I immediately divide, individually wrap, and freeze the pieces for later use so that I can defrost one at a time as needed. When I first started doing this I absolutely hated the chore of wrapping and freezing the chicken… until I discovered this little trick!
This simple technique allows you to wrap each piece of chicken quickly and cleanly, with barely any chicken-skin contact. Woot! Prepare to have your eyes opened.
How to Divide and Freeze Chicken
Step 1: Get your supplies out. You’ll need fold-top sandwich bags and one gallon sized freezer bag (or two if you’re prepping a lot of chicken). Label the freezer bag with the contents and date so that if the chicken ever gets lost in the freezer you’ll at least know what it is when you find it.
Step 2: Get ready. I like to fold back the opening of the freezer bag so that I can just slide the wrapped chicken breasts in without touching the outside of the bag (I’m trying to spread as little raw chicken juice as possible). I also take out the number of fold-top sandwich bags needed (one per chicken breast), so that I won’t be reaching into the box of sandwich bags with sticky chicken hands.
Step 3: Protect your hand. Take one of the sandwich bags and invert it over your hand so that it is inside out and covering your hand. Open the chicken package and use the covered hand to grab one of the breasts…
Step 4: Now simply flip the sandwich bag right side out and around the chicken breast. Fold the flap in to enclose the chicken breast. Now it’s neatly wrapped in its own little package and you’ve had minimal contact with the chicken. Yay!
Step 5: Slide the wrapped chicken breast into the freezer bag and repeat the process with the rest of the chicken. The thin sandwich bag keeps frost from building up on the surface of the chicken and the thick freezer bag keeps air out and prevents freezer burn. Now you have a freezer full of chicken ready to be defrosted whenever you need it! And that whole process only took about five minutes.
Note: Even though this process is virtually mess-free, you’ll want to wash your hands well and disinfect your countertops afterward. Salmonella is not fun and you don’t want to chance small amounts of it contaminating other foods.
Got any cool tips for freezing your food? Share them in the comments below!
I do something similar, but your way definitely keeps less air out. So I should consider doing it this way. I also prefer to trim my breasts of any fat so that I have one less thing to do when I’m ready to use the chicken. :)
Great tips! I need to make these packs of breasts last a little longer. Way too much money is spent using them all at once.
I don’t mind handling the chicken that much, but the thought that it may have contaminated the counter is always in the back of my mind.
I have always divided and frozen my chicken, ground beef, and certain cuts of pork. I also freeze my steaks but do that in their original cuts. With my chicken I actually cut it portions that I will use at one time. I make 4 and 6 oz portions (4 for lunch 6 for dinners) and then bags of several smaller left over pieces (usually ~1 oz each and about 12 oz in each bag) for when I am making a casserole or similar that requires small pieces or shredded chicken. It thaws much faster and I don’t need to worry about measuring my portions every day just when I prep it all. I also use the baggie-glove technique and find it much better since I hate handling raw chicken. Awesome Blog!
Just curious– a lot of places sell the frozen chicken breasts in bags and it usually ends up being cheaper than “fresh” chicken. (I think it’s usually 8-9 dollars for 3lbs.) Is there a benefit of the “fresh” over the frozen?
Not in my opinion. :)
Can chicken not be cooked straight from frozen? I have done this more than once and was never sick… so why fuss over defrosting?
It’s not a guarantee that you’ll get sick, or even very likely that you will, but it can increase the chances of bacterial proliferation, depending on the way it’s cooked and handled. So, it’s just a safeguard. When it starts out frozen, it can sometimes take too long for it to heat up and reach a safe temperature, which means it spends a prolonged amount of time in that temperature range that bacteria like.
Careful with those, often the frozen ones at my disocunt grocery store are “seasoned” which basically means they injected them with about a gallon of salt. It increases the weight of each breast (trickery!), and makes the sodium content ridiculous. Check the ingredients and the back of the package. Legally, where I live they must include the amount of sodium per seving and the % of recommended daily intake when they add stuff like sodium. Last time I saw this deal it was like 50% of my RDI of sodium in each breast.
I have a serious raw meat aversion and sanitize the counters/sink anytime I cook meat (read: almost daily) it cracks my husband up. But, no salmonella around here. What makes me cringe is being at another person’s home and watching them handle/cook meat. I want to go behind them with a Clorox wipe. ;)
This is exactly how I freeze my raw chicken and beef. When I get ready to cook them, I always wear gloves. The thought of handling raw meat grosses me out too!
I would place two or three chicken breasts wrapped in aluminum foil, write the date, and put them in the freezer. The main reason that I would use aluminum foil is to prevent freezer burn! There are times where I have to touch the raw chicken breasts, and trim some of the solid white fat off-which kind of grosses me out! Honestly, this is a good idea, and I’m willing to give it a try!!
I had to show this whole tutorial to my house mates! It was a fast way to convince them to bulk buy chicken and freezing it hassle free :D
When in college, you gotta save money everywhere!
My sister and I are trying to save money on groceries! Although we’re not college students (I’m returning to school in January next year), we’re trying to find creative ways to cut corners, and cook scrumptious meals. Let’s NOT forget leftovers!!
Just found your awesome blog thanks to Reddit.
Was just wondering if you have any tips for thawing your frozen chicken quickly! Mine always seems to either still be frozen in the middle or be slightly cooked at the edges if I try to microwave defrost it!
Unfortunately I don’t know of any short cuts with this. I usually put it in the fridge the day before. :P If you have it in a zip top bag, you can try running cool water over it until it thaws, but that just uses so much water.
When I defrost my chicken (because I almost always forget to defrost it ahead of time), I put hot water in a bowl and put my chicken in there in a ziploc. I recommend getting all the air out so it doesn’t float as much. Usually defrosts in 30 mins.
Fill your sink with really hot water and put the chicken in it and let it defrost in it all day or until thawed(and remember to keep adding hot water when it starts getting to a lukewarm point). My family has always done it like this. Just make sure to wrap it in foil, put it in a bag, or something like that to prevent water seeping in and adding to the chicken juices(bigger mess = not fun!). ^_^
If you would like to thaw you frozen meat faster than 30 minutes put the meat still wrapped on a pan in the sink with warm water running over it until it is thawed, usually about 15 minutes but this is an astronomical waste of water, best to use it only in a pinch.
Set the wrapped frozen meat on a cast aluminum or cast iron pan. There are also cast aluminum defrosting trays you can buy, Amazon sells them, but a heavyweight pan works just as well. It may take an hour or two, but definitely not all day. Only use this method if you will be cooking or refrigerating the meat as soon as it’s defrosted.
As a fellow germaphobe, I’m wondering how you rinse the chicken and get it to the pan. What’s your technique? I absolutely despise doing the rinse before I cook it!
I don’t rinse my chicken. Anything that is on there will die during cooking, so no need to rinse. Plus, rinsing can actually splatter germs onto your sink and surrounding areas. I do end up touching the chicken a little when I transfer it to the pan or cooking vessel, but at least I skipped touching it the first time around. ;)
I use this method to separate chicken and other meats and then once in the freezer bag I insert a straw and seal on either side to the straw and suck the air out of the bag and finish seal. Creates an almost perfect vacuum seal.
I know that it may be a great seal but I think it would be kind of unsafe to suck the air out of a bag of raw meat.
I hadn’t thought of this for chicken, but I do something similar with ground beef! I divide most of my ground beef into freezer bags, because when I use it in pastas I never notice a big difference between a 1/2 lb and full lb in the sauce. Saves me a ton of $!
I also divide up bacon by separating it into 4-6 slices, putting them horizontally in a gallon freezer bag, then putting the next set in with just a little room to spare. Then I fold up the bag and stick it in the freezer– and when I want bacon I just pull out a frozen section and stick it on the frying pan.
Your freezer methods are perfect for those who live alone. Rouse’s has chicken thighs on sale for 88 cents! I don’t mind boning them myself. Defeats the “no touch” thing but I get free broth out of the deal.
I just did this! Sanderson Farms boneless skinless chicken breasts are currently buy 1 get 2 at Albertsons so I got 6 packs of chicken for $28 :D
I did this tonight……. Genius!
I do pretty much the same thing. I also label each individual baggie with the weight of the chicken breast, since they can vary so much. That way when I need a specified weight of chicken, I get much closer in my estimate.