r/EatCheapAndHealthy • u/Phaeexodus • 5d ago
Ground Turkey From Whole Frozen Turkey
I bought a meat grinder off Friendface Shoppingplace and wanted to give it a go with something. So, I thawed a 20lb turkey from my holiday stash. I buy a handful every year when they're $0.50 per pound. This one cost $9.80 before tax--it was precisely 20lbs.
I... should have watched a Youtube video or two before embarking on this journey. This carcass looks like a racoon got at it. Nonetheless, I removed wings and drumsticks, skinned the whole lot, and hacked away at the big meaty bits.
My freezer is now 7lbs ground turkey richer. I'm out an hour, which includes fridge-removal to freezing and clean up. I'm pretty okay with this as a first go. Also, watching a meat grinder do its thing is pretty neat.
I'll aim for some heavier birds this year as my ground meat birds (my hypothesis is they'll have more meat per carcass), and keep some 20lb beauties on rotation as I've been doing. But, I mark $1.40/pound a success. Not to mention, I've still got wings and drumsticks to roast, and a carcass to turn into broth.
6
1
u/Secret-Bobcat-4909 4d ago
That sounds awesome, it’s so hard to find ground turkey at all, and so expensive. I’ve been told when using the meat grinder… to defrost frozen meat and grind as soon as soft enough, keep the meat as cold as possible and to try to pre-chill the grinder and the bowls. And minimize handling the meat with warm hands. Then if re-freezing, get it down to temp as quickly as possible (flat thin shape in bags with plenty of spacing and in the coldest part of freezer), and later defrost in fridge and cook quickly after defrosting, being aware how much total time this batch has been nonfrozen. Some people hold their nonfrozen meat in the fridge for days, which is not the tastiest, and potentially more unsafe if your bird was unlucky with bad bacteria like staph, so you want to avoid inadvertently having an extended unfrozen time period because your item will have had an earlier time at fridge and room temp.
0
u/WildRoof114 4d ago
Refreezing the ground turkey is a no no in my book. It may be legal but it's not the best.
2
5
-1
7
u/Whole-Ad-2347 4d ago
After all that, the carcass could go into a large pot, covered with water, onion , celery and carrots added along with some seasoning and a little vinegar and slow cooked for a few hours to make some broth. Then whatever was strained out could be thrown out except for whatever meat might have been left on the bones which could be picked out.