Author Topic: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!  (Read 6249 times)

szmaine

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Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« on: March 23, 2014, 12:17:24 PM »
We buy extra turkeys when they are on sale at TG to put in or chest freezer.
Discovered today that the chest freezer has died and am now stuck 3 14lb mostly thawed turkey's and 1 chicken and one corned beef. The meat is fine, no spoilage and the freezer was in an unheated space so pretty sure it just happened over the past couple days since it's been pretty cold here still.

Anyway, I've looked online and know I can freeze the meat once cooked and have my husband picking up some bigger ziplock. But there will also be a massive amount of broth and gravy. We now just have the fridge freeze which is good size but about half full.

I figure I might be able to freeze the liquids flat in ziplocks too...
Any ideas or helpful hints appreciated to maximize storage with efficient packaging and prep.

Just took bird one out, started bird two.

warfreak2

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2014, 12:22:35 PM »
Host a Christmas Dinner for 30 people. Yes, in March.

lizzzi

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2014, 12:33:15 PM »
Is that 314 lbs. of turkeys, or three--14 lb. turkeys? I agree with Warfreak--you had better have a party. Otherwise, I do think that freezing as flat as possible in zip locks is probably the most efficient way to store all that. Do you have a relative or close friend who could keep some of it for you? Any chance some could be kept in freezer facilities in your church, school, or workplace? Are you replacing the freezer right away, so your storage at other places would just be temporary?

szmaine

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2014, 12:41:46 PM »
Haha! Thanks but not gonna happen.

Is there anyway I could be wrong about the food safety issue, I wonder....the freezer was at 40 degrees when discovered but like I said it's been pretty cold until this past week...there was still some ice crystals in the interior. About what I'd expect from thawing a bird in the fridge over a few days.

It is 3 - 14lb turkeys.

We will look into a new freezer ASAP. This was alway kinda big for us anyway but came with the house. I will see if I can borrow so freezer space temporarily but I doubt it.


szmaine

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2014, 12:42:41 PM »
You can boil down the stock to reduce it and it'll take up no space at all to store. Then I'd shred all the carcasses and freeze them in 1-2 cup portions. Press the air out and you'll be able to cram a lot in the freezer.

http://thecookinggeek.com/chicken-stock-cubes/

That's an excellent tip! Thanks!

lizzzi

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2014, 12:52:15 PM »
If there's any question at all about food safety, it's probably best to just pitch it out. Better to be safe than sorry.

szmaine

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2014, 01:08:09 PM »
I think we are ok safety wise...I looked up the temps for the past week or so and it's only reached highs of  38-40 for the past 4 days, about 20 at night. The attached shed where the freezer stays at outside temperatures. So I thinks since there was still a clump of ice crystals in the center they can't have been thawing that long..

Plus I ate a liver 3 hrs ago and feel fine :)

DollarBill

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2014, 04:55:30 PM »
I think you'd be fine cooking and freezing. You said they were still frozen when you caught it. I had a deep freezer (found in perfect order at a dump site) filled it with goodies. I always wondered if it was a good idea to fill it and take the chance that it would go bad or if it cost more to fill it. I remember having 10 lbs of lobster in it and thought I better hurry to eat it before something failed. I ended up selling it for $150 so I think I made a good choice.

szmaine

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2014, 05:17:43 PM »
Well, I did read up extensively on the subject all day while cooking them and feel we'll be fine. They did have a chuck of frozen ice crystals in the center that fell out when they were opened up and that wouldn't still be there if thawing was longer that a few days at fridge temps. Anyway, I cooked them very thoroughly to 180. Turned out well...very hard to dry out modern turkey.

Pretty sure I'm going to fit all the meat in the freezer after all since we'll eat one this week.

warfreak2

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2014, 05:24:29 PM »
I'm not invited for Christmas dinner then? ;-)

MrsPete

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2014, 06:27:02 AM »
When our freezer died, we couldn't eat it all, so we gifted it around to neighbors.  Yes, we lost the benefit of the food, but we did help others and built goodwill. 

reginna

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2014, 08:11:36 AM »
When our freezer died, we couldn't eat it all, so we gifted it around to neighbors.  Yes, we lost the benefit of the food, but we did help others and built goodwill.

What a very nice gesture Mrs. Pete.

netskyblue

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2014, 08:58:33 AM »
Do you can?

You can roast them all, eat one over the next week, then shred & can one.  It's not the BEST but it's shelf stable and that's what I use in soups & casseroles.  Sometimes enchiladas, too.

And canned turkey stock...YUM!  That's my favorite!

szmaine

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2014, 11:00:17 AM »
Do you can?

You can roast them all, eat one over the next week, then shred & can one.  It's not the BEST but it's shelf stable and that's what I use in soups & casseroles.  Sometimes enchiladas, too.

And canned turkey stock...YUM!  That's my favorite!

No I don't can, I always wanted to learn...

Its working out...we had turkey dinner last night and survived.
Simmered carcass #1 last night for soup later this week, husband dismantling #2 and packing today, and cooking #3. Have about a quart of pan dripping for gravy so far. Its working out fine. Good thing we love turkey stew with dumplings!

Misstachian

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2014, 11:52:34 AM »
Too late for this time, but this is a favorite soup from Test Kitchen. This might not help your storage issues, admittedly.

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup Recipe
Why this recipe works:

Turkey and rice soup is a great way to make use of leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Unfortunately, all the turkey and rice soup recipes we found tasted of weak broth studded with undercooked rice and rubbery turkey. Our Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup recipe avoids these pitfalls by sautéeing and simmering the turkey carcass with vegetables and a combination of chicken broth (for flavor) and white wine (for brightness), which produced a rich, savory broth. To speed up the cooking of the rice, we added a small amount of baking soda to the soup—this helped break down the tough fibers in the rice and reduced our cooking time by about 15 minutes. Adding the leftover turkey at the very end of cooking ensured that it stayed tender.

Serves 6 to 8

Leftover turkey wings, thighs, or drumsticks can be used in place of the carcass.

Ingredients

Turkey Broth

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter

    2 onions, chopped (2 cups)

    1 celery rib, chopped (1/2 cup)

    1 smoked turkey or chicken carcass, cut into 4 pieces (see note)

    3 cups white wine

    6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Soup

    1 cup wild rice

    2 carrots, peeled and chopped

    1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

    1/4 teaspoon baking soda

    1/4 cup all-purpose flour

    1 cup heavy cream

    3 cups chopped cooked turkey

    Salt and pepper

Instructions

    1.  For the turkey broth: Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook onions, celery, and turkey carcass until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add wine and chicken broth and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 hour. Strain broth, discarding solids.

    2.  For the soup: Wipe out Dutch oven and toast rice over medium heat until rice begins to pop, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in turkey broth, carrots, thyme, and baking soda and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, about 1 hour.

    3. Whisk flour and cream in bowl until smooth. Slowly whisk flour mixture into soup. Add turkey and simmer until soup is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.


RootofGood

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2014, 02:30:45 PM »
You can fit an amazing amount of meat in the regular freezer compartment in your standard freezer.  I read somewhere that you get 35-40 lbs of meat into 1 cubic foot, and my very average freezer is 5.2 cu ft.  Even half full, I could put about 100 lbs of meat (well packed) into the freezer.  And I've done almost this exactly one time when I found 80 lbs of meat on sale at Aldi at nearly free or free prices ($3 off 1.5 lbs of pork chops at $1.99/lb for example). 

Glad to hear it worked out for you, szmaine.  I don't have a deep freeze, but that would be my fear if the power was out for a long time (from a hurricane, for example).  I'd hate to lose the contents of my fridge. 

szmaine

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Re: Chest freezer died...Turkey emergency!
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2014, 04:37:44 PM »
@Misstachian...not too late at all...now that the freezer is stocked up with all the fixings for future stews. I under estimated how much we could cram in there ounce they were dismantled...meat, gorgeous pan dripping jello blobs and 2 bags of bones/scraps for stock.
Thank for the recipe!! I love rice in soups and love creamy soups too.

Thanks guys...it's nice to be able to post here and get quick feedback.