Freezing Bulk Meat in One Bag

[treillw]

Got 40 pounds of chicken breast for a little over a dollar a pound. It comes in one giant bag. I'd like to break it up into smaller portions and freeze it.

What is a good way to protect the chicken from the freezer and still keep it in a bulk form? I don't want to blow all my savings on freezer bags, or I'll have spent as much money and created a bunch of extra work for myself.

I was thinking of wrapping them in saran wrap or freezing individually on a cookie sheet initially and then putting them all into a giant freezer bag of some sort. Maybe a contractor trash bag, or plastic container, but neither of those options seem like a great plan.

Are there any like 5 gallon freezer bags out there? What has worked for you?

Thanks!

 

[2muchhp]

I use saran wrap first then freezer paper. I use this on chicken, burger etc. I don't have any problems for several months. Pretty inexpensive also. I use to vacuum pack and got tired of buying the material.

 

[Boarmaster]

If I get a great deal on bulk chicken I will buy it. I vacpavk it in the size portion I likely will use. Its more expensive but for smaller packs I buy premade bags on sales when I see them. I process my own game and buy bulk quite frequently year after year so my bags , rolls and vacpacker wasn't a one time use thing. I have a better one these days but before that
i had a $100 run of the mill foodsaver countertop model that worked great for 6 years.

 

[Huntin_GI]

If its all the same cut, might consider cutting it frozen. A serated blade makes its pretty easy and then you aren't dealing with thawing such. Just eyeball it and weigh to get an idea of how much per chunk. I've done this in the past when I had a frozen block of elk grind and it worked out nicely.

 

[LongWayAround]

I would put 2-4 breasts in quart freezer ziplocks and squeeze the air out. Then load those into 2.5 gallon ziplocks to be organized in the freezer.

 

[GringoBling]

Vacuum sealing is by far the best way to maximize freezer life without freezer burn. It's not like the bags are all that expensive.

 

[WoodBow]

No need to re-bag after saran wrapping. Wrap em and stack em.

Personally I would put them in Quart ziplocs in the portions i plan to consume at a time. Ziplocs are cheap. I don't think you are at risk of negating your savings.

 

[highcountrymuley]

There are 2 gall freezer ziplocs out there. Don't use contractor bags as they have pesticides in them. Saran or butcher/ freezer paper.

 

[WCB]

My wife takes bulk chicken breast breaks them into portions. Portions go into quart bags then into large gallon or 2 gallon zip locks. She washes the quart bags so we don't go through so many bags.