You know we raised a bulk batch of free range organic chickens at the end of last summer to provide for our family through the winter. We still have a lot of chickens left. A lot. Over 20 for certain. The problem is that we have 1/8th of a grass fed cow on the way, in about 2 weeks. And somehow we have to make room in the freezers. We have 3 freezers in the house (ridiculous, isn't it?) and they are all fairly full. In case you're thinking that 1/8th of a cow couldn't be that much - well - it's SIXTY pounds of beef that we need to find room for!
Here's the current state of our deep freezer. There is some room, but not 60 pounds worth of room. Yes, it needs a defrosting. My husband just piled all the chickens on top - which makes it difficult to know exactly what all is on the bottom. When I suggested that next year we put chickens on the bottom, he said, "Well you should just eat the chickens faster." Wow, helpful, dear husband!
We've got more chickens in this little top freezer. Also quite a few salsas from the garden last summer. I know there are frozen cooked veggies in the deep freezer too, but they are all buried in the bottom where I can't get to them.
We've certainly been eating a lot of chicken lately! I've also dug out zucchini bread, tomato pies, and pumpkin cookies all from last summer. So fun to get to eat the spoils from the garden. Wish us luck as we try to make our way through much of this in the next 2 weeks! Chicken again, anyone?
What's in your freezer?
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I can't wait to go visiting those who link up to see through your eyes the rural life. And Happy Groundhog Day!
Perhaps you should organize a chicken-and-noodle supper and use the proceeds to buy another deep freeze! It's so wonderful that you're able to grow/raise your own food and benefit from it year round :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're posting early today, It's still Wednesday night and I haven't gone to bed yet. Believe it or not, I have seen freezers looking MUCH worse! I think chicken doesn't freeze as long as beef? When we lived in an apartment, we had an upright freezer. I LOVED it! Then when we bought our house, we had no room for the freezer, kind of backwards, huh? I really miss it! We just have a small freezer compartment on top of the fridge now...
ReplyDeleteThats alot of meat my friend. Holy chickens lol. I wish my freezer looked like that.
ReplyDeleteSo cold this morning my chook coops were like outdoor freezers, also full of frozen chickens!
ReplyDeleteYour larder is fantastic. Just how it should be.
Does anyone make some sort of freezer baskets to organise it easier for you?
I like this post. I just found your blog (from TexWisGirl's) and I am glad to know my wife and I aren't the only ones whose freezer gets disorganized from time to time!
ReplyDeleteHappy Groundhog Day! Totally forgot :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for showing us your real freezer - it's nice to know that there are others just like me who just chuck things in and hope they can find them later!!
Oh gosh... I meant to participate in this today but didn't get out and take any photos unfortunately. I grew up in a very small town in Iowa and we always had a freezer full like that too. Hubby and I no longer have a separate freezer since it's just the two of us to feed, so my side by side overflows from time to time.
ReplyDeleteOh... you can never have too much chicken in the freezer. Salsa? Did someone say SALSA??? her her
I hope your boys like chicken! !!happy groundhog day!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one that stuggles with the freezer. ha! I would much prefer an upright one but at least I have one so I won't complain.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could ever tire of chicken.
That is a lot of chicken! I don't know if I could find recipes to use all of that up
ReplyDeleteI would not even show you a picture of what my freezer looks like. It is such a mess that I can't find anything. I try to clean it out and then need something that is way in back..... It gets messed up as fast as I can straighten it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at your fridge I feel that soon will come the end of the world! :D
ReplyDeleteMy husband could eat chicken every night!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow..that is a lot of chicken! I wish my kids would eat it!No go in that department but I love it!
ReplyDeleteI am with Jenny in thinking you all need another freezer.
ReplyDeletesounds like you need to separate your freezers into chicken, beef and veggies! :)
ReplyDeleteSomething I learned through the years is to not over stock the freezer. One needs to understand how much of certain items will get used, rather than waste space and eventually product.If you have excess look for sources who can use them, church or communtiy kitchens and share.
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud! I organized our freezer last fall and it's still pretty nice and neat so I can find what I have--some beef, peaches, zucchini, beans, tomatoes, pumpkin, blueberries, strawberries and peppers.
ReplyDeleteCurrently my freezer has about a dozen beer mugs, some Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, a daiquari mixer, and a bottle of vodka. I'm beginning to wonder about myself;)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sending others to Barn Charm, very much appreciated... Rural Thursday will run hand-in-hand w/ Barn Charm & it'll be great for posting my barns! =)
ReplyDeleteChest freezers! Bah! We have an upright -- but it's just a jammed. I've been hacking away at the venison from last year and it's almost gone. Good luck with the chicken!! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Groundhog Day to you too. we don't have it in Portugal and I only know about it because of the movie. you have three small kids and still have time to practice to marathons! that is awesome. congratulations :)
ReplyDelete~ wonderland
Rhubarb, Lisa. Lots, and lots of rhubarb:)
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I wish I lived a rural life! :)
ReplyDeleteLike another commenter, I know there used to be baskets to organize the frozen food. Good luck with eating chickens; y'all will be probably be clucking yourselves before it's over. :)
i really need to clean out my deep freezer. It is packed full of homegrown peaches, cherries, black berries, green beans, tomatoes and who know what else. Good luck eating up the chicken. Love the rural thursday hop...hope i can remember to post each week.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the draw backs to a full freezer,what is residing on the bottom! But I had rather have to look for for what I want,than to not have it. Blessings Jane
ReplyDeleteugh, i hate digging through my freezer! right now i have a roast, lots o chicken breasts and a few pounds of ground beef....i really need to get another freezer though!
ReplyDeletehappy groundhog day!
We had a deep freezer about 25 years ago. Our houses since then just haven't had a place for them.
ReplyDeleteNo basements in California! Now I have a built in refrigerator, side by side and it hold nothing much at all. Very frustrating. Enjoy eating your chicken and making room in your freezer.
Wow you have a neat freezer full of food! Mine is a mess but full
ReplyDeleteLisa, we just got back from Safeway and stocked up. So my freezer is now packed, too. Only I wish mine was packed with what you have in yours. Free range, organic chicken. Yum. Good luck with the freezer thing.
ReplyDeleteugh. my freezers need de-frosting as well but not any time soon. it should be done in cold weather but that's the least likely time I'll do it...vicious cycle, don't you know. thanks for inviting me to the blog hop; I'm finally here and posted.
ReplyDeleteBaby Girl, I'm glad your freezers are full....but, if you & honey need a freezer, there's one in the garage, unplugged. Let me know, I'll give you the code to the garage & you can plug it in & use it!...:)JP
ReplyDeleteHappy groundhog day. And I don't have anything like that - you guys could feed all of us at a party at your house. lol sandie
ReplyDeleteLovely to visit and meet you Lisa!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of great stuff in your freezer. We have pizza in ours. Not so great.....
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed visiting the others in this blog hop - I love seeing all the other rural themed posts!
I am SO not a farm/rural girl...but when you say you raised the chicken for eating...do you send them somewhere to be butchered and processed? Do you do that yourself? I'm just curious. We are thinking of buying a quarter of a cow this spring, but we'll get that from our local meat market. It is so much cheaper to buy it that way!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wish we were more then a grain farm, but really we're farming 15,000 acres and over run as it is already...I know exactly what the hubby would say to chickens or cattle... heck to the no! lol
ReplyDeleteI'll live through you though! ;-)
So glad you are hosting this wonderful blog hop! I thought I was going to have to buy another freezer this summer to hold all the goat milk I was freezing. It's still stuffed full, but I might be having kids that need milk before too long.
ReplyDeleteAs a goat, I am an herbivore and don't have a freezer. We do have a barn full of yummy hay though!
ReplyDeleteMy little freezer was empty until yesterday! lol I put some ham in it I bought at Sams yesterday. I have room for some chicken! lol
ReplyDeleteYou could make some chicken salad, chicken soup and chicken with pasta, baked chicken. I would eat from the freezer for the next two weeks!
Lisa
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me, so I ended up canning my chicken. It's so handy just to grab a jar of already cooked chicken for soup or noodles.
Of course, I'm sure you've got all the time in the world to can. wink!
I know those freezers must come in really handy for families with children that live farther from town. But I live a mile from the grocery store, and a couple of miles from the farmers market. I don't even own a deep freeze, just the little freezer in my side by side refrigerator. I like buying fresh each week. There are only two of us at home and we couldn't possibly eat through a freezer full of food fast enough. So i have icecubes, a few frozen veggies, some icecream from time to time, or fruit popsicles in the summer. During the holidays when I've got kids home and I'm cooking huge feasts, I use it more. But the remainder of the year, not so much.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this hop! How wonderful to have home raised organic chicken, I love chickens, I have only raised them for eggs. When we get back on property, I am looking forward to raising my own organic chicken as well. Our poor Fridge freezer is always stuffed too, leftovers from the summer garden, bargains etc. Can't wait to get a freezer for the garage. :)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you have so much food stored up! Like you, I'd have a hard time remembering everything I have in there. I just have tiny bits of things and I still lose track!
ReplyDeleteI NEED to clean out my freezer asap!
ReplyDeleteI Just realized I never followed you via Google + - so just did that!
Thanks for participating in the Mom Loop Friday Follow each weak D!
Shannon
MilkandCuddles.com
One year, we ended up with about (20) frozen whole chickens that someone gave us (unplanned). I didn't have room for them as we just ended a hunting season so freezers were semi full. I took a weekend and cooked most of the chickens in crock pots. I stuck them in frozen on high. In a 5-6 hours when the meat fell off the bone I would stick in more frozen birds.haha. I repeated this (even thru the night but on low) until they were all cooked. I deboned the chickens and shredded the meat. I froze the meat in ziploc bags so I could freeze them flat (about 2-3 cups portions, small family). Now when I get home frm work, I take a bag out and make chicken fajitas, chicken and dumplings, chicken salad, whatever recipe calls for chicken. It ended up being so nice and saving room! It was so nice and handy, I still do it to this day when whole chicken are on sale. Oh yeah, I get the juices and bones and made broth which I froze in ziploc bags, flat for soups.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the zuchini bread, a couple years ago I quit making the bread and freezing it to save room. I now grate my zuchinni, measure out what I need to make my bread and freeze it in ziploc bags, flat. When I want zuchinni bread, I take it out, thaw it and whip up a batch. I was told to drain the zuchini before using after after thawing, but I don't. It makes it soooo moist!
Hope this helps with the freezer issues! BTW...we have (3) freezers too and there is only two of us :0
When I was growing up, my mom used to buy half a cow. Yes it was a ton of meat to find room for. We eat a ton of chicken these days. My two freezers are jam packed. We try hard to eat out of the freezer a few times a week, making a full meal from what's in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a big chest freezer again! things do tend to get lost down in there, though. Maybe you need to visit Pioneer Woman and get some new recipes for chicken dishes :0)
ReplyDeletei see i am here....so the links show up both on both blogs. did everyone else know that??
ReplyDeletemy freezer doesn't have much in it. i don't cook too often (the nest is empty) and when i do, i usually buy fresh ingredients!!
I would be happy to help you out in getting rid of some of that salsa!That is quite a bit of chicken you have there. You need to try out the chicken recipe I posted a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteI love that you guys raise free range so you can eat healthy! We bought some free range chickens and a quarter pig a few years ago and it was amazing how much food it was!
ReplyDeleteI could just hold that beef for you for a while...our new (used/new to us) freezer is empty...just waitin' for the beef!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for co-hosting this great blog hop!