Freezing a fresh turkey (with a leak!)

[jfmorris]

I made one purchase on Black Friday. We were at Sam's Club, and they had the fresh turkeys marked down to 59 cents per pound, so I picked up an 18 pounder for a family cook. I took two 20 pounders to my sister in laws for Thanksgiving, and the crowd wiped them out. I came back with just enough left overs for ONE turkey sandwich!

Ok, so here's where this is going. The tag on the turkey says to use or freeze by Dec 3. I just thought of popping it in the freezer, then pulling out a few days before Christmas, and throwing it onto the kettle then. But then I went into the fridge over the weekend, and found a puddle of myoglobin had leaked out on the shelf where the turkey was resting in the garage fridge. OF COURSE I picked up the turkey with a hole in the bag! My luck. I cleaned up the mess and then double backed it in a kitchen trash bag.

So, the question to the food experts here in the pit - can I freeze this turkey as planned, or do I need to just man up and cook it for eating this week? With a pin hole leak, my concern is it will be too dried out after freezing and re-thawing in a few weeks.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Jim in Huntsville

[MBMorgan]

I'd consider cooking it right away then vac-sealing meal-sized (or even serving-sized) portions for freezing.

[Steve R.]

I'm not an expert and I don't play one on tv, but I don't know that drying out is even an issue here. The water is already out of the meat and isn't going back in. Typically, when I unwrap a turkey, I have to do it over the sink to catch all the water leaking out of the bag. If freezing works best for the timing of the cook, I'd go ahead and do that, and probably inject it when it's time to cook.

[jfmorris]

You know what, considering that last night's dinner was left over chips and dip, I am thinking MBMorgan wins on this one. I think I will fully deconstruct it for ease of cooking, and throw it on the kettle one afternoon this week, and what we cannot eat, I will vacuum seal for future meals, already cooked.

First I gotta get the leaf blower out and clear a path through the drifts of leaves to my grilling area. And look at the uncovered pool with bushels of leaves at the bottom.... ugh, I hate "fall". All my neighbors leaves somehow end up in my backyard (I cut the big trees in my own back yard down years ago).

Now, off to the grinding wheel and work bench to sharpen my meat cleaver, so I can chop that turkey breast in half!

[Steve R.]

Leftover chips and dip for dinner was a key piece of information you left out earlier. Yes, definitely cook it right away!

[Ahumadora]

59c a pound, just chop it up for cat food at that price. Then go buy 10 more to freeze. Check the bags for holes.

[FireMan]

And here I thought the bird sprung a leak. I was wonderin.

[holehogg]

I imagined a new secret to freezing a bird was to add a leek and then I checked the spelling.