What to freeze whole chicken in?

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padavali

padavali

In the Brooder
6 Years
Apr 3, 2013
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I have 14 meat birds that are going in on Thursday morning to be butchered. I will be getting the chicken back whole and they won't be bagged or anything. I am having a hard time figuring out what to package them in to be frozen. I found 2 gallon freezer ziploc bags on Amazon, wondering if that is what others use or if they have a better suggestion and if that will even be big enough?

IF we decide we are going to do more chickens in the future for meat, then I am sure we will end up with a vacuum bag sealer thing but for now, this batch, that won't be happening. I am going to guess the chickens will come back in the 4-5 lb range...

Thanks for any suggestions in advance! Dianna
 
I have double bagged my whole chickens in a pinch. The first bag, squeeze out as much air as possible and then put into a second ziplock bag and again get air out. I have used a straw slipped into the corner of the second bag and sucked out as much air as poss and then quick seal it. Being very careful not to contaminate the outside of the first bag with juice. You should have patted the chicken dry prior to placing in the bag.
 
Thanks! What size of bag did you use? a 2 gallon would be big enough you think?
 
Elke Beck said:
For 4 -5 pound dressed weight I have used 1 gallon bags. Any larger, you need the 2 gallon, or I just wrap in plastic wrap and then foil.
Click to expand...
A third possibility is to get as dry as possible, and then wrapping the bird in plastic wrap....making sure that the entire surface of the chicken is in contact with the the saran wrap. This is to prevent pockets of air between the chicken and the plastic wrap....that air is what causes freezer burn. After wrapping in saran wrap, then place in plastic bag. Just another option to consider.
 
This is what I use: http://poultryshrinkbags.blogspot.com/

I think the results are very tidy and attractive and I just recently used my last chicken from the summer of 2012 and there was no freezer burn or anything. I've also used them for shrink wrapping and freezing 1/2 chickens with excellent results. They're really easy to use too.

Here's a photo of my first butchering attempt.
This is a 9 week old Freedom Ranger rooster, about 4.5 pounds.
 
Last edited:
I also get my shrink bags from http://poultryshrinkbags.blogspot.com/ . This requires a big stock pot, and some kind of metal basket to hold the bird as you dip it in the hot water, plus a pair of long BBQ tongs to hold it down underwater.

Another option that may be cheaper than Ziploc bags is these large plastic bags from King Arthur Flour: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/all-purpose-bags

I don't use them for long term freezing, but they work for the few chickens that will be cooked within the week, and for the necks/wings/backs that I save for stock when I'm cutting up some of them to freeze in parts.

-Wendy
 
never used it but read here some people use those shrink wrapping type food storage machines/bags from what I read they work best when dealing with parted and not whole chickens. I have someone butcher mine for me.
 

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