freezing poultry for sandwiches, etc.

[CathyE]

Does anyone have any tip for freezing sliced poultry then thawing to make a sandwich? How long does it take to thaw. Is it OK to thaw at room temp.?Obviously I don't want to microwave defrost as I want is sort of cold!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Cathy
PS same questions for freezing tuna sandwiches, or any other single serving suggestions!

[Cry Tears]

Cathy....I hope we're talking cooked poulty here.
I'd slice it up BEFORE freezing it and put into individual plastic wrap or containers.
I'd try thawing in microwave just for few seconds till is thawed.

Or thaw in cold water as long as its wrapped tightly.
Will take long time if just left in the refer to thaw.
Cold water will transfer the cold temp out of the frozen foods.
When I used to eat meat...I used to thaw my poultry in cold water over nite, but made sure it was covered with the cold water.
I'm not sure how safe this is...as I've read it isn't when Salmonellas are present in raw foods...ya just never know!
Good luck with this...a cold anything sounds good today! Its 95* out right now!
Blessings, cheryl

[moose53]

((((((Cathy)))))),

I learned a little trick for dinners. It might translate well for your sandwiches.

When I get meat from the grocery store, I portion it into single servings and place it on cookie sheets just until it freezes. So ... 1-1/2 pounds of hamburger, I would make into 4 hamburger patties and 8 meatballs -- freeze it on the cookie sheet, then seal it into a seal-bag. Then you can take out as much as you want.

When I freeze my dinner meats -- pork chops, steak, boneless chicken breast, I put them all on a cookie sheet in the freeze just until they freeze and the seal them into seal-bags. You can take out one or two or however many you need and cook right from the freezer. I usually cook 10 minutes on each side on a medium burner. Or you can brown the frozen meatballs and then throw them into the spaghetti sauce (I don't like breadcrumbs or seasoning in my meatballs, just the ground beef).

If you sliced your chicken (for example) and placed the individual slices on a cookie sheet in the freezer just until they freeze, then seal portions (maybe 2 or 3 slices into seal-bags), you could place the seal-bag containing an individual serving of frozen chicken next to your sandwich fixings. By lunch-time, the meat would be thawed and you could assemble the sandwich.

I wouldn't freeze tuna salad -- don't think the mayo would survive the freezing. But, what you might do is put the tuna and the fixings (I make my tuna salad either with celery and onion or celery and cucumber) in a seal-bag. Put a small container of mayo into a small thermos with ice in it. The ice could be used for a beverage at lunch-time. And you could open the tuna plus fixings bag and mix with the mayo and you're all set. Actually, they have small flip-top cans of tuna that you could use to make sandwiches. I was thinking of putting the de-canned tuna into a seal-bag so you don't have deal with the tuna-oil or tuna-water. My kitties get that :p

If you have things that have mayo in them -- like tuna salad or egg salad, they need to be refrigerated, you can use one of those bags of blue freezable stuff to keep them cold enough and safe until lunch-time.

Hope this helps.

Barb

[CathyE]

Thanks Cheryl & Barb, some good ideas!
And Yes, I meant COOKED poulrty! :D

I will try the cookie sheet trick! Funny, I've thought of that for other foods, but not for the chicken slices!

Cathy