Who Are You Calling Chicken?! April 18, 2012 – Posted in: Cooking, Family

I’ve always made it a priority to save money. I’ve blogged a little about using coupons and I believe DIY is the best way to keep cash in your pocket. So this post kind of combines the two ideas.

I recently learned of this great company. Zaycon Foods cuts out the middle man in meat! A friend of mine won a giveaway on a blog and was able to try the chicken for free. Since then I’ve know several people who have ordered and loved it. I missed the chicken event in my area and right before we moved they had a beef event. But since we were moving and things were so crazy I passed on it, too. So this time, I jumped on the chicken delivery and I’m so glad I did!

Zaycon currently has events all over the country for chicken, beef, bacon and several types of fish. Browse around their website to see if they’re in your area if you’re interested. I signed up for email notifications so I didn’t have to remember to check frequently.

So, I ordered my 40 lbs of chicken last Tuesday. My total was $60 after tax! I couldn’t believe it–$1.50 per pound for fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It’s never been frozen, hormone free, and straight from the processor. Just to compare, Kroger has chicken on sale for $2.29 this week! I went Saturday to pick up my box at a local church. It was super easy, I pulled in, gave them my name, they put down a thick piece of plastic in my trunk, put my box on it, and I drove away!

I didn’t have a chance to divide my order up until yesterday. The box was heavy (it’s 40 pounds!) and a little intimidating at first. I noticed this label on the side and I assume that means my chicken was processed on the 11th. I picked it up just 3 days later!

When I opened the box I discovered a large sealed bag with smaller bags of chicken inside it.

I couldn’t believe how HUGE the breasts are! They’re butterflied so I got to work separating them and trimming off the fat pieces.

                          

I spent about an hour and a half cleaning and preparing them. It took me a lot longer than it should have because I had to feed kids and wipe bottoms and break up fights and play another episode of Octonauts and each time I had to wash my hands and dry them well and make sure I wasn’t dripping in chicken juice. Kidless? 45 minutes tops. When I was finished I had a whole dish of diced chicken, a ton of breasts, and a bunch of strips (covered by more breasts because I ran out of space!).

This is my trimmings pile. I’m very weirded out by anything on a piece of chicken that’s not a pink, edible piece of meat. Meaning I over-butcher. Most piles would probably be a lot smaller than mine. I had a serious aversion to raw poultry while pregnant and I’ve never been able to overcome it!

Then I wrapped and bagged everything up according to meals. In my box was 37 breasts total (the very last piece was a lone breast so it was an odd amount), which came to TWENTY meals! That breaks down to just $3 per meal for 2 pounds of prepared chicken! At Kroger, on sale, that would run me $4.58 and I’d still have to cut off all the fat and yucky parts to get it all cleaned up and ready to cook. The best part about this is that it’s all ready to go! No cutting or trimming, just defrost and make and eat.

My extra freezer is starting to fill up and I’m so excited! I’m eagerly waiting on the beef to come around again and crossing my fingers that the tilapia makes its way here soon.

**Zaycon Foods did not provide me with any money or product for this post. They have no idea who I am or that I’m writing this. I just want to share my penny pinching ways with the world and let others in on a great deal!

If you decide to give Zaycon a shot, I’d appreciate you guys registering with my referral number! https://www.zayconfoods.com/refer/zf89711