Thrifty Cooking: Meals 1-3 from One Turkey

Right before Thanksgiving, I scored an 11-pound turkey for $2.92, total! I told you guys about my plans for this guy,  but instead of updating the original post, I thought a new post would be less lengthy. When I cook like this, I always leave a day where I cook something completely different, so my family doesn't get tired of the main protein. Also, except for the sandwiches, I had leftovers, so these really serve more than 5. The chicken spaghetti probably comes in at under $1 a serving!

I defrosted this turkey in my refrigerator for 3 days and bought a turkey cooking bag. I reached into the turkey and removed the neck, heart and gizzards and stuffed it with an onion, clove of garlic cut in half, and some carrots. I salted and peppered it liberally. Then, I just cooked it according to the turkey bag's directions. It took 2.5 hours and was perfect! I de-boned it and followed my normal prep for broth. It gave me 104 ounces of broth, which is equivalent to 7 and a half cans of 14-ounce broth! I froze all but 2 "cans" of broth, and I froze 2 portions of meat to be used next week, as well.

Picture of the turkey bag I used:

4 quart dish filled with turkey!

Meal 1: BLTTAC Sandwiches (Bacon, lettuce, tomato, turkey, avocado, cheese)

These were going to be wraps but I didn't get enough tortillas, so they became sandwiches instead. 

Toast the bread. Spread with mayo, if you like. Place the bacon in a 9x13 pan, turn oven to 425°, place the pan in oven and cook 25 minutes. Drain. Assemble the turkey slices (I used the white "breast pieces, bacon, Pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and avocado slices. You could simplify this sandwich by leaving out the cheese and avocado, but why would you want to? 

Ingredients:

Result:

Meal 2: Turkey Spaghetti

I used this recipe but I made a few modifications. I used 1 pound of spaghetti, about 1/2 cup more broth, homemade turkey broth in place of canned, and homemade cream of mushroom soup in place of canned. 

I have explained my broth process, but here is my cream of anything process: 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of minced onions (and in this case, lots of diced fresh mushrooms), 4 tablespoons of flour added once veggies are softened, then cook 2 minutes. Add hot chicken or veggie broth and whisk until it is as thick as you like. Add 1/4 cup of milk or cream at the end. I add salt and pepper to everything, so add to taste. 

Another change I made was to mix all the ingredients together, instead of layering it.

It was delicious!

Some of the ingredients:

The result:

Meal 3: Turkey Tacos

I took the remaining turkey meat (a lot of dark meat on purpose—this makes the best Mexican food) and placed it in a pot with my standard taco seasoning: a palm full of chili powder, half a palm full of garlic powder, half a palm full of onion powder, 1 tablespoon of cumin, lots of salt and pepper. Exact, this is not. I often add more of something as I feel it needs it. After, I added a half a bottle of medium salsa, and some broth to the pot and simmered for hours. This breaks the meat down perfectly and truly seasons it all so well. 

Ingredients:

Simmering on the stove. This is the beginning process, when the meat has not broken down yet. I will update with a picture of how it looks after simmering on low most of the day.

And now for the price breakdown! I bought this turkey for $2.92, which equals 58 cents per meal. Here is how the rest totaled out:

Meal 1:

Turkey: 58 cents (I love typing that out!)

Bread: $1.69

Bacon: $2.99

Lettuce: approximately 50 cents

Tomato 33 cents

Avocado 70 cents

Cheese (half the package) $1.25

Total: $8.04

Meal 2:

Turkey: 58 cents

Spaghetti 99 cents

Cream mushroom soup: made mine but a can is 75 cents

Rotel tomatoes: 80 cents

Velveeta cheese: $3.50

Total: $6.62

Meal 3:

Turkey: 58 cents

Salsa half of the bottle: $1

Taco seasoning: made mine, but a packet is 50 cents 

Tortillas: $1.89

Lettuce: approximately 50 cents

Cheese half the package: $1.25

Total: $5.72

Total for 3 meals that serve 5: $20.38: $1.36 per serving! Thriftiest meal plan ever!

Turkeys will be on sale again near Christmas, so consider picking one up. If I had more freezer space, I would have stocked up! My guys, who aren't big fans of turkey, devoured these dishes. I'll post another blog of my last 2 meals from this turkey next week. Happy eating!