Major Grossness

I did something entirely disgusting today, all in the name of Frugalness.

I cut up and ground my own turkey.

Yuk! I’m a very squeamish person, so I give myself a lot of credit.  Oh, boy, what a girl won’t do to save a buck.

The turkey was good and defrosted today, so I took it out and cut it all up.  Poor thing.

Then I used the grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.  I got this attachment with a $50.00 store gift certificate that I got as a bonus when I purchased some cookware at Linen’sNThings about a year-and-a-half ago.  Remember LinensNThings? They don’t even exist anymore.  So the attachment was free. Yay.

This was the first time I’d even taken the grinder out of the box.  But luckily for me it was very easy to figure out.  Also, I was pleased to find that it came apart easily for super-convenient cleaning.  I was a little worried about that.

I used the coarse grinding plate, but I think that next time I’ll use the fine one.

This is how it all worked out.

I used a 14.43 lb turkey, that cost me $4.07, or .28 per pound.  I ended up with close to 4 lbs of ground turkey meat, which works out to $1.02 per pound.

Is this a good deal?  Is it worth doing again?

I think that this is a good deal.  I pay $1.98 per pound for the 93% fat free ground turkey chubs.  I think my version is even better in the fat free department, though.  I did use dark meat but I didn’t include any skin, which is very fatty. And let’s face it, who knows what-all is in that ground turkey from the grocery store.  I sure don’t want to know.  But I know mine is fairly yuk-free.

I do have to admit I’m a little disappointed in the results.  But I knew when I was in the middle of the chopping that I probably would be.  That’s because I think I could have done a much better job of cutting up that bird.  The outcome suffered from my lack of experience (I’ve never cut up a raw turkey like this before) and also my aforementioned squeamishness. It really was pretty gross. I’ll even admit to you - I didn’t cut up the wings.  That was bad, but I just couldn’t face it.  A girl can only take so much.

I think there are a couple of things I can do to improve the process.  For one thing, I think if I cut the turkey up when it’s still a little bit frozen I would have an easier time of it.  It just wouldn’t be so slimy and slippery.  But the most important thing I can do to get more meat out of a turkey is to have my husband chop it up for me.  He’s much braver then I am.

I think that I probably will do this again.  There’s definitely a learning curve, so a little practice will make me more proficient.  Also, I think this might be a good way to take advantage of those great sales I see on cuts of poultry I don’t normally buy, because I don’t like to eat them.  I often see chicken thighs and legs on sale for .49/lb or less.  Sometimes they’re even boneless.  I don’t like to eat these, but they’d make great “hamburger” meat.

Whoooo! What an experience.  I need to go lie down.