God’s provision is so very amazing, it  takes my breath away. We’ve weathered several very rough storms and come out on the other end better for it; to the point now that I just know that everything is going to work out.  And yet, I remember the terror and the worry and the burden I have felt.  Even now as I am going through another season where joy is a challenge, I know of God’s provision and His amazing Love and generosity.

Over time I’ve built my own “self-talk”, if you will, based on various verses. Some have become mantras, which I play in my head to counter act the negative that seeps in. If you are facing difficult times, especially difficult financial times, I pray that through all you are going through you will find your own “knowing” and peace.  Like with his request to Abraham to sacrifice his son (gen 22), He can ask us to do some very difficult things, make sacrifices that we wouldn’t ordinarily want to make; but it always seems to work out.  Below are a selection of the verses that help me; hopefully some here will help you as well.

 …Shannon

For Hope and Strength:

Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6  – For all you need is faith of a mustard seed – Believe it will work out!

2nd Corinthians 3:4-5 – our competence comes from God

Philippians 4:4-6 – don’t worry, God has it under control

Philippians 4:13 – All things are possible through HIM

2 Timothy 1:7

Isaiah 40:27-31

Joshua 1:9  – be strong…the Lord is with you…

 To Soothe the soul when it all feels overwhelming:

John 14:27

Psalm 5:7-8

Psalm 91:2

Isaiah 41:10

On God’s Provision:

            Matthew 6:25-34 (God’s instructions re: worry & provision)

            1 Kings 17 (2 examples)

            2 Kings 4 (jars of oil)

            Ruth 2

 These sermon notes have great examples of God’s provision: http://www.brandonweb.com/gbt/sermonpages/genesis36.htm

 For a reminder that this too shall pass:

            Ecclesiastes 3:1-8  – there is a season for eveything and it won’t always be like this.

 God has a Plan and this is for good:

            Jeremiah 29:11 

            Psalm 139

            Philippians 2:13

 On the importance of putting the vision, plan on paper

            Habakkuk 2:2-3

 For perseverance and attitude adjustment in times of trial

            James 1:2-6

            James 1:12
    
     Romans 5:3

            Romans 12: 3-18

            2 Corinthians 4:16-18

            2 Corinthians 6:4

            2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

            Philippians 2:14

            Philippians 4:11-12

            Hebrews 3

            Hebrews 12

 On helping others when facing our own challenges

            Galations 6:9-10

            2 Corinthians 8:7

            2 Corinthinas 9:6-15

            1 Thessalonians 5:11

And as a reminder not to take things out on my husband:

 Proverbs 21:9

 Proverbs 21:19

 Proverbs 27:15

 Proverbs 25:24

 Proverbs 19:13

 Proverbs 17:15
 
 Proverbs 5:18

 Proverbs 12:4

 Proverbs 31:10

So far in this series on lowering the cost of meat in your grocery budget, I’ve covered my three key strategies:
- Knowing my buy price
- Buying in larger quantities, and
- Doing the prep work one time.

In the last post, I shared the simple method I use for ground beef and ground turkey. The principles are the same with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but it does require a little more prep work.

Again, my goal is to handle the meat once, usually with a day or two of buying it. That way, when I’m ready to cook, I just pull a bag out of the freezer, and either cook it (if the dish allows) or defrost it so I can cook it the next day without any extra prep work.

My husband and I have been using this method since we were first married, when it was just the two of us. Then a meal-size package was only two peices of meat; now it has to contain enough for six of us. But the methodology is exactly the same.

Preparing Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breats for the Freezer and Future Meals:

To start, I gather up my tools:
- the platter of chicken
- quart-sized,  Ziploc freezer bags
- kitchen shears (scissors)

For the storage bags, be sure to use Freezer grade bags. After trying multiple different brands, I’ve chosen to stay with Ziploc, but if you don’t have them available or you are not using freezer-grade bags, be sure to double bag your meat so you don’t get freezer burn.

Also, kitchen shears (scissors) are a must! Trimming chicken with a knife is a major pain (in my opinion). If you don’t have a pair, I highly suggest investing in some. They are indespensible for preparing chicken and other types of food.

Also, if you don’t like to handle raw meat, you might want a pair of sterilized rubber or latex gloves.

And as always, be sure to follow proper food handling guidelines, especially when working with raw chicken. My rule is that no one can do the prep work with me unless they wash their hands before and after touching the meat. And they can’t touch anything else while working with the meat.

For each piece of chicken, I do two things:

1.  Trim all the fat and gristle off using the kitchen shears. I am not gentle. And I probably chop off more than most would. But I save all the trimmings for making chicken stock later and/or for pet food.

2.  Cut the chicken breasts into serving size peices. Now that there are six of us, I have different size peices for different members of my family. But remember a recommended serving size is not a whole breast of chicken; it’s 3 oz or the size of a pack of cards. Most chicken breasts can be cut in half or even thirds to get good sized chicken.

For thick peices, I’ll also use the scissors to butterfly cut the thick parts so that each peice is of similar thickness.

If stir fry chicken is on the menu, I’ll cut up a breast or two into stir fry sized strips.

And if chicken strips are on the menu, then I’ll do the same – cut some into the size I use for chicken strips.

Then I bag up the chicken into meal-size servings. So each Ziploc bag contains exactly the amount of chicken needed for one meal. For our family of six, a tray of chicken usually yeilds 3-5 meals (bags), plus a bag of trimmings.

When you are done you’ll have several meals worth of chicken and one bag of trimmings for stock or pet food later.

To save freezer space, flatten the bags and stack them in the freezer.

 
I like to have a consistent place in the freezer for each type of meat (poultry vs. beef vs. trimmings for stock). But if you don’t have a system like this in place, be sure to label the bags with a permanent marker (don’t use water based, it won’t be readable later).

Now, all I have to do  is grab a bag and throw it in the heated pan and start cooking.  This really works well for baked chicken dishes, stir-fry, and sauteed chicken.

For fried chicken or breaded chicken, or marinaded grilled chicken, I’ll pull the bag out the night before and let it defrost in the refigerator. Then it is ready to go the next night.  And, if you have the marinade in the bag already, all the marinading is being done during the defrosting. (works wonders and saves a ton of prep time.)

So, if you aren’t doing something like this, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Other Posts in This Series:

Saving Money on Groceries: Meat

Save Money on Groceries: Meat – Part 2

Previously, I shared one of the key strategies I use to save money buying meat. But there are two more keys strategies I use to keep our meat grocery costs low: 1) how much I buy and 2) when I do the prep work.

Using these strategies, I not only save money on groceries, but also in eating out, and in time it takes to prepare meals.

Basically, when meat, especially boneless, skinless chicken breasts or ground meat, is on sale at my buy price, it usually is in large quantities (sometimes called family-size or bulk packs). So I buy as much as I can afford or that meets the purchase limit.  

For example, this week, boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale for $1.47/lb – definitely below my buy price, but with a purchase limit of two. So I purchased the two. Sometimes I’ll go back on another day and buy the limit again. 

So right now there are two trays of chicken breasts in my refrigerator. Now I what I do, is within a day or two of buying the meat, I’ll take 15-20 minutes and prepare it all into meal size packages and freeze it.

My husband and I discovered this tactic when it was just the two of us; and we’ve been doing it for the last 15 years – with chicken, with ground turkey, and with ground beef (our staple meats). Granted the size of our “meal-size” package has changed over the years as we grew from us the two of us to six of us; but the process is exactly the same and the savings both in time and money is significant.

For ground beef or turkey, I simply  break the bulk or family size pack  into meal size chunks, and put each chunk  into a quart-size, Freezer Ziploc bag. I press it flat to save space in the freezer. Then, we squeeze out the air out of each bag and seal them. And finally, we nealy stack them in the freezer, in an area I’ve designated for that type of meat. 

When I need meat, then I just pull a package from the freezer and put it directly into the pan. And, it’s the exact amount that I need with no other prep work involved.
 
Next in this series, I’ll show how I process boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It takes a little more work than ground meat, but makes cooking with chicken very fast and very simple!

 

Other Posts in This Series:

Saving Money on Groceries: Meat

Saving Money on Groceries: Meat – Part 3