Who Buys That Much!?

     For those of you who read my last post, you may recall me not wanting to show you what stocking up for the winter looks like at our house because I wasn't sure what's above "nuts," "crazy," and "scary" in your vocabulary.  Well, I folded, and so I guess I'm about to find out.  

     You see, it all started when I watched our chicken dwindling down in the deep freeze, and even though we're going to slaughter two of our roosters for the freezer, two birds does not a whole winter's worth of meals make.  I found my solution in this week's grocery ad.  

     Catch the fine print?  That's right, buy 40lbs of chicken leg quarters and get them for 39c/lb.  That's only $15.60.  Not bad right?  

     I know, I know.  What in the world are we going to do with 40lbs of chicken other than my smart answer of "eat it," that you're probably not looking for?  But that's exactly what we are going to do - eat it, all winter long - once I go off to the grocery store to get it and prep it for the deep freeze.  

     So off to the grocery store I went, grabbing a shopping cart and heading straight for the meat counter.  Behind it was a kid, who couldn't have been much out of high school, to wait on me.  I promptly asked for a 40lb box of chicken leg quarters that were on sale that week.  He looked me up and down in my boots, skinny jeans, and blouse, and I could already see he was questioning my sincerity.  I was surrounded  by moms in conservative dress pushing mounded high shopping carts with armies of kids following behind them that probably would never have gotten a second glance, and here I was asking for a 40lb box of chicken leg quarters for two people.  

    After first asking if I had ever gotten a 40lb box before (not that, that really mattered) and hedging for a bit, he finally gave me the tag for the box, then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to pull my car around the side of the building for them to just put it in my car for me.  It was a nice gesture, but I had already gotten the cart, so I figured that pulling the car around would just be more hassle on my part.  "No," I reassured him, I'd like it in my cart.  He questioned me again and again for a good five minutes, each time I reassured him that I'd take the box in my cart, it was only 40lbs.  He wasn't convinced until I finally said, "If I can lift a 50lb bag of feed, I'm pretty sure I can handle a 40lb box."  He went to get it for me...

The menacing box, and I know it's not organic, but we
believe it or not, we actually don't eat completely organic
unlike a lot of other people who live a lifestyle similar to
ours.  Our theory with food can be found here.

     As I watched him struggle to drop it into my cart, the only thought that ran through my mind was "What have I gotten myself in to?"  I seemed to quickly answer that once I got the rest of the groceries, paid for them and stood at the trunk of the car.  I had unloaded everything else first, leaving that now menacing box for last.  Bracing myself for the struggle I now figured it would be to get it into the trunk, I lifted... wow, that was lighter than I thought.  Apparently all those feed sacks since May paid off.  

    Getting it home I was now faced with the daunting task of fitting it all into the fridge because I was also faced with at least four hours of driving to a Scouting event that evening before it could be processed the next day.  Luckily, my husband was home to help with this one and we jammed it all in.  (Only to realize that I had also bought a gallon of milk and a quart of heavy cream that was still on the outside of the fridge when we stood back to admire our handiwork.)  

Thanks for the weird but awesome wedding present!

     This morning, I was now faced with 40lbs of chicken, on what could otherwise be a relaxing day except for the housework, chickens, farm cats, harvesting, dishes, and everything else I've been putting off for who knows how long.  Luckily we asked for weird things for wedding presents, and our relatives and friends had happily obliged.  So, all I had to do was figure out where in the world the Mr. hid the butcher kit, then snip, snip, snip... Yeeeeouch! (blood blister from the bone sheers), and I was done.  

     So now I can officially say, I think we're pretty set for winter (at least when it comes to chicken).  Not only are there five jam-packed gallon freezer bags of chicken in the deep freeze downstairs, but also chicken roasting in the oven.  Who could resist?  I think it'll be an awesome lunch, and also make some pretty good cream of chicken soup (that I also managed to run out of in the deep freeze).  So there you have it, our latest "nutty" adventure with 40lbs of chicken.

     Have you been prepping food for the winter as well?