Living - Whatchya Got Cookin'?! Article #6: Don't Be Afraid Of That Bird!

With this week's Target frozen food deal, I wanted to make a little room in the freezer for all those veggies I stocked up on so I pulled the turkey out of the freezer with plans to make it later this week.  Now I must make it known that this was my very FIRST turkey making experience!  And the end result was one juicy, tastey bird!

The best part of cooking the turkey is that we now have leftovers for sandwiches, possibly some turkey and rice soup??  We'll see what the creativity brings.  It should result in at least two more meals for my family.  Making meals that lead to a lot of leftovers is a great frugal way of cooking!  And it makes for more convenient meal planning later in the week or freeze the leftovers for a convenient meal weeks down the road! 

I want to share with you how EASY it was to ake the turkey and tell you not to be afraid of that bird!  It has taken me a long time to give this a try because I was shy of making it on my own.  So I hope this will help give you a little motivation to just try it out, if you too have been waiting.

This is my first ever turkey!  Isn't it beautiful! :-)

Here's what you need to do:

*Buy your turkey!  I have seen several great sales/deals on turkies over the past weeks, so you are sure to grab a deal.  There are some for $.99/lb this week at Sunshine.  

*Thaw your turkey by placing in the refrigerator and allow a day for every 4 pounds!  (Um, I wish I would have known this...but we made it through.)  Or you can place the turkey in a sink full of cold water and allow 30 minutes for every couple pounds.

*Remove packaging.  NOTE:  When the directions tell you that there are two bags shoved into the bird and to remove both of them, keep looking if you can only find one!  One will be in the top cavity and one in the bottom cavity (hope this helps).

*Place turkey breast side up on rack in bottom of roaster pan at least 2 inches deep.

*I lightly rubbed canola oil all over the bird, then sprinkled with Lawry's seasoning and black pepper.  This helped make for a very crispy skin and nice flavor.  I'm not a skin eater, but I tried it and it was pretty tastey!

*Place in center of preheated 325 degree oven.  A 13 pound turkey takes about 4 hours, I left mine in for 5.  The instruction booklet included with your turkey will give you a good guideline.

*Slice and enjoy!

Total cost:
Paid around $11.44 ($.88 a pound for 13 pounds) = 3 meals or $3.82 a meal!

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Do you have a frugal recipe or tip that you would like to share?!  Please email me and yours might be the next to be showcased here on Living,Laughing,Saving!