For those of you who buy in bulk

[entelekia]

Hello,

To save, we buy our meat in bulk (by the case), bring it home, defrost it, portion it and refreeze. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to do this without turning the kitchen into a (literally) bloody mess. We just got done portioning 240 lbs of meat (about 2 months' worth of food) and our kitchen looked like we'd just committed a triple homicide. I had to bleach it top to bottom.

One problem is that the cases we get are usually frozen, so we have to leave them out overnight to thaw, and as they start thawing, they start dripping. Big problem when you have about 5 cases laying around (we put down plastic, but it still kinda got everywhere).
Then the second (and biggest) problem is we actually remove the skin from all our chicken (usually quarters and thighs) and THAT is an enormous mess in an of itself as we have to carry one case at a time into the sink which is where we do the removing part.

Anyone have any pointers? Doing it outside is not really a great option due to bugs/flies, not to mention we can't leave the meat outside to thaw overnight (racoons would have a feast).

Thanks for any help...

[daisykaye]

I bought some large tubs with lids from a restaurant supply, then just transfer the frozen meat into those tubs. Large Rubbermaid storage tubs may work also.

I personally don't pull the skin off. I use to, but after I fed it to them a couple times with skin on and they did OK, I stopped. Now if they're having an upset tummy day, I pull the skin then before I feed.

[kathysboxer]

I don't know how big the boxes are, but would large dishpans work? Or if you go to Sams Club, they have the bigger dishpans that restaurant busboys use. They have high sides, so it won't spill out. (we have one we use for a litter box )