How do I cut a frozen turkey in half?

ByeBabyBunting

I love turkey, and it is like $0.59 a pound right now ... so I bought 3 frozen. I want to cut them in half so they are a good size for Sunday dinner (about 6 pounds each).

I need ideas about how to get them halved. Hack saw? Band saw? Laser? What would you choose?

One of my coworkers said I should take them back to the grocery store and ask them to do it for me - do you think they would? 

CinemaGoddess

It couldn't hurt to call the store and ask if they would. 

RockyTopVols

Are you wanting to cut them while they are still frozen? Why not defrost first and then just cut with a knife?

[Deleted User]

Why can't you cook them & then cut them? 

Wine O Mite

Pfft:

Laser beam. Light sabre. With your mind.

CQTM 

ByeBabyBunting

RockyTopVols:

Are you wanting to cut them while they are still frozen? Why not defrost first and then just cut with a knife?

Because I want to put it back in the freezer for cooking up later - we have a big chest freezer and sometimes I get over excited about a good deal and realize too late that my family only has 2.5 people in it  

CinemaGoddess

I thought it was a no-no to defrost and refreeze meat without cooking it first. 

chiualover

A woman I know does this all the time, the butcher

at the grocery store does it.

[Deleted User]

Oh.  It sounded like she was just going to cook the whole thing.  Oops.  Yeah, see what the butcher says.  Although they may hate you for asking this week...

Hesterlicious

Spooko:

My first thought was chainsaw, but that probably isn't actually a good idea.

It might be fun though. Not as fun as the lightsaber idea but  still a good time.

alli&dan

Make the the whole turkey. Make soups, casseroles, etc, with the leftovers and freeze that.

numeria11

You can thaw them, cut in 1/2 and then refreeze.  It is safe as long as you don't let them thaw at room temp.

 https://food.unl.edu/web/safety/safe-to-refreeze

 

MrsWindyCity

Can you just cook the whole thing and freeze the leftovers? I don't think you're going to be able to cut a frozen turkey in half (how do even cook half a turkey?)

numeria11

MollusksWrangler:

RockyTopVols:

Are you wanting to cut them while they are still frozen? Why not defrost first and then just cut with a knife?

 

It's a lot of turkey to eat at once and once it's thawed you shouldn't refreeze it.

Incorrect see my post above you can refreeze it's perfectly safe as long as you do it right.

MrsWindyCity

numeria11:

You can thaw them, cut in 1/2 and then refreeze.  It is safe as long as you don't let them thaw at room temp.

 https://food.unl.edu/web/safety/safe-to-refreeze

 

Refreezing is totally safe in general. I would be worried about doing it with a turkey, just because those things take so damn long to thaw. So by the second half, you're easily looking at like 6 days of fridge time, which may or may not be too much. 

ETA: If you go this route, I'd probably butcher the second half of the turkey into pieces, so that they don't take as long to thaw. 

ByeBabyBunting

MrsWindyCity:

Can you just cook the whole thing and freeze the leftovers? I don't think you're going to be able to cut a frozen turkey in half (how do even cook half a turkey?)

I was thinking I would put stuffing in the bottom of a roasting pan and then plop the turkey on top cut side down.

And I could roast the whole thing, and I will if this is unsuccessful, but I hate leftovers. that's my own hangup, I admit it.

MrsWindyCity

Also, I don't really like turkey, but I'm jealous you have enough freezer space to randomly buy 3 turkeys.

MandaPanda518

I'm another fan for cooking the whole thing and using leftovers for other meals, or freezing the cooked turkey for future uses.

nancy30005

chiualover:

A woman I know does this all the time, the butcher

at the grocery store does it.

Yup. They have a band-saw-table-like contraption in the back they can do it with. Free.

argonne

CinemaGoddess:

I thought it was a no-no to defrost and refreeze meat without cooking it first. 

Yes, it is.  I would jsut see if the store will do it for you.  It's actually probably easier to cut it while it's frozen, than when it's defrosted.