How much of a frozen turkey's weight is in the breast/meat?

November 19, 2006 6:28 PM

How much of a frozen turkey's weight is the breast?

I'd like to eat more turkey, so I'd like to buy a fresh turkey, slice off the breast meat, and cut it up like boneless chicken breasts, and freeze/cook them. I'd also use the other misc meat/thigh meat for soups, and the skeleton for stock. But I am wondering, how much of a turkey's meat is in the breast, and how much is meat total? Is using a turkey breast more economical than buying boneless chicken breasts (which are like $3+ a pound), assuming the turkey cost 79c per pound?

posted by mhuckaba to food & drink (2 comments total)

this is anything but a precise answer but way back in the day when I was a teenager, I briefly worked in a supermarket after school. around this time of year, they would get frozen turkeys, ducks, and geese in and I vividly remember the elderly store manager watching me heaping those bricks into the coolers. he shook his head and declared how sorry he felt for all those people who ended up buying him and that 'corporate' doused them in water before freezing them, causing them to appear much heavier than they actually were.

and then he went back into his little office and got hammered, just like every day.
posted by krautland at 7:06 PM on November 19, 2006

Hmmm, Eatturkey.com says that the average yield for the whole turkey (meat and skin) is 53%, and for the breast is 63%. I don't think that's quite enough information to determine what percentage of the average turkey is breast. I'll guesstimate it's between 1/3 and 1/2, though.

In the fall and winter a store near me has all natural split turkey breasts for ~1.79 a pound. That seems like a pretty good deal to me, and I think the yield may be higher than 63%. They're easy to deal with. I stock up, wrap them in plastic wrap and foil and store them in the freezer. Then I just take them out periodically and roast them, smoke them at a friend's, whatever.

It may not be the cheapest form of turkey, but it's good, pretty healthy, and I eat it instead of eating out so it works for me.
posted by sevenless at 7:50 PM on November 19, 2006