Costco Chicken Freezes Better In Flat Bags

A Costco rotisserie chicken is too much food for one dinner and too useful to leave whole in the refrigerator.

I pull the meat while it is still warm, then freeze the extra in thin, flat portions inside quart-size freezer bags. One bag gets enough chicken for a lunch, not enough for a family reunion. I press the air out, flatten it, and stack the bags like folders.

That shape matters. A flat bag thaws in a bowl of cold water while rice heats in the microwave. A thick lump of chicken takes long enough that I start making worse decisions.

The best uses are deliberately unambitious:

• chicken over Trader Joe’s frozen rice
• a quesadilla with shredded cheese
• soup when the weather turns wet
• a sandwich with mustard and pickles

I keep the bones for stock only when I know I will make it that week. Otherwise, the useful part is the flat lunch portions. They take almost no freezer space and are easy to see before they become archaeology.