Chickenpalooza

We, as a family, are omnivores. We love our fruits and veggies but we also like our meat. We typically really only eat one meaty meal a day unless we have it on hand which is kind of becoming more of a problem here lately. Meat.. is expensive. Chicken is expensive. Especially fresh chicken. In fact, I haven't seen fresh (unfrozen) chicken breast for under 2.99/lb in awhile. Sure you can buy the stuff that has been frozen, delivered to the store and then thawed to be put out ( did you know that chicken is already two weeks old when you buy?? Two weeks!) Not to mention all the solvents and "broths" they have been "enhanced" with.
No,  I'm talking about real chicken.

That is, until last week. When I was given the opportunity to review 40lbs of fresh, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Yes, 40 pounds. You see, I had the fine luck of working with Zaycon Foods. Zaycon Foods' chicken is 100% natural with no added hormones, additives or artificial ingredients. Never frozen. The chicken I received from Zaycon Foods was only 5 days old.

With that being said, let me tell you a little about Zaycon. This company is based out of Washington state and is steadily expanding into the Southeast; Zaycon Foods. Founded in 2009, Zaycon Foods offers fresh meats and other products directly to consumers at wholesale prices. They bring products direct from the farm / processor (or as nearly as direct as possible). The products are as fresh as if you had your own farm, but of course way less messy. They sell food products only by the case. No extra costs for handling.

You can imagine how fresh and wonderful this chicken tasted. Go ahead and imagine the best chicken at the finest restaurant and multiply how good that tasted by a thousand. Seriously the best chicken I have ever tasted. Plus, these chicken breasts are huge. Like, intimidatingly huge. Ok, maybe not intimidatingly but still big enough for one whole breast to feed to fullness my family of four plus my mother a fried chicken dinner. Impressive, no?

Now, I do have to be honest with you, 40lbs of chicken is a lot of chicken and since this chicken is packed to skimp on cost to the consumer, you do have to do a little prep work. There is no bringing the box in an sticking it in the refrigerator until you use it all. Unless of course you intend on having a block party and cooking it soon. For one, the box is huge. It took up one whole shelve in my refrigerator. Not a bad thing considering the cost but still not totally handy for long term storage.

The other thing you need to prepare for is to do some prep work on the chicken. They come as untrimmed whole breasts so they need to be cut apart and trimmed before cooked or frozen. It took me a couple of hours to trim and prep them though which is not bad considering how many of them there were!

What did you do with the 40lbs of chicken breasts from Zaycon Foods you ask? Well, here is a breakdown for you (after splitting and trimming of course):

• Put all the trimmings in some water to boil for a few hours with some celery, carrots and onion to make a rich broth to have on hand for soups and whatnot. 
• Wrapped about 3/4 of the breasts and stuck them in the freezer. They will still be way better for you and way better tasting than the store bought kind even having been frozen.
• Grilled some for dinner the night we got them. So. delicious.
• Cut into strips and fried a few the next night for dinner. Again. Melt in your mouth taste.
• Put a few in the crock-pot with some of the homemade broth and cooked them on low for about 8 hours. This made the broth richer and made some perfect, falling apart chicken to make chicken salad and quesadillas with. (4 breasts made three days worth of food for us.) - I did this twice!

As you can see, 40lbs of chicken is enough to last you quite awhile. The best part about that? The price of the chicken. Zaycon Foods sells their chicken breast cases (like this one) for around 1.65/lb. So, not only are you getting a superior product and supporting local farms/ facilites, but you are also getting an amazing price!


Ready to get started and check out what Zaycon Foods is bringing to your neck of the woods? Register HERE and get ready to save on some amazing, fresh foods for your family!

*I was provided the 40lb case of super awesome chicken breasts by Zaycon Foods at no charge for the process of this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions are my own.