roast chicken

We all know we can freeze raw chicken in all its shapes and forms, but can we freeze a roast chicken? You know the cooked roast chicken you might buy from the supermarket. Well I freeze them whole and just pull one out of the freezer when I need it. Its an absolute lifesaver when you are scratching your head wondering what to cook for dinner.

I personally wouldn’t leave a cooked roast chicken in the freezer for more than a month. But if it has just been in the freezer for a few weeks, when defrosted properly it can taste as fresh as the day you bought it.

How to defrost a whole roast chicken?

This is very important. You must defrost the roast chicken in the fridge. If you defrost it in the microwave or try to rush it and use hot water, you will ruin the chicken. The best way to get a tender, fresh chikcken is to give it at least 4 hours to defrost in the fridge. Sometimes more. This will make your roast chicken tasty and visitors would not even know it had been frozen.

If you do try to rush this process it makes the roast chicken dry and stringy and sometimes even tasting like it is full of water.

Can you freeze broken up roast chicken?

You can freeze broken up roast chicken slices or pieces however this does make the chicken a bit dryer. It seems to taste better if you freeze a whole roast chicken and then when it is defrosted you can break it up. Of course I still freeze broken up roast chicken and use it for chicken and mayo sandwiches. That way it still tastes great. Another thing I use it for is cheesy noodles with chicken for the kids or even chicken soup.

What can you do with roast chicken that has been frozen?

1. Defrost your chicken whole in the fridge and cut it into pieces and have chicken and salad on a plate.
2. Break it up for sandwiches. Chicken and mayo, chicken and salad, etc..
3. Use the leftovers for chicken soup.
4. Make chicken and pasta bake.
5. Make chicken tacos.
6. Chicken, cheese, and onion toasted sandwiches.

What do you do with your roast chicken? Got any good ideas?

We have all heard about the new Educational tax refund that the Australian government is offering but how do you claim?

Obviously the first thing you must do if you want to claim expenses with the education tax rebate is to keep receipts of all your eligible purchases. Then at tax time, parents can simply claim the refund when they complete their 2008-09 income tax return.

Here is screenshot from a tax return for individuals for 2009. The education tax refund section will be located under the heading of tax offsets. After you have calculated your claim amount you can enter it into the L section shown below.

You can download a copy of this form from the Australian tax department. Tax return for individuals 2009

What time period can you claim for?

You can start keeping receipts for eligible incurred expenses from July 1st 2008.

What form do I fill out to claim to education tax rebate when I am not lodging a tax return

You can still claim the education tax refund even though you are not going to lodge a tax return.  Of course as long as you are eligible for this refund, you simply fill out a form and either send it to the ATO or drop it into one of their shop fronts.

Download the ETR claim form

How do you calculate your education tax refund?

Well this is something that everyone wants to know. It may look easy from the outset, but believe me it can get very difficult.  I found this Education Tax Refund calculator on the ATO website. You would think that working out 50% of something was easy, but in this case its not. For example what if your child was in primary school in 2008 and secondary school in 2009? You would have to do two separate calculations by splitting the amount of days spent at each school.

E-tax online

If you use E-tax to do your tax return online it is so easy to fill in the education tax refund section. You will not have to calculate anything at all. You just fill in the details required, which is not much at all, and then it will be calculated for you. It even calculates what amount you can rollover to the next year. I was shocked at how easy it was.

 I love freezing food because I can. I never have a problem with freezer space as I have 3 large chest freezers and 2 fridge freezers. Excessive I know, but  I am in the food industry.  This alone has made me aware of food wastage levels and I will do all I can to avoid this and that includes freezing sandwiches.Most people are familiar with what they can and can’t freeze, however have you ever thought about freezing a sandwich? Well believe it or not, I do it all the time. Admittedly I usually only freeze sandwiches for toasting at a later date, but I have also tried fresh sandwiches. 

What sandwiches can you freeze to use for toasted sandwiches?

Freezing a sandwich to be stored away to be later defrosted and toasted is my favorite way to save food…When you have leftover ham, sliced meat, or chicken floating around in the fridge simply put it in a sandwich and freeze it.

Ham and cheese sandwich: This sandwich is great to freeze, defrost, and then toast at a later date. Just add a little butter to the outside and bob’s your uncle. If you want to add tomato to this toasted sandwich, I usually do this just before toasting.

Chicken and Cheese sandwich: The same applies for this sandwich. It turns out fantastic. You can even already have mayo or onion on it. You will not know the difference between a freshly made toasted sandwich and a previously frozen one.

What fresh sandwiches can you freeze for lunches?

Who hasn’t made a sandwich with frozen bread, wrapped it up, then eaten for lunch? I know I have. But have you made a sandwich, froze it, defrosted it a week later, and then had it for lunch? Confusing or crazy? No not really. You can freeze basic sandwiches easily. Jam, vegemite, peanut butter, jelly, cheese, ham, are all fine to freeze, however there are some rules.

• Always keep the sandwich simple.

• Always wrap the sandwich securely in plastic wrap.

• Always freeze same day fresh bread.

• Let the sandwich defrost at its own pace. Using a microwave is not recommended as you may over heat the sandwich and make it rubbery.

Sometimes it’s handy to just pull a readymade sandwich out of the freezer for the kids lunches.

You should not freeze these sandwiches:

• Freezing fresh chicken sandwiches for toasting is fine, but not for a fresh sandwich. Chicken gets dry. If it is sliced or processed chicken it should be fine.

• Do not freeze salad items such as tomato and lettuce in a sandwich because when it is defrosted they will make the sandwich soggy.

Tips for defrosting a sandwich

• Do not use the microwave unless you are toasting the sandwich. However make sure you do not over defrost the sandwich because it will still get rubbery even though you are toasting it.

• When you remove a sandwich from the freezer and your plastic wrap is icy, and it is a non-toasted sandwich, rewrap it before packing it for lunch.