335 Project #236 Ham Sandwiches

Every year during the holiday season our local grocery chain, HEB, has a special offer. You buy a honey-cut ham and you get a free 12 lb. turkey. It's a great way for them to sell a lot of hams and get rid of last year's frozen turkeys. We bake the turkey slowly in a covered roaster, bone it out and put it in 8oz. packages in the freezer, toss the bones in a stock pot and simmer for at least 24 hours.

Then we take the sliced ham and package it into 6oz. packages, which is enough for two very generous ham sandwiches. The meat that isn't sliced is chopped finely and put in packages to use later for making ham salad and the bone and fat are simmered for about 48 hours to make ham stock.  After chilling and skimming off the fat, all our stock gets put up in 1- or 2-cup containers and frozen. We store the frozen chunks in gallon freezer bags to use all year for soups and sauces.

We take advantage of this special twice during the holidays and have cooked turkey and ham ready to be made into meals pretty much until next season. A little planning saves a lot of time and money down the road.