You know those bulk bags of frozen chicken breasts you usually find in supermarkets and such?
Are the individal breast pieces found in those kinds of bags half chicken breasts, or whole chicken breasts? I assume half, since I’ve always thought that two of those together would be the whole breast of a chicken, but I want to be sure. Thanks!
You can find either. It will say on the bag if they’re whole breasts or split breasts, but it’s not very difficult to eyeball the difference. Whole breasts are way bigger.
You’re probably seeing split breasts, though.
In my experience, almost always half. (FYI, I highly recommend marinating while frozen, so that when they’re ready for use, they soak up the flavour while they thaw in the fridge.)
Won’t that end up diluting the marinade with the thawing ice? Or is that not of much concern?
Tangentially, if you want to save money (those individually frozen breasts are not only hideously expensive per pound, but are often injected with flavoring and other fluids of up to 15% product weight, making them even pricier): Buy boneless, skinless breasts (or thighs, if that’s your preference) while they’re on sale. Lay them individually on a cookie sheet, cover with aluminum foil and freeze thoroughly. Then you can slide them all in a gallon ZipLock bag, and they’ll be easy to pull out one at a time.
If you always need the same amount, and happen to have a Costco membership (like me), Costco sells all kinds of chicken parts packaged very cleverly. It’s a big “sheet” of perforated, air-tight bags of chicken parts. The one we buy is, I think, eight packages (all together, perforated for easy separation whenever needed), each containing five boneless, skinless thighs. But they also sell breasts, plus bone-in breasts and thighs, and drumsticks, packaged like this. Five thighs is just enough for our family of four.
There’s not very much ice on them, not enough to mess up a marinade.
I’ve never seen whole breasts frozen, but Aldi carries some of the biggest boneless skinless breast (halves) I’ve ever seen. Many of them easily clear 3/4 lb. They’re much too big to be single servings, and too thick at the top to cook evenly with the bottom, but they have great flavor (I’m assuming they’re coming from older, tastier birds). I use them cut up in stir-fries, casseroles, that sort of thing. I buy Tyson ones at Costco or Safeway for meals where I want to serve the (half) breast uncut.
We buy the Tender Bird brand at the local store when they’re on sale. Always split breasts and they are sometimes pretty big. :eek:
norinew Can the one’s at Costco be frozen? I know that they are not frozen when sold, but have you ever frozen them for long term storage?
Oh, yeah. That’s exactly what we do with them. We bring them home, pop them in the freezer, and then rip off a pack whenever we need them. It’s handy, because if you just buy the huge trays of them, you have to repackage them and stuff. And of course, once you get home from Costco, you have enough stuff to deal with! 
Just returned from Costco and those chicken packs did look pretty good, but we’d just bought two bags of the Tender Bird frozen breasts last night, so maybe next time. 
Just before cooking them, put 'em between two sheets of waxed paper and pound the thick end. They’ll cook more evenly.