Chicken - cooking to use later

I love shredded chicken and lately it's been less expensive than ground beef.  I cook chicken in big batches that I freeze, which makes it easy to pull out for chicken tacos, haystacks or any dish I want to use cooked chicken in.

I place raw, or frozen chicken in the crockpot and cover with water.  Turn on low and let cook 6-8 hours. You can put it in at night and package in the morning or put it in the morning and package that evening, whichever works best for you.

I like to freeze chicken in large chunks, covered in either the water I cooked it in or chicken broth.  I think it tastes fresher this way and avoids that day-after chicken taste.

To shred freshly cooked chicken, use 2 forks and pull chicken in different directions until it's in the desired size.

Frozen chicken will thaw and you can simply press on it to have it fall apart to shredded.

Occasionally I shred more than I need and have to freeze it already shredded.  I put it in a zip lock bag and pour the cooking water or chicken broth over the top and freeze.  The only issue I've found with this method is that if the dish I'm using the chicken for requires a lot of stirring the chicken can break down to smaller pieces, so the less stirring the better.

Don't toss the water you cooked the chicken in either, it makes great soup or gravy. You can use it in place of chicken broth so put it in the fridge or freeze for later.  You can freeze it in ice cube trays or muffin tins for smaller portions.  The silicone ones work the very best, though you can use the metal ones too.  If you use metal, run water over the back of the tin to loosen broth cubes.  Drop them into a zip lock bag and use as needed.