I’ve shared my love of filling my freezer with Zaycon chicken many times.
But I know it’s weird. I mean, drive to a parking lot and get MEAT out of the back of a truck?
Ummmm, okay.
Zaycon’s offer to pay me in bacon to write some posts about the process was great motivation to remember to take pictures of the pick-up I did recently so I could share them with you.
And boy did I learn more that day than I expected to learn. I promise I didn’t do this on purpose to see what would happen, but I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT MY PICK-UP!!!
Really. I’ve never done that before.
I have had a lot going on lately and stress tends to make my brain all jumbly and I had somehow neglected to put my pickup date with an alert into my phone like I usually do. So one random morning when I needed to leave for a speaking engagement at noon and had planned out every single second before my departure, I checked my email at 8:30 a.m.
I saw an email that said my pick-up time was starting. Right then. At 8. And it went to 8:30. Which was when I was reading the email!!!
I. Freaked.
Thankfully, the email had a phone number. The lady who answered the phone was amazingly nice and understanding and helpful. She re-scheduled my order to be picked up in the nearest pick-up location where the truck was headed next. The place was about 30 minutes from my house and the pick-up time was 10:00 a.m.
Whew. While I didn’t love having my well-planned morning totally interrupted, I was soooo happy they found a way to make it work for me.
When I drove up to the new-to-me location, I saw the enter sign at the road showing me exactly where to go. The truck makes it hard to miss the location, but they also do a good job telling you where to drive.
You stay inside your car, and the driver comes to your car window.
The driver immediately knew I was the one he’d missed at his last pickup spot. He explained that he was about to call me to remind me to come pick-up when my order disappeared from that location on his tablet and moved to the next location.
As he always does with the chicken, he asked where I wanted my box o’ meat and put it inside the car for me. (I told him to put it on the other side so it would be easier to take a picture! Please ignore the trash!) With chicken, he always places a plastic sheet under the box to protect my car.
I got home and transferred the bacon to my freezer. It came already-frozen in three pound packages. This made the putting away process ever-so-much simpler than the chicken.
I asked the driver if he always calls people who miss their pick-up, and he said that he tries. With chicken, he is sometimes so much busier than he can’t.
And speaking of chicken, Zaycon announced today that they have taken the price of chicken back down to 1.89 for the upcoming event!! Those who paid 2.49 are being credited the difference! Go check your location now to see if you can still order!! In my area, orders need to be placed by Nov 13, but don’t wait because they do run out! (I’ve missed it before because I waited!)
So how’s the bacon?
I like it, but my 12yo (who considers himself a bacon aficionado) . . . loves it. L-O-V-E-S it.
I am so sorry to say that it seems Zaycon has gone out of business. I say “seems” because the information I’ve seen says they’ve “suspended” operations and I don’t fully understand what is happening. I’m so so sad about this since this will change how our family keeps our freezer stocked with meat. We’ve been ordering almost all of our chicken, bacon, and shrimp for them for more than five years. If you had ordered recently, I recommend that you call your credit card company or bank (for debit cards) to see what can be done. I’ve heard many people have had success doing this.
--Nony
Yay! I’m glad you posted this. I am picking up my first order of chicken in a few days. I was wondering what it would be like.
My family LOVES the bacon too. It is so much better (and cheaper) than what I was getting at the grocery.
Thank you for the walk through! Just out of curiosity, how often do they typically do the chicken sales?
I’m not completely sure. It seems like it’s about six months apart, but I don’t know.
It is strange buying meat off the back of a truck…lol. I have purchased both the chicken breasts and ground beef. Both are exceptional.
One thing I have noticed with the chicken breasts, is that they are quite large. I cut and trim to more appropriate portions for us and weight up the trimmings for stirfry or chicken tenders.
I did have a box of ground beef that was slightly underweight. They do track this and give you credit on your account that you can use toward your next order.
I’m thinking of ordering the chicken next week, but what I’m wondering is….how much is 40 lbs of chicken? Like, would it fit in my regular freezer (the above the refrigerator kind)? We don’t have a separate freezer. We’re just coming out of hurricane season, so my freezer is pretty bare. (I don’t like to keep it stocked during hurricane season. We’ve lost everything way too many times.) So once I repackage it do ya’ll think it would fit? I’d hate to get it and then have no where to put it. $1.89 is too good to pass up.
That box in the bacon picture is very similar in size to the chicken box, and then when it’s divided into meal-sized bags it takes even less space. If your freezer does really is mostly empty, I think you should be fine. I don’t know exact numbers, but my guess is that it’s about 25 meal-sized gallon ziploc bags which are “full” to the edges but I freeze them as flat as possible (like in the video) and so they’re about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. I pre-cook a LOT (more and more each time) and shredded it seems to not take as much space.
I think I’m going to go for it then! 🙂
The chicken box is 11x17x7. I had to call Zaycon to make sure I could fit two boxes in the smaller car I’m driving now. I find it takes up less space if wrapped in freezer paper but I’m not cutting the chicken up. I usually package one or two breast per package. I got 80 pounds this time and it all fit on 3/4 of a single shelf in my upright freezer.
Good information. Thanks, Kim!
I love this idea. We’ve been blessed with 4H pigs and cows but we’re still on the hunt for chicken. Is there any way I can find out how the chickens were raised? I’d prefer a non commercial environment. Thanks!
You can check out their website. Not sure about all those details.
I just ordered the salmon for a November delivery. I will consider the chicken when I have someone to share it with. I liked the fact that the salmon is wild caught and immediately vacuum sealed and frozen in two pound portions. That will be more manageable in my freezer and we love salmon. Can’t wait to try it!
I have been wanting to take advantage of Zaycon,I’ve heard so many good things.But right before that is cleaning out the garage and investing in a good stand alone freezer (which I’ve been wanting and got stymied on research)