Mom's Menu: King Crab Legs

Every family has traditional foods for the holidays, some of which can be quite pricey (which is why we only have them once a year!)  Shopping ahead for ingredients you need for family dinners, parties, and neighbor gifts can save lots of money and last minute trips to town.  Our family Christmas Eve always includes homemade French Dip sandwiches, for example, so I have had my boneless beef roasts socked away in the freezer for a couple of months now—purchased when the price was to my liking.

I decided from now until Christmas I would feature some of our family holiday favorites that are definitely more special than our usual, ordinary meals.  One of these is King Crab Legs, which just happen to be on sale this week at Smith’s for $6.99/lb.  In the ad it says these are frozen/defrosted, so I called the meat department to see if we could purchase them straight out of the freezer to take right home and freeze until ready to cook.  They said yes--so don’t just choose them out of the meat case already thawed, (unless you plan to cook them within a day or two at most); instead, have them pull you out frozen ones so you can put them in your freezer for later.  Don’t shop around with them in your cart—buy them last and hurry home so they stay frozen solid.  Crab is the easiest thing in the world to prepare, and if you love it like we do, it’s a great holiday treat.  If you’d like to give it a try, see my instructions at the end of the letter.

Tip of the Week

Using up leftovers should be a pleasure, if you go about it the right way.  When you finish a meal, prepare individual plates of food for everyone, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.  It’s as easy as that.  I even own divided microwave safe plates with lids for this very purpose, and we use them all the time.  They are especially handy when we have Mom and Dad for Sunday dinner and I want to send a plate of food home with them for the next night—or the night after that.  While I’m at it, I make  plates for my family as well, then everyone can have a meal waiting and ready in the fridge to warm up on a busy night when everyone has to eat at different times.  It’s best not to include rolls or garlic bread, as these will become far too overcooked.   Five minutes or less in the microwave, and dinner is on the table!

Mom's top picks for the week of December 2-8, 2013:  
My favorite deals are highlighted in green.

Maceys

Pepsi, 7-Up or A&W 2 Liter Bottle Products $.99
Nissin 2.8-2.82 oz Big Cup Noodles $.33
Macey’s 5 qt Ice Cream $4.88
10 lb Bag Russet Potatoes $1.88
1 lb Mini Carrots $.99
Jonagold, Cameo, Gala, Braeburn or Red Delicious Apples $.99 a lb
Western Family 1 lb Salted or Unsalted Butter $1.99
Western Family 6 oz Greek Yogurt $.60
Western Family 28-32 oz Bagged Cereal $2.49
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.79 a lb
Progresso 15.25-19 oz Soup $1.25
Don Julio Flour Tortillas $.99
Great Grains 24 oz Bread $1.50 (I like this bread—comes in several whole grain varieties.  This is a good price).
Western Family 4 lb Granulated Sugar $1.49
Pillsbury 19.5 oz Brownie Mix or 15.25 oz Cake Mix $.99
Western Family 24 pk Bottled Water $2.99
General Mills 14.25-18 oz Select Cereal $2.50
(plus a FREE Gallon Milk with purchase of 4)
Western Family 32 oz Shredded Cheese $5.99
Western Family 18 ct Large Eggs $1.89
Campbell’s 10.25-10.5 oz Gravy $.67
Wacky Mac 12 oz Pasta $.99
Western Family 48 oz Premium Ice Cream $2.88
Herbal Essence 10.1-15.8 oz Shampoo, Conditioner or Body Wash $1.88
Weekend Savings – The weekend specials are “while supplies last,” so it’s best to shop on Friday or early on Saturday.
Western Family 8 oz Shredded Cheese $1.25 (Friday and Saturday ONLY- Limit 12)
10 lb. Case of Navel Oranges - $7.99 (Friday and Saturday ONLY) –See note about this below in the Lee’s section)
Tennessee Pride 16 oz. Sausage Roll - $2.00 (Friday and Saturday ONLY) (I consider this a good brand of sausage, and it freezes well for a long time).
Honey Crisp Apples - $1.99/lb (Friday and Saturday ONLY)
8 oz. Bag Pistachios - $3.99 (Friday and Saturday ONLY)
Hershey’s 4-4.4 oz XL Candy Bars $.99 (Friday and Saturday ONLY)
Pillsbury 15.25-19.5 oz Cake Mixes or Traditional Fudge Brownies $.88 (Friday and Saturday ONLY- Limit 12)
Holiday Gift Box Pears $5.99 (Friday and Saturday ONLY)
Keebler 9.5-13.8 oz Crackers (Friday and Saturday ONLY)
Use the on-pack $1 off 2 Keebler Crackers Coupon
Total cost $1.38 each
Don Julio 18 oz Tortilla Chips $1.88 (Friday and Saturday ONLY)
DaVinci 16 oz Pasta $.79 (Friday and Saturday ONLY)

Lee’s

Wednesday ONLY Traffic Stopper - Shur Saving Milk - $1.98 (Note:  For some reason, I didn’t see this advertized in their ad this week, so although I’m assuming they are still offering their usual Wednesday price, it could be that they have discontinued it.  We’ll see what they say next week, and meanwhile I think we can assume it’s still on).

Sunkist Choice Navel Oranges - $.49 (Note that you could put together your own 10 lb gift box of oranges by buying them at Smiths instead of the weekend special price at Macey’s of $7.99 (which would equate to $.79/lb.  Lee’s is also offering the gift box for $7.99, and they do say the oranges are “fancy” instead of “choice,” so there could be a difference in quality.
Fresh Limes - $.20/each
Texas Grapefruit - $.44 each
Cuties Clementines – 3 lb for $3.99/each
Libby’s large can Pumpkin - $2.50
Wilderness Pie Filling - $2.99
Farmland 12 oz Bacon - $2.99

Smith’s

Mountain Dairy Milk – $1.94 when you buy 2

Kellogs 10.5 – 18.7 oz Cereals - $2.00
Freschetta Pizza - $3.99
DiGiorno Pizza - $4.99
Marie Callender’s or Healthy Choice Entrée - $2.00
Southern King Crab Legs - $6.99/lb (SEE RECIPE BELOW)
Boneless Petite Sirloin Steak - $3.99/lb
Boneless Chicken Breasts - $1.79/lb
Kroger Cream Cheese - $.99
Kroger Vegetable Oil - $2.49
Duncan Hines Cake Mixes - $.99
Smiths Large Eggs - $1.50
Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk - $2.00
Shelled Walnuts, Pecans, Almonds or Cashews 12-16 oz in Produce Dept - $5.99
Toll House Morsels - $2.00
Kroger Spices or Extracts - $2.00
Huge Shrimp (15 ct per pound) sold in 2 lb bag at $8.99/lb
Doritos or Ruffles Chips - $1.99/each when you buy 2

Steamed Crab Legs

King crab Legs are already cooked when you purchase them. King crab legs are cooked on the fishing boats or immediately upon landfall to preserve freshness. They need only to be adequately heated before eating.  

Amount of King Crab Legs to Purchase: Purchase 8 ounces to 1 pound per person.

Storage: Thawed crab legs can be maintained in the refrigerator for two days, but they should really be cooked as soon after they have been defrosted as possible.

Preparation: Remove crab legs from freezer.  Arrange in shallow baking pan. Add hot water to fill pan 1/8 inch deep. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees until just heated through (15 to 20 minutes).

Garlic Dipping Butter - Melt butter in pan.  Add to this a few cloves diced garlic that has been very briefly sautéed in a small skillet (do not overcook or brown, just sauté a bit to make it more mild). Add this to the butter, then ladle into small servings cups for dipping the crab meat.  If some people don’t like garlic, remove part of the butter for them before adding the garlic.

Eating it!

To get to the crab meat, just use kitchen shears or clean scissors (unless you actually have some crab scissors).  Break the crab legs at the joints, and use the scissors to cut down the sides and split them open to get to the meat.  There are no rules—everyone does it their own way.

Questions? Leave a comment and Mom will answer!