I have been using bone in skin on chicken thighs for some time now, occasionally drumsticks and chicken quarters.
Some recipes would best to have boneless, skinless chicken breast (chicken parm as an example) has me wondering about the following.
Grabbing whole chickens to obtain the breast and other meats. Would also have items for future stock. Think it would be cheaper to do this over getting just a package of already processed breasts? I am also wondering about overall costs of butchering my own chicken.
Chicken breast options and thought
byu/Personal-Bet-3911 inFrugal
Posted by Personal-Bet-3911
8 Comments
In my area we see whole chickens on sale from .89 cents a pound. I would think it would be worthwhile at that point. I am not confident in my ability to butcher a chicken but I have seen plenty of how tos online.
I only buy when they’re on sale
I think the answer depends entirely on sales. Sometimes in my area, b/s breasts are the same per pound as a whole chicken.
But other times – like last week in my area, whole chickens were 49¢/lb. That’s half the cost of drumsticks, a quarter the cost of b/s breasts at the same store at the same time.
We tend to go whole chicken vs pieced out packs. We just get more variety that way. We roast it, everyone gets the piece they want, strip it for leftovers, and then the carcass goes into a “stock bag” in the freezer. Once I get 4 carcasses, those and any scraps from carrots, onions, celery, etc, go in a giant pot, cover with water, and simmer for hours. Strain, refrigerate overnight and skim the fat. At this point your stock should be jello-ish. Some people just scoop it into containers like it is. I bring it back to liquid at a low temp, cool to room temp, then put into ziploc bags for the freezer.
Yep, just be prepared to spend some time butchering and repackaging them. There are great videos on YouTube to help you get good at it.
I haven’t broken down a whole chicken like this, but if bone- in breasts or chicken quarters are on sale, I will do the extra work, no hesitation. Knowing I can chuck all the bones in the instant pot for broth takes the sting out of paying for bones, as well.
I do try to have chicken feet in my freezer to chuck in there, too, so it turns out nice and gelatine-y.
Oh, and I highly recommend investing in a good pair of chicken shears, too, so you can cut the spine out with ease and less danger. My Oxo brand ones are 10 years old and doing great, but I do use them only about 10 times a year. Great for spatchcocking chickens, too.
Don’t sleep on turkey, they generally go on sale a week or two before the main turkey holidays like Easter, thanksgiving and Christmas.
It’s not always cheaper to get a whole chicken. Whole chickens near me are sold as roasters and command a relatively premium price/lb ($3+). Parts can be much cheaper. Leg quarters seem the cheapest near me at around $0.79/lb. You’ll have drumsticks, thighs and plenty of leftover bits for stock after trimming.
BTW, it’s pretty easy to remove that single bone from a chicken thigh to make it suitable for chicken parmesan. Tastier too, in my opinion.
In uk there is not much price difference between breast and boneless thigh, although it used to be much cheaper. Also worked out even bone in not much cheaper once you account for waste.
However it is cheaper to buy the whole bird if you will use it all.