I was going to post about this last week when I "did it", but was in a hurry at the time and never got around to it.
I have made my FIRST meat purchase since June!! (you can read about my meat stash here.) My MIL took me to Costco with her, and I bought a 2-pack of whole chickens. They were $10.21 ($.79 lb, I think?), and they were pretty nice sized, too. I brought them home and stuffed them in the frige...uh, actually, Daniel stuffed them in the frige since I had to hurry up and get ready to go to a dinner, and then I cut them up later.
If you're like me, I was a bit "scared" of cutting up a whole chicken. I was sure I couldn't do it and it be "nice"... Lo and behold, way back when I bought 6 chickens for $.69/lb, I determined that pretty or no, I was going to cut up those birds and "make" my own boneless, skinless chicken breasts, my own thighs, drumsticks, etc. It really isn't hard to do! It just requires a good sharp knife and a bird or two to get the hang of where everything is and how to cut it. It might take me 5 minutes to cut up a chicken. I was going to take pictures, but once I got my hands wet and greasy and "chickeney", I didn't take time to wash and take pictures... and I wasn't sure how to take pictures with my non-existent 3rd hand while my other 2 hands were demonstrating for the camera. Check out one of your "I hardly ever look in there because it's so big and full of fancy dishes that I'll never make" cookbooks - that's where I read and looked at pictures about cutting up chickens!
With these two chickens, I DID have (or rather "take") the time to cook down the bones. Surprisingly, after cooking for several hours on low, I was able to pick off about 2 more cups worth of chicken meat! It took some very careful picking to make sure I didn't get any over-cooked-till-they're-soft bones, and there were no large pieces of meat so it took alittle time, but hey, for that kind of savings, I'll spend a little time. I figure it's enough meat to make a batch of fried rice - which makes 2 meals for us. And 1 1/2 cups of broth which I chilled, scooped the grease off the top, and then froze, either to use in recipes, or to save for my family's Christmas get together since I'm on the food planning committee.
While I know that $.79/lb isn't the BEST deal I've seen this summer, my chicken stash is starting to run low, and I wanted to get a little while I had the opportunity to hopefully tie us over till the next REALLY GREAT deal that I'm hoping some store will run really soon!
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3 comments:
When you said you didn't know if you knew how to cut up a chicken, I thought "What! Where were you when we did all that butchering?" Then you said about getting it boneless and skinless...ahhh... that would be another art. Glad it worked out so well for you.
I am glad you boiled the bones. Did you know that broth/soups are much, much better if the bones are boiled in them? I read about it in a cookbook, and I have discovered it to be true. Your broth will have great flavor!
Uhh... I very vaguely remember bits and pieces of our butchering chickens at home, thus my "inexperience" :)
I'd say you got a decent deal on the chicken!
For the coupons I'll be using, most of them are from a Kroger mailer. They come about every 6 weeks and are for products that you buy. They analyze what you buy with your Plus card, and then send you coupons for what you are buying. The ones I got last month are for both Kroger brand and name brand products. I'm not sure how/when I started getting them. Go by the customer service desk to see if they have an address for you. Also, look on Kroger.com for ways to link coupons to your Plus card. Really easy and saves you lots of $$$! Keep up the good work!
Erin
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