We were having company over last week and decided to make grilled chicken for dinner. I went to the grocery store to see what my options were. Chickens that were already cut up cost $1.79 per pound. Whole chickens cost $1.19 per pound.
That’s a difference of 60 cents a pound! That’s huge. I ended up buying two chickens that weighted about 5 pounds each. That’s a total savings of $6.
Cutting up a chicken is not for everyone. If you want to learn how, here’s an excellent tutorial.
So far I’d saved myself $6. Here’s the best part – you can use the leftover chicken parts to make your own chicken stock. A quart (32 oz.) of chicken stock costs about $3 and is full of sodium. With minimal effort, I made a batch of stock which yielded about 6 quarts of stock – for an additional savings of about $18!!!!
That’s over $20 in savings!!!
Here’s my recipe for the stock:
Kim’s Homemade Chicken Stock 2 chicken carcasses (necks/backs) 2 medium onions, quartered 2 large carrots, unpeeled & cut in half 2 celery stalks, cut in half 2 cloves of garlic, unpeeled is fine 10 – 15 sprigs of fresh thyme a handful of fresh parsley 2 bay leaves water 1 cup of white wine 10 – 15 peppercornsNote: You can freeze your chicken carcasses until you’re ready to make your stock. I don’t use salt when I make the stock – I add salt, to taste, when I make recipes that call for chicken stock.
Place all of the ingredients into an 8 quart stock pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer (skimming any foam that rises to the top) and cook for 4 to 6 hours. Let cool. Strain the solids from the broth, pour into containers and freeze.
Don’t let the 4 to 6 hour cook time deter you. I do this all the time after work. I throw a batch together in the evening around 6 PM, let it simmer, put in the fridge overnight and then strain and freeze the following evening when I have time.