Saving Money on Chicken

We eat a fair amount of chicken over here. It's generally inexpensive, a good source of protein, and is tasty. I generally look for recipes that make it easy to stretch our grocery dollars, chicken included. But today when I saw the price of frozen drumsticks vs. frozen chicken breasts, I realized that it was worth a little extra time and the dollars-saved to think "outside the box."

I buy whole chickens semi-regularly -- that is to say, when they're on sale. I roast them and then feed my family three meals from the same chicken. (Before you think I restrict their food-intake, they leave the table satisfied and content.) But for other meals, I've been in the habit of buying individually frozen chicken breasts and using those, even for stir-fry dishes or things where I don't *have* to use white meat chicken.

The price of 4lbs of chicken breast was $8 at our local store; the price of 4lbs of drumsticks was $3. Quick math says that it's a big savings, especially if I don't mind doing the extra work to make the drumsticks in to usable meat. Which I didn't -- right now, I have more time than money. ;)

I came home and placed the entire bag of drumsticks on a metal baking tray and seasoned them a bit. I baked them at 350F until done (about an 1.5 hours or so). I let them cool and then ignored the plaintively mewing cat at my feet while I stripped the meat from the bones. Was it slippery? A bit. But my hands wash pretty easily. Was it time-consuming? Yeah. But like I said, I have more time than money, so it works out for me. What I ended up with was 3 bags of chicken suitable for stir-fried rice, a stew, or some other dish where the flavour of the meal will permeate the meat for about $1 per meal. Out of 4lbs of drumsticks, there was a lot of water & bone, but what came from it was worthwhile; there are bags of frozen chicken meat, ready-to-use and fuss-free the next time I need them.

I'll still buy the frozen chicken breasts for dishes that we enjoy and can't use a substitute. But for other meals, this chicken-hack works out pretty well. It's worth the time because of the monetary-savings, but also because I've done the labour for future meal-prep. :)

Happy cooking!

~Sue