wOULD YOU BUY TESCO VALUE WHOLE CHICKEN OR FROZEN CHICKEN PIECES?

Patchwork_Quilt

I usually get free-range or sometimes, the Willow Farm stuff from Tescos but I have a suspicion that the Willow Farm ones only get to see the grass through the windows. I always buy British, whatever meat it is

Wig

This is probably going to be too much to ask but I am looking for a formula for chicken pieces

I need to know the % of the whole that each body part weighs

The breast meat must weigh A%
Thighs B%
Whole legs C%
wings D%
Carcass E%

If I knew these figures I could work out how much overvalued the parts of the chicken pieces are when sold seperatley, and then make an informed decision on whether to buy the pieces or the whole...

Thanks

P.S. I don't have kitchen scales so I won't be able to measure them myself to find out.

Bronnie

This is more complicated than it needs to be to my mind.

If you want breast meat, but are also the sort of person who will use up all of the rest of the chicken then I would just seek out the cheapest whole chicken.

Otherwise, drumsticks, thighs and wings can be bought cheaply in plentiful portions and you can still boil up the bones for soup.

Just compare prices on My supermarket/Aldi/Lidl and look out for deals.

lil_me

Every chicken is different - easiest answer

Even if you got one yourself & weighed it all, the next one would be different

You could look what a pack of legs weigh and divide it by how many are in the packet etc

Scales are a worthwhile investment in any kitchen IMO and can be obtained from £1

adelight

Err roughly the average large chicken is 2.5kg at £2.40 per kg so £6.00 for a whole big chicken. This includes 2 breasts, 2 legs and 2 wings. I have a feeling the legs sold separately in supermarkets are larger than those on most chickens but anyway!
Most of these prices relate to Lidl as it's where I buy chicken, other supermarkets are much more expensive ie. £10-13/kg vs £7/kg for breast.
Chicken leg prices are often £2/kg with 4 in a kg. So let's say £1 worth of legs.
Chicken breast is £7/kg with 5 in a kg so £2.80 worth of breast.
I never buy chicken wings but checking mysupermarket they look about £2/kg with 10 per kg so you get 40p worth of chicken wings.
So on this standard chicken you are getting approximately £4.20 worth of leg, wing and skinless chicken breast. You can often get large chickens on offer at £5 so if the carcass and skin is worth 80p to you(though you could get this off legs/wings anyway or atleast i do) then you are breaking even.

Consider cooking time, a whole large chicken means the oven is on for 2 hours? Cooking all the pieces individually is less than an hour.
If you have a big family or prefer to cut the meat off a whole cooked chicken then a whole chicken is more convenient. But if like me you prefer to dice a breast before cooking or only need one roast leg for a dinner, then portions are more convenient.
Whilst you might have meat left on a carcass to make soup, think of this as something deducted from a portion, not some "free" meat.

adelight

Saver0811 wrote: »

I seem to remember when I did this years ago, the costs per actual amount of chicken on each item was about the same when you took the bones away.

ie pence per gm /oz

It varies a lot, meat prices vary a lot by cut depending on area too. Ie, fillet steak is 10% cheaper in the midlands than london but mince is 25% more expensive. Whole leg of lamb is cheaper but a chop is more etc

miss_emmajane

Hi,

I remember reading on here that it can be cheaper/better to buy a whole fresh chicken and use it for a few meals and stock rather than to buy frozen pieces.

My question is, do you cook the whole chicken and then use it cooked in the meals (and how does this work, for chicken curry would you just add it in to the sauce to heat it up?) or do you make the sections when raw and freeze them yourself?

I move out with my boyfriend for the first time on the 27th so want to start on the right foot with shopping and money saving :A

Thank you :T

LondonDreamer

I do it either way, depending what I'm planning to use the leftover meat for. If I want it for a dish that works better with fresh meat, I will remove the leg portions (effectively creating a chicken crown) and freeze those raw, and roast just the breast portion. Then cook the legs separately at a later date. For things such as curries and pies where it doesn't matter as much, I roast the entire chicken then use the cooked meat in the second dish. And it is just a case of reheating it in the sauce.

But I don't do this often myself, as my DH hates leg meat (found about two dishes he'll tolerate it in) and I rarely use chicken stock so don't need the carcass to make it. So for me, it's actually more cost effective to buy frozen skinless breasts as I'll have no waste/complaints that way. I'll usually only buy a whole chicken as part of a meal deal (M&S do these, last one was a 1.6kg bird) and I'm REALLY craving roast chicken.

diddly74

I am not the most adventurous of cooks, tho I do try every so often to expand my repetoir and have plenty of cook books.

But in answer to your question, I buy large chickens and roast them as normal giving us a roast dinner on a Sunday and enough meat to make a curry on a Monday. And yes - I ad the cooked meat to the sauce and veggies and let it simmer.

spike7451

I prefer to buy a big 2.5kg bag of Saisbury's chicken portions for £3.79.In the last one I got 4 huge chicken thighs,4 wings & 11 drumsticks,I simply debone what I need for a curry,the thighs I often roast off for Sunday lunch.