HELP ! how much chicken ?

JAZ63

Hi everyone,

we are having a family reunion for 30 people, we all take turns cooking a meal at some point over the weekend,

last year my family managed to escape the cooking duties ,
but this year we have had a double whammy ,as we are down to cater for the Saturday night , (which I did volunteer for)

but have since found out that extra family are due to pop in(didnt know that when I volunteered !!)

anyway I will be paying for the food.

I plan to cook in advance in my slowcooker and freeze ,so I can reheat it there (we are renting a manor house for the weekend) so I am less stressed

I plan to do a chicken casserole which I can bulk out with veg,and serve jacket potatoes with maybe an extra veg on side. (I have planned a veggie alternative too ,so no probs there)

I am vegetarian,so was really shocked the other day at price of chicken breast .

I dont want to use thighs ,and would rather use breast ,How much should I allow per person? or any tips on when to dash to supermarket to get reduced prices which I can cook then freeze anyway.
hope this all makes sense

krycek985

Im no master cook but would say half to a full breast per person.

Casserole should be nice and soft in my opionin and the chicken should start to split into smaller parts (alot of waste from the little bits that hide away)

zippychick

HI there

can you do some sort of buffet rather than a meal or do you have your heart set on that? In my views a sit down meat potato and veg meal is more expensive than a buffet type offering? Otherwise, 1/2 - 1 portion of chicken breast per person is really going to ramp up the cost (depending of course what "kind" of chicken you buy- free range/basics etc) There is a really good OS party food thread which may have some cheaper alternative suggestions . Or a mince based meal would be cheaper - more exciting mince recipes

if you do need them, here are some buffet links

Buffet Ideas

help ideas for party food

party food for 80+ help!

Ideas for really cheap easy Buffet food please!!

buffet ideas for 100+ on a budget?

Wedding buffet for 150 people...!!!

Party and Catering - any ideas?

budget buffet help!!

Christening Buffet ideas?

Help ! Planning small buffet birthday party for 17, NEVER done anything like this ? !

one of us will merge this later

Zip

JAZ63

Thanks Zippychick,

unfortunately ,everyone expects a sit down meal. so will stick to traditional meat and two veg.

you have given me some great ideas that I will look at for future events though.

Im having terrible quandry as Im vegetarian and would prefer to use free range chicken ,but I am SHOCKED at the cost of free range compared to regular chicken.

any ideas when supermarkets reduce their products ?

Thank you sooo much
Jaz

gizmo111

I get chicken breasts from Makro - around 22 good sized breasts for £18.
As you are veggie I would be inclined to make a large quorn cottage pie and serve with green veg and crusty bread.

zippychick

Yes that's the problem, I wouldn't use value chicken either - it has to be free range which means i rarely eat it.

I think it depends on each individual one..... MOst big tesco will start reducing through the early afternoon. I think your hopes of finding reduced chicken aren't good to be honest - it's pot luck. In my big tesco the whoops are great up to 5, then everything dissapears when people come out of work so it depends on where you live, how populated that area is = busy shop etc.

You may find some bulking ideas in the chicken casserole thread - more veg and i would probably throw a load of red lentils infor filling power

Just a thought but I would also prep it on the day - put the dish in the sc in the morning, then it's kept at a good temperature and can be served at different times - because you can't heat it up in the slow cooker! i mean i would "use" the convenience of the slow cooker for serving and keeping it warm. One less thing to have to reheat - you could prep it all the night before in the SC ready to switch on. Sorry, just my thoughts! :A

Um - why dont you want to use thighs? Is it the bones?.. I fully respect you for cooking meat ! I wouldn't expect it from a veggie.:)
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Oops, cat on keyboard.:p

LondonDreamer

Personally, I serve half a breast per person from a small bird, probably around 100g. In a casserole, you could probably get away with less - particularly if you add lentils or beans to bulk up the protein. I don't make chicken casserole but in other stews, I only use about 50g of meat per person and it's ample.

I took a look at Mr T's chicken prices (since that's my local) and your cheapest option is the value frozen breast fillets, 40p per 100g. If you want fresh, they are selling their healthy living range for half price this weekend - £3 per pack or just under 60p per 100g. Otherwise, there's usually breast packs in the 3 for £10 deals - I think all of the big supermarkets offer a similar deal now. ETA: I'd only read your first post when writing this paragraph, so you can probably ignore it due to welfare standards unless your budget is really tight.

Unfortunately free range is at least double this price, as you've found! The cheapest I could find in a quick hunt around mysupermarket is Mr T's corn fed free range at £1.05 per 100g. If you would consider using thighs, they are MUCH cheaper at 50p per 100g in Mr S. Doesn't say whether they are bone in or not (I very rarely buy chicken pieces or shop there so not at all familiar with them) but I would assume they are.

For whoopsies, my local does their markdowns on Saturday mornings. But I live near a popular weekend destination, so I think they clear their shelves early ready for fresh weekend stock to sell at full price. I hear Sunday afternoons is quite a common mark down time elsewhere, or an hour before closing if your local isn't a late closing/24 hour store. Another ETA: As Zip mentioned though, you're probably unlikely to find marked down chicken - especially free range. I've only found marked down breast once in the past year. But if you have enough time between now and then to hunt, you might get lucky.

caitybabes

Hiya

I wonder if you would consider using chicken on the bone? In my opinion it gives a much better flavour than chicken breast and also has the advantage of being cheaper. You can buy big frozen packs of thighs and legs for a few quid in tesco (although admittedly it's value range so you might not want to do that) or you can get regular tesco brand packs of thighs/legs in boxes in the fresh aisle which work well for casserole.

The bones help to add flavour to the casserole I think. You could also serve it with plenty of mash or fresh bread and butter

Hope you have a fab family reunion!

Cait x

lurkey*is*here

sainsburys do sell boneless chicken thighs atm they are 3 packs for £5 I cant remember how many per pack Im sure its 4 or 5? Ill agree thighs or drumsticks are way nicer and tastier in a casserole

bigmomma051204

I may have missed something but is there any reason you HAVE to use chicken? As someone mentioned earlier, mince would be WAY cheaper and you could do some simple dishes with it - chilli con carne with jacket potatoes, lasagne with crusty bread and salad etc, spag bol with garlic bread..... the list is pretty endless! Just wondered why it had to be chicken when chicken is notoriously pricey! :cool:



Also, u then don't have the issues of free range or not etc.....

PennyGSD

Do you have a local farm shop or farmer's market near to you?

I buy all our meat from farmer's markets and as you are dealing directly with the producer so no profit sapping middle man involved, they will normally give you quite a deal if you order in bulk.

Have a look to see if there are farmer's markets mentioned near to you on line with a list of traders and ring them to see what they could do.

For 30 people you are looking at a lot of chicken and it could even be worth asking around to see if anyone wants any extra to bump your order up.

I buy 1 large free range chicken for £10, 2 for £15 or 3 for £20 and also buy large (500g) packs of chicken breast at 5 packs for £20. If I was ordering more I'm sure the price would come down even further but I don't have that much freezer space.

I know you said you don't want cheaper thighs, but they would be much tastier and would be more expected for something like your planned casserole,