Rubber Chicken

elliep_2

I have a stock simmering on the stove as I type but I can't help but wonder if it's worth it.

It'll simmer for a coule of hours so with the gas that is using and the electric to run the fan to stop the kitchen getting too steamy, isn't it more moneysaving to just buy stock cubes?

I'd like to be proved wrong but I can't see how at the moment.

lill

foxy will still be happy getting just the skin and bones after youve stripped the rest off and made your stock

Phoolgrrrl

I pick the meat off and use it for chicken dishes. It's far easier! Roast it on sunday when have time then have ready cooked meat for 2 dinners during the week Plus 1 lunch at least. I make stock normally as a base for soup but trying it with rissotto tonight.

Gigervamp

elliep wrote: »

I have a stock simmering on the stove as I type but I can't help but wonder if it's worth it.

It'll simmer for a coule of hours so with the gas that is using and the electric to run the fan to stop the kitchen getting too steamy, isn't it more moneysaving to just buy stock cubes?

I'd like to be proved wrong but I can't see how at the moment.

Don't know if it works out cheaper (btw, you can do stock in the slowcooker which would be cheaper than using the hob) but homemade stock is better for you. Less salt and other additives.

Penelope_Penguin

I'll add this to the existing rubber chicken thread so that you can get more ideas

Penny. x

thriftlady_2

Gigervamp wrote: »

homemade stock is better for you. Less salt and other additives.

And it is also full of calcium and other minerals that are present in the bones. Bone broths such as chicken stock are really nutritious. Apparently if you put a couple of spoonfuls of vinegar in the water with the bones half an hour before you start cooking it will help draw out the calcium. You can't taste the vinegar when it is cooked.

Broth is Beautiful

Gigervamp

Didn't know that tip about the vinegar. Thanks!

maryb

Elliep
The other alternative to a slow cooker is a pressure cooker. Makes very good stock in 20 minutes.

Drain then put the stock back in the cooker with chopped onion and vegetables and maybe a small handful of soup mix pulses together with a pinch of curry powder and cook for 15 minutes on high pressure. Eat with bread to make a complete protein (grains plus pulses and vegetables).

Once the cooker is at pressure you turn the heat right down so in total you probably don't use much more heat than for boiling a pan of potatoes in an ordinary pan (although if I'm sufficiently organisedI tend to just bring potatoes to the boil then turn off the heat and leave them sitting in the hot water for half an hour - that usually cooks them sufficiently to mash)

competitionscafe

sheba wrote: »

Bit ashamed of this, as not very economic nor very ecological and also I feel a little disrepectful to the chicken itself (!) but whenever we roast a chicken we only eat the breast meat and then invariably I strip the rest and give to the local fox, before binning the carcass.

Is that because nobody likes the brown meat? In which case wouldn't it be a lot easier and quicker just to buy breasts on or off the bone and roast them?
A whole chicken takes an hour or more to roast while a breast takes about 10 minutes after browning on the hob....

However, if you are prepared to eat the brown meat and make stock from the carcass, then yes, a whole chicken is a lot more economical.

EssexHebridean

In case it helps anyone - Tesco currently have a special offer on their free range chicken - I think from memory it's a reduction of 80p per kilo.

I will probably buy three of them this week - One will have the meat stripped off raw and portioned up. One will roast on Sunday and then make several portions of chicken curry for the freezer, and I will probably get a risotto from that too. The carcasses of both will go to make stock. Not sure yet what will hapen to the last one - maybe frozen whole for a future roast/curry/risotto/stock experience!