Do you get more meat from one large chicken or two small chickens?

norabatty_2

Just wondering what is more economical - to buy two small birds (e.g. 1.3kg each) or one large bird (e.g. 2.2kg)?

So far, I have only ever cooked small birds (about 1.3 kg) and usually end up with 550g - 650g of edible chicken from a small bird plus stock.

I'm not sure if large chickens have the same proportions of bones/fat/meat as small chickens do. Does anybody know how much cooked meat you should get from a large chicken?

I do appreciate that this question makes me sound like I have no life whatsoever, but would be interested to hear your views all the same.....


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Mojisola

I've never weighed the bones but I suspect that two lots of bones would weigh more than one lot from a bigger bird.

geordie_joe

I suspect that the percentage of meat/bones would be the same in two like for like chickens where just the size differs.

However, a quick look at the tesco web site shows that larger, but similar in quality chickens are about £1 per kilo more expensive. So even if you do get a little more meat from a bigger chicken you will be paying more per kilo for it.

norabatty_2

Thanks for your replies. I suspect that my next trip to Mr S will involve purchasing a large chicken and then doing some cooking, dissecting, weighing and calculating. I'll let you know my findings!

kippers

norabatty wrote: »

I do appreciate that this question makes me sound like I have no life whatsoever, but would be interested to hear your views all the same.....

I obviously have no life either as I was really interested in the answer lol

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

compmad1

I'll be very interested in the results of your experiments!

geordie_joe

kippers wrote: »

I obviously have no life either as I was really interested in the answer lol

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

You think you have no life! I sat and trying to work it out, even went checking the price of chickens

I was actually interested in the answer, and they do say you should exercise your brain now and then

inspace

Grrrrrrrrrrrr I want to join the sad crew also - first thing I thought when I read the title was - wow very good question hehehe.

If no one completes the experiment I will feel compelled to lol my guess is on the big chicken - even more so if its like a small turkey

welshbookworm

Pulls up a chair and joins the rest of the sad crew.

My vote says a 2kg bird will have more meat than 2 x 1kg birds

cybervic

I used to buy one big chicken, cut all the meat off, freeze them, and finish them slowly (only cook for two.) for some strange reason I've always though 2 small chicken is more expansive than a big bird. I'd be really interested to know too.

geordie_joe

cybervic wrote: »

for some strange reason I've always though 2 small chicken is more expansive than a big bird. I'd be really interested to know too.

I thought that too, and it is sometimes but not others.

For example, a value chicken is £2.48 per Kilo. A 1kg chicken costs £2.48 and 3 kg costs £7.44.

But for similar type larger birds, where no smaller one is on sale to compare, the price per kilo is around £1 more.

I think this is because it costs more to feed/rear a chicken the bigger it gets. i.e. it takes a certain amount of food to get a chicken from hatching to weighing 1kg, but it would take a lot more food to get that chicken from 1kg to 2kg, and even more to get it up to 3kg.