Cooking a whole chicken when you live alone

Fusspot

Do you think it's worth it? I did this last week after hearing many recommendations, I did it in the slow cooker, a small chicken. I still ended up with more than I could eat before it went off and most of it got wasted.

I know I can freeze it but I'm really wary of freezing and reheating cooked chicken as I've heard stories about food poisoning if it's not frozen after a certain time. However this method would help me save time and money.

HappyMJ

Fusspot wrote: »

Do you think it's worth it? I did this last week after hearing many recommendations, I did it in the slow cooker, a small chicken. I still ended up with more than I could eat before it went off and most of it got wasted.

I know I can freeze it but I'm really wary of freezing and reheating cooked chicken as I've heard stories about food poisoning if it's not frozen after a certain time. However this method would help me save time and money.

It's better frozen in portions.

Cook the entire chicken then portion it out and as soon as it's cooled sufficiently then freeze all the portions. Do not wait for a few days before freezing it. Freeze it straight away. It'll be fresher and last longer once defrosted.

You can only defrost the cooked chicken once in the fridge. If it then goes uneaten after 2-3 days then yes you've got to either eat it or bin it and not return it to the freezer.

PasturesNew

It's possible it's not worth it for you.
You do need to understand how to ensure the chicken is safe - not all chicken is unsafe. It's a combination of a chicken that carried the bacteria AND how quickly you cool it down/into the fridge and then how hot you reheat it. If you're young/healthy you can still get away with it even if you "slipped up" by a little bit.

If you're going to try to do it - then possibly the best way would be to:
- pull ALL the meat off immediately, the whole lot, every bit you think you're going to use. Now weigh it - see how much you actually got, so you can compare that with, say, buying various other portions etc

- plate up the bit you want to eat now.
- put all the rest in a sealed pot standing in a bowl of cold water (you've probably not got enough access to ice cubes to be able to use those).

Now go and eat your dinner.

While you're eating your dinner that other chicken will be getting as cold as possible, as fast as possible - and you've not forgotten it.

When you take your plate through to the kitchen, deal with the rest of the chicken, continue to try to get it cooled soonest.

Within an hour, box it up in the fridge, covered.

But, for one, it can be difficult due to the quantity you're managing and then having to find space for and eat/get through in the X days coming....

I'm funny with chicken as I can't bear/eat any fat, bone, skin or gristle - or anything close. So it'd be tortuous for me to try to pick a chicken apart, with it's "horrible bits" and "bits that gross me out"

suki1964

One way to freeze chicken is to slice it up into portions and put the portions into those plastic containers from the chinese or the metal foil containers with the cardboard lids, add grave and freeze

Plastic containers need to be heated in the microwave, the tin ones in the over. You heat until the gravy is bubbling away, sir and rest a few minutes. Your chicken will be safely heated through

There is very little chance of getting ill from reheating chicken AS LONG AS THE CHICKEN WAS COOKED THROUGH FIRST TIME. That and the fast cooling down will do the trick

At work we poach chicken fillets until just cooked, plunge in iced water to cool and have then in the fridge within 40 mins. Those fillet are the bases of fillet burgers, goujons, salads,sandwiches and curries. In 9 years Ive been there we have never failed a food and hygeine inspection, nor made anyone sick

Need2bthrifty

I'm on my own and I prefer to buy a whole chicken rather than separate packs of breast and thigh meat. When I have a bit of space in the freezer I regularly cook a whole chicken. I'll have a roast chicken dinner on the day of cooking, pick all the meat off put some aside for a salad or sandwich the following day.

Then depending on what I have in veggie-wise or store cupboard to bulk it out I will make up batches of:-
Chicken pie filling
Chicken lasagna
Chicken curry
Chilli chicken

These are boxed up in individual portions and frozen, stock is made from the carcass and used in the sauces of the above or frozen for soup at a later date.

I can regularly get about 10 meals, bulked out with veg and pulses, from a small/medium chicken - I'd say definitely worth it.

I meal plan and have gotten into the habit of taking stuff out of the freezer the night before and letting it defrost slowly in the fridge.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

In house of BoP, chicken is turned very quickly into a curry, that sits on the strove for four or five days. Like the cheese and butter, it will not see the fridge! No problem and been the same for fifty plus years!
If you don't want it, pm me.
The bones are set out for the birds!

Fusspot

Need2bthrifty wrote: »

I'm on my own and I prefer to buy a whole chicken rather than separate packs of breast and thigh meat. When I have a bit of space in the freezer I regularly cook a whole chicken. I'll have a roast chicken dinner on the day of cooking, pick all the meat off put some aside for a salad or sandwich the following day.

Then depending on what I have in veggie-wise or store cupboard to bulk it out I will make up batches of:-
Chicken pie filling
Chicken lasagna
Chicken curry
Chilli chicken

These are boxed up in individual portions and frozen, stock is made from the carcass and used in the sauces of the above or frozen for soup at a later date.

I can regularly get about 10 meals, bulked out with veg and pulses, from a small/medium chicken - I'd say definitely worth it.

I meal plan and have gotten into the habit of taking stuff out of the freezer the night before and letting it defrost slowly in the fridge.

How long do you keep the meals in the freezer before your eat them? I know what you mean about it being worth it money wise as I paid three pounds for a full chicken last week and have paid that amount for a chicken breast.

Gigervamp

Another option is to portion the chicken up before cooking it and freeze the portions raw. Then just take out what you need to cook.

MallyGirl

Gigervamp wrote: »

Another option is to portion the chicken up before cooking it and freeze the portions raw. Then just take out what you need to cook.

I never buy pieces as whole chickens can often be got for the price of 2 tiny breasts. I remove the breasts and legs to use/freeze and then the dogs get the carcass/wings between them as they are raw fed. If I roast a whole chicken then the carcass goes in the slow cooker, with the onion from the middle and whatever veg trimmings I have, to make stock.

pigpen

Fusspot wrote: »

How long do you keep the meals in the freezer before your eat them? I know what you mean about it being worth it money wise as I paid three pounds for a full chicken last week and have paid that amount for a chicken breast.

Months, years, .. until we eat them!

food poisoning is not as likely as people like to squeal about.. when did you last have it??? as an indicator of frequency/likelihood.. I've had fp once in my entire life and that was my own fault!

MallyGirl

same here. Am sorting through and cataloguing the freezer contents at the moment here and I found a freezer burned chop that the dogs can have but everything else will get eaten. I take all this 'no more than a month' thing with a massive pinch of salt. I have only had FP once in my life and that was in Kenya from dodgy water