It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Florenceem

I learnt how to debone chicken thighs on Yt.
Got some tomatoes today at SA - we had a lot donated by Waitro..

newlywed

Florenceem said:

I learnt how to debone chicken thighs on Yt.

I was watching Jamie’s £1 meals and he showed deboning chicken thighs… not sure now why I never managed it as he made it look easy.

Longwalker

newlywed said:

Florenceem said:

I learnt how to debone chicken thighs on Yt.

I was watching Jamie’s £1 meals and he showed deboning chicken thighs… not sure now why I never managed it as he made it look easy.

I only ever by thighs on the bone and de bone them myself

Its not difficult, a small sharp knife

The you can, if you have the freezer space, freeze those bones and a couple of kilo later, theres enough bones to make a good chicken stock and soup 

newlywed

Thanks @Longwalker I usually make stock with whole chicken carcass but will definitely bear this in mind if I have any room in the freezer.

risotto with proper chicken stock is so much better than any cube…

zaxdog

Longwalker said:

newlywed said:

Florenceem said:

I learnt how to debone chicken thighs on Yt.

I was watching Jamie’s £1 meals and he showed deboning chicken thighs… not sure now why I never managed it as he made it look easy.

I only ever by thighs on the bone and de bone them myself

Its not difficult, a small sharp knife

The you can, if you have the freezer space, freeze those bones and a couple of kilo later, theres enough bones to make a good chicken stock and soup 

I do exactly the same. Today a ham haugh has been in the slow cooker all day. Out now to cool for a thick veg & lentil soup. Bowl of stock from it for the soup base and a tub (washed out Dreamies container) for the freezer.

Lunch from bits and bobs and leftovers today too so good to use things up.

Hundred and sixty mile Highland Clearance Commute on Wednesday so will stock up on tea and veggies at Lidl.

Longwalker

Oh I love a ham hock, when I can find them. They really are one of the last cheap versatile meats about

I soak mine - they are always salty, I leave the fat on for cooking , then slip it off and give it to the birds, Then I throw into the PC with an onion, carrot, apple ( if I have one ) a star anise, and black pepper corns. First meat is gammon with roasties and cauliflower cheese and veg

Then I carve of what I still can, and chop of the rest

Theres usually enough kind of carved for a round of sandwiches. Sometimes theres enough for ham egg and chips for the 3 of us.The chopped up goes in for quiches and the scrag of the bone and scraps, back in the PC with the original liquid - minus the star anise, but another carrot or so and a good couple of handfuls of lentils - blitzed and Ive lovely filling pea and ham soup 

But theres always enough small bits to be used somewhere rather then the cat bowl. You need very little in a fried rice or omelette , risotto etc

Two years ago, even as an oldstlyer for many many year, I was guilty of going sod it  - will feed the dog/cat - greedy beggars the pair of them , but now Im really finding it tough, I might look at eating  them ( Thats a joke btw, seriously a joke, maybe not in the best possible taste so I apologise if I have offended anyone )

JIL

I learned how to debone a whole chicken on YouTube. The end result was very impressive, stuffed and sliced. I did it again with the Christmas turkey but that was much harder. 

The chicken thighs are excellent when deboned at home, chicken is better roasted with the skin on.
I do remove the skin if I'm making a curry/casserole. 

euronorris

joedenise said:

euronorris said:

Yellow sticker everything if you can! 

Only 1 yellow sticker worth us having in sainsburys today, which was bread. There were some 'taste the difference' meals being stickered up, but at £1.99 each they were still pricey in my opinion!

Needed olive oil, and haven't had to buy any for a while. Boy was I shocked at the price! Ended up buying a 500ml bottle as the price was a little more palatable.

I also wanted to do a cooked chicken sandwich, and thought I would buy some pre cooked chargrilled chicken pieces (as a treat). Scanned them. Changed my mind. They wanted the best part of £5!!! It was about a single chickens breast worth! So gave daughter a quick education in savvy shopping and showed her much cheaper it worked out to buy the chicken breast, chop, season and cook ourselves and how much more we got for spending less money! And I know that's always the case, but I just really wanted to save myself a bit of time and effort today. Wasn't to be. 

Haven't had any trouble getting salad bits, and peppers etc for the last couple weeks which is good.

We then hit the charity shop and she got 6 books for £5, and a large where's wally puzzle (which hadn't ever been done once we opened it).

You can buy a whole chicken for about a fiver which would be even better value and you'd be able to make several meals from it.  I very rarely buy just chicken breasts.  If I buy pieces it thighs as I think they have more flavour.

Oh yes, it would def be cheaper, but I didn't want to have to roast a whole chicken just for my lunchtime sandwich. Plus, I didn't have enough time for that as it was already 11.30am at this point lol.

I'm afraid I really don't like dark meat, or meat on the bone either. DH will eat that happily, but he'd get fed up if I only ever gave him those parts of the bird. So we do what works for us. But yes, I agree buying a whole chicken is more cost effective.

Nelliegrace

I did enjoy your post @Longwalker Good old fashioned thrift, getting every bit of nourishment from the meat joint. I clarify the fat to get rid of the salt and any meat scraps which would make it go rancid, and use it for sautéing vegetables. 
I use every bit of a supermarket chicken in the same way, so there are just the bare bones left. Such a shame they stopped supplying the giblets.
The “dark meat,” can hardly be called that on the rapid growth, industrial meat chickens. In traditional breeds, running about outdoors, it is completely different and full of flavour. 

Auntycaz

I know what you mean about the giblets in chickens @Nelliegrace they made beautiful gravy. I was only commenting about them on the thread about things you can't get anymore the other day.