frugal eating tip

 
If you buy a chicken to cook, buy a whole chicken.   It costs more per pound
if you buy it already cut up into parts.   Learn to cut it into parts
yourself.   It is a good skill and will serve you well

Here is a good recipe for a chicken that will feed a whole family as a one
dish meal.  It is not only inexpensive, but a great time saver for busy
people, and very delicious.

Chicken Cacciatore

1 chicken cut into parts.   Lay chicken parts in a large baking pan
1 large onion cut in half, then sliced into half moons and spread around the
pan.
3 cloves of garlic sliced all around the pan.
1- 1 lb can of diced tomatoes, dumped all around the pan
Peel a few potatoes and place them around the pan.
sprinkle a half tsp of oregano and a half tsp of basil over all
Salt, pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes all over.
drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over the pan.

bake at 350 for about an hour and then serve right in the same pan.

(note: if you have a little cheap marsala wine on hand, about a quarter cup
added to the pan along with everything else before you bake it, makes a
wonderful addition)
--

Evelyn

"Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having
nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst
into laughter."    -Longchenpa

 
I guess it's a good general rule the doing the labor (cutting up)
yourself will save money, but it's frequently not the case. One local
market has cut up chickens at less per pound than a whole chicken. The
Sav-A-Lot where I shop has leg quarters for $4.90 for 10#. I'd say 49¢
per pound for chicken is pretty cheap these days. The whole chicken is
$1.29/#. It really comes down to keeping your eyes and mind open when
shopping rather than depending some historic rule that may have worked
in the 50's, if then.

 
I guess it's a good general rule the doing the labor (cutting up)
yourself will save money, but it's frequently not the case. One local
market has cut up chickens at less per pound than a whole chicken. The
Sav-A-Lot where I shop has leg quarters for $4.90 for 10#. I'd say 49¢
per pound for chicken is pretty cheap these days. The whole chicken is
$1.29/#. It really comes down to keeping your eyes and mind open when
shopping rather than depending some historic rule that may have worked
in the 50's, if then.


***************

Yes, we have that here too.

But if you check the package carefully take note of what sort of stuff is in
there.   I bought some chicken leg quarters at only .25 cents per lb. a
while ago.   They had the backs attached, and also a large amount of the
abdominal fat, plus some of the skin from the abdomen attached as well.   In
reading the ingredients, I noticed that they included "artificially flavored
chicken broth".

Now WHY would they need something like that if you are buying real fresh
chicken?   The answer is that it isn't good quality chicken and it needed
some enhancement of the flavor because maybe it had some bad flavor due to
mishandling the meat, or freshness, or whatever.

Over the years I have found that if I buy a whole chicken I get to take all
the trimmings like the back, necks, meat from the ribs, and make soup out of
it.   We get a couple of meals out of the chicken meat, and besides that, we
also get a nice soup out of the bits that I don't bother to cook with the
rest of the meal.

So it is always a good thing to investigate which will serve you best.
Don't take my word on anything, try it for yourself.   Please make a point
of reading the package where those chicken leg quarters are concerned.   If
there is anything in it besides a chicken leg, it isn't a bargain.

--

Evelyn

"Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having
nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst
into laughter."    -Longchenpa

 albundy2@mailinator.com wrote:

I bet you folks would appreciate this information:  My trusty Berkeley
Co-Op Food Book, copyright 1980 and still chock full of valuable
information, gives a comparison price list for chicken parts.  You can
extrapolate from this one line from the chart:

When whole chickens are 99c a pound, then you get the same amount of
meat for your money when the parts cost:

Breast        $1.32
Thigh        $1.11
Drumstick    $1.02
Wing        $0.81

Your market has cut-up chickens for less than whole ones because they
remove parts that come with the whole chicken (giblets) and sell them
separately for more money per pound than they get from selling the
chicken.

 

That was before the advent of buffalo wings. Wings are now one of the
highest priced parts of the chicken.

I'll never forget what a friend said to me in reply to a very complicated
(and delicious) recipe I sent him for hot and sour soup.

Recipe for beans.

Put beans in a pot with water. Cut up onion and put in pot. Cook. Eat. LOL.

Sounds frugal enough, but I think I want some more spices in that. Like
salt.