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Frugal Friday: Chicken On The Cheap
Do those "extreme value" or "value pack" trays or bags of boneless, skinless chicken breast really save you money?
Why pay for the chicken skin when you are just going to throw it away, right? The best way to judge the best deal with chicken is to consider the price per pound instead of the cost per chicken breast because some chicken breasts are bigger or smaller than others. Two small chicken breasts can weigh the same as one extra large chicken breast.
In my neighborhood grocery store the "value pack" of boneless, skinless chicken breasts is $3.49 per pound while a package of "boneless, skinless Breast Fillets" will run you $6.49 per pound.
But you only need 4 chicken breasts for dinner and the value pack of chicken contains anywhere from 6 to 8 breasts. So what do you do with the extra 2 to 4 breasts? The way I see it you have two good options:
Option #1
If you are roasting or grilling the chicken, you might as well throw on the extra breasts. You can use the extra cooked breasts for lunch or dinner the next day (chicken enchiladas, chicken quesadillas, chicken pot pie, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken Caesar salad, etc…)
Option #2
You can wrap the extra-uncooked chicken breasts in a freezer bag (make sure you have pressed out any air in the bag) then keep it in the freezer. The next time you are making chicken for dinner, you can just defrost the frozen chicken breasts by placing them in the refrigerator the night before.
The savings add up!
If you have chicken a couple of times a week and use about 1 pound of chicken each time, you could potentially save around $24 each month!
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: Frugal Friday, cheap chicken, healthy diet
Why pay for the chicken skin when you are just going to throw it away, right? The best way to judge the best deal with chicken is to consider the price per pound instead of the cost per chicken breast because some chicken breasts are bigger or smaller than others. Two small chicken breasts can weigh the same as one extra large chicken breast.
In my neighborhood grocery store the "value pack" of boneless, skinless chicken breasts is $3.49 per pound while a package of "boneless, skinless Breast Fillets" will run you $6.49 per pound.
But you only need 4 chicken breasts for dinner and the value pack of chicken contains anywhere from 6 to 8 breasts. So what do you do with the extra 2 to 4 breasts? The way I see it you have two good options:
Option #1
If you are roasting or grilling the chicken, you might as well throw on the extra breasts. You can use the extra cooked breasts for lunch or dinner the next day (chicken enchiladas, chicken quesadillas, chicken pot pie, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken Caesar salad, etc…)
Option #2
You can wrap the extra-uncooked chicken breasts in a freezer bag (make sure you have pressed out any air in the bag) then keep it in the freezer. The next time you are making chicken for dinner, you can just defrost the frozen chicken breasts by placing them in the refrigerator the night before.
The savings add up!
If you have chicken a couple of times a week and use about 1 pound of chicken each time, you could potentially save around $24 each month!
Related Topics:
Technorati Tags: Frugal Friday, cheap chicken, healthy diet
13 Comments:
I am often sorry.
I always look at your site.
Because I write the recipe of the side dish mainly, please link with my site.
"The recipe of the delicious dish and meal"
http://food-cooking-recipe.blogspot.com/
I was hoping for more useful information. Like: If the breasts with bones were $X less, they are a better value. Sheesh. What a lightweight article.
Hi
I do buy the chicken in the big tray boneless skinless I often have to trim them of extra fat / so I wait for a sale price like 1.99 lb and buy 2 trays bag and freeze them.. I also buy whole broiler chickens and bake the breasts I save the back neck and gisards to make home made soup
I freeze them in freezer bage ..
I like to wait for sales on these too and buy several and cut then up and bag them in parts..often I can find these chickens around 79cents a pound . when I do I buy several ..It is a bit of work cutting them up and bagging them but it is worth it..
Hi.
I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend.
I only buy whole chickens, preferrably free range or organic. I do this on the weekends so I have time to cut up the chickens if that is my plan. I remove the wing tips and giblets, neck and back and make a big batch of stock. I find it easier to do this than to freeze the pieces for cooking at a later time. The wings I often cut in half and place in a freezer bag with a spicy buffalo sauce. Then it is just take out in morning and bake when I get home at night. Everything else I leave on the bone, as I believe it stays moister and tastes better, when cooked on the bone. I am single so 1 chicken will result in 6 meals, plus a low salt defatted chicken broth. There is no less expensive way to buy chicken.
That actually sounds expensive to me. I usually just buy wings for less than $1.00 per lb. on sale. I am single and thats my favorite. However, I just bought a 10lb. bag of legs with ribs for 49 cents a lb. I will either make a casserole or boil for stir fry and keep the stock for soup. THAT is cheap.
Where do you buy your chicken...6.49 lb is a lot . I'm in Rhode Island and for a ten lb bag..it's 1.79 lb..skinless boneless.
I think she is in CA where food is $$$$.
A fillet is not a breast. It is thinner and more sophisticated
my name is bev and i am 55 years old and have been eating mostly eating chicken all my life, i do not care for other meats, i just had a complete cardiac phisical in august 2007 and was told that i have the arteries of a two year old, i do not have a bit of plac in any of my main or smaller arteries. to this day i still only eat alot of chicken,grilled or backed, not ever fried. so stay healthy, it's easy.
Chicken done cheap in my area is buying leg quarters by the frozen 10lb. bag. Separate the legs and thighs at the joint. I strip the meat from the legs and use them in recipes that call for breast meat. The thighs are always great for frying or BBQ. At 49¢-79¢ per pound you can't go wrong.
Two days ago I bought two "family packs" fo boneless,skinless chick.breast. Each pkg. contained 10 portions (1/2 breast)and cost $11.00 You do the math. I bought a FoodSaver a few years ago -Very Wise Purchase ! I clean the chicken,brine it, pat it dry, portion two pieces per small bag,vac-seal it and use at will. ALL my meat is kept this way. Huge savings. Whole chickens are on special here for .99/lb and then I'll get 4 or 6, clean them, split them, vac-seal, etc. Easy.
Hi!
I am not cheep...I am wise!!! I can't stand to pay one cent more for groceries than I need too and I want to make sure every shopper out their is aware of a very important fact, food sales have a cycle, so when your chicken(or any item) is on sale stock up fo about 4-6 weeks,doesnt it bug you to buy it one week for 1.79 and the next for 2.79? I don't do it any more, and in my neck of the woods we have Albertsons and my boneless, skinless chicken can be as low as 1.69 per pound! Never buy by the piece, freeze what you don't need to use! My husband eats like a cow so I save all I can when I buy the chicken!!!!
I buy big packages and divide them all the time. Even better than freezer bags are the vacuum sealers. You can buy pre-sized bags or rolls and cut the bag to accommodate however many pieces of chicken, or how much meat, or how many fish fillets you want. They remove the air for you, hence the likelihood of freezer frost is slim, and you can write on the outside just like you can with freezer bags. Great for breads, fruits and veggies too. The cost has definitely paid off over a few months.
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