Honestly, my grocery bill dropped by $40 a week after I started buying whole chickens.

I saw a video from a cooking channel in Austin showing how to break one down and use every part. Ngl, I was just throwing the carcass away before, but now I make stock for soup too. Has anyone else found a single ingredient that cut their food costs this much?

4 comments

4 Comments

kimr742mo ago

My dumb ass was just buying boneless skinless chicken breasts like a sucker for years. Breaking down a whole bird felt like a magic trick the first time I did it, lol. The stock alone makes it worth the extra five minutes of work.

stone.lisa2mo agoProlific Poster

My grandma taught me to break down a chicken when I was twelve and I thought it was the hardest thing ever. Now I can do it in under two minutes and it feels like a superpower. The real game changer was using the back and wings for stock right away in my slow cooker. That homemade stock makes the whole house smell amazing and turns simple rice into something special. It completely changed how I plan meals for the week.

lewis.terry1mo ago

My mom started doing the same thing with beef bones from a local butcher. She roasts them first for deeper flavor, then simmers them for two days. The gelatin you get from that is unreal, it sets up like Jello in the fridge. It makes the best onion soup I've ever had, way better than any store bought box. That kind of stock is a whole different ingredient, it coats your mouth. Once you start, you can't go back to the watery stuff.

riverw172mo ago

That whole chicken trick is solid. It made me realize I was doing the same with pork shoulder. Buying a big one on sale and turning it into pulled pork, then using the leftover meat for tacos and fried rice all week. The first time I did it, I froze half and it felt like free food later.