Every major market these days have rotisserie chickens, warm, just cooked from the rotisserie oven and ready to go. They are great for those nights when you just don’t feel like cooking. And they are great to have handy for sandwiches, salads, or for dozens of other dishes. In fact, if you go to the Walmart site, they will show you 30 different ways to use a rotisserie chicken. We’ve actually got several recipes in our The Net Gourmet database that use pre-cooked chickens.
On average, the small roasted chicken costs about $5.00. The package says they weigh 29 ounces, but the one we just purchased weighed 42 ounces (a pleasant surprise). They do have a larger one for about $8.00. One of our projects here is to purchase one of each and weight the meat rendered off each of them to determine the best value… but that’s for another day.
You’re asking about the $2.00 chickens?
Right. Here’s my point. We all use chicken stock at some point. I typically have an open one in the refrigerator all the times. How much do you pay for it? On average, a name brand 1 quart box of stock (or broth) cost right about $2.99 at your market. You can probably get store brands for $2.50.
When I bring home a rotisserie chicken, I de-bone it, remove all the skin and throw bones and skin into a stock pot. Cover with water and cook it down for 20 minutes. It renders at least a quart of stock.
See my point? You’re going to buy the stock anyway. So, buy the chicken for $5.00 and make a quart of stock. Your net cost… $2.
