The Mumsnet Chicken

[FastApprochingForty]

I'll start by saying I'm not a good cook but have been trying. Inspired by the (often satirical) comments, and the fact many of you may have had one as a Sunday roast, how many meals can you get out of a roast chicken, (depending on size of bird and family)?

I've managed to get 3 dinners and 2 lunches for two adults (we've no kids) out a 1.5kg roast chicken:
Dinner 1 & 2: breast meat with salad, hummus and flatbread.
Dinner 3: legs with rice & Asian veg.
Lunch 1 & 2: strip remaining meat off carcass and boil remains for stock and turn into chicken & veg soup. (Not sure I'm doing the stock part long enough, as still end up adding a chicken stock-cube).

Am interested to hear of others meal plans from a single chicken.

Since this is AIBU, mine is that I normally bin the stuff that's left in the bottom of the cooking tray. Should I be doing anything with it, and is there anything to use it for apart from making gravy? I never see any congealed white bits of fat, just all looks like brown jelly when cold, so have never attempted to make gravy as not sure how the fat gets separated out.

Thanks

@Bluntness100

That’s the thing though, if you can get 20 odd portions from a chicken you’re using a tiny amount of chicken in each meal, if you get four portions you’re using more meat in each meal. It’s the exact same total amount of meat in the four portions as the twenty portions.

So for the four portions you’re looking at an average of one chicken breast or one leg per person.

For the twenty portions you’re looking at on average 20 percent of a chicken breast or leg per person per portion.

Or to put it another way, you’re sharing one chicken breast between five people, to make it work.

Couldn’t agree more.

It’s ridiculous btw, to claim that one breast between 5 is in any way a normal helping.

Anyway, I get a free range chicken of about 2kg and it says serves six. I think it would serve six for a roast, with leftovers for a sandwich or a nice soup.

I think that’s the point I’m trying to make. For us, one chicken breast or one leg is a normal portion in a roast dinner per person. It is not a huge amount.

When you’re cutting one breast into five portions, of course you can make it last for many many meals. But it’s frugal in the extreme. You can buy a 1.5kg chicken from Asda for 3 quid, which means on average each person eats 15 p of chicken for each person.

If you’re on a very, very tight food budget, then it makes sense, but you’re basically just getting a taste of it. It is by no means a main part of your meal.

Well, it depends how big the breasts are.

I generally serve slices from both breasts for my family of 4, and that is genuinely a generous portion for everyone.

When I go back to strip the meat off once it's cooled, I can get a lot more - maybe half as much again -from the breast where it seemed like we'd eaten it all. Plus all the leg, wing and other meat underneath.

I spend around £9 rather than £3 on a standard sized chicken though, so maybe it makes sense I'd get more meals out of it.

Do cheaper chickens contain more water, maybe, so you get less when cooked, even if they were the same weight to start?

I've noticed the legs and wings are always smaller on a cheap chicken, and tend to dry out, whereas with a free range bird you tend to get lots of meat there.

@justanotherremainer here is an article here (so you can see the different types). In most the spout is situated towards the base of the jug where the juices are (and the fat rises to the surface).

We used to have a fabulous borosilicate glass one, but now use stainless steel (we tried a plastic one, but it cracked with the heat).

If you ever cook roast beef it is well worth collecting the juices and late using the fat (dripping) for frying bubble & squeak.

I agree with comments up thread about buying the best chicken you can afford (they have fatter legs with loads of meat on them). When I was growing up in 60's/70's chicken was a very expensive meat.

We get a roast for 2 adults and 2 teens and a couple of sandwiches. Me and the kids only eat the breast though, Dh gets the thighs / legs and the dog gets his share too.

I CBA boiling up chicken carcasses

The weight of a chicken is the weight of a chicken, so the quantity of meats doesn’t have a huge variance, but the quality does.

In Asda, for example, you can buy a chicken for 3 pounds or one for 11 pounds. The latter is more expensive due to how it is reared and what it is fed.

I think thought if you can afford to buy an expensive chicken then it’s unlikely you’re eating a quarter or fifth of a breast for a meal and eeking it out. Because You’d be better buying four chickens for the price of the one expensive organic corn fed one.

I cook two chickens at once because one would never be enough for my three men and myself.There is maybe a half a chicken left from one meal.We have big appetites it seems.

When I get a chicken from the butcher it is noticeably smaller. And yet it feeds us more. I don’t know the weight of it but I do agree that a better quality one somehow shrinks less.

Who on earth wants to eat 4 day old chicken.

We get a chicken. Eat what we feel like. Put anything left in the fridge. Dh eats it the next day. Chicken done.

@ViciousJackdaw Fuck. That. Shit.

A breast each for me and DH with the roast then we'll polish off the legs in the evening. Can't be doing with wings, too little meat, too much grease and effort. Dave next door (a cat) gets those (with his owners consent, I might add). Skin in the bin, neither of us likes it. As for the carcass (You are the carcass!), that gets binned, can't abide the stench it gives off when boiled.

Please please PLEASE tell me you eat the oysters and don't bin those too

[quote fourquenelles]**@ViciousJackdaw Fuck. That. Shit.

A breast each for me and DH with the roast then we'll polish off the legs in the evening. Can't be doing with wings, too little meat, too much grease and effort. Dave next door (a cat) gets those (with his owners consent, I might add). Skin in the bin, neither of us likes it. As for the carcass (You are the carcass!), that gets binned, can't abide the stench it gives off when boiled.

Please please PLEASE tell me you eat the oysters and don't bin those too [/quote]
DDog gets the oysters!

helloxhristmas DDog gets the oysters!

Thud

2 adults and 2 teens. I buy 2kg+ chicken (prefer corn fed for the taste).
Normally at least 4 meals : 1 x Roast, 2 x stir fry/curry, 1 x risotto/soup.

You don’t need much meat for stir fries because it’s mostly veg!

You don’t need much meat for stir fries because it’s mostly veg!

I’d argue you’re not getting four meals out of it, because you’re just using a small amount to flavour things like stir fries, it’s not a meal where the main ingredient is chicken

In fact for most of these, none of them are meals with the main ingredient being chicken, most of them are just a small amount added for the sake of it.

Even for the roast dinners, although technically still a roast chicken dinner, it’s not the star of the show, and is just a tiny part of the meal as a taster ans accompaniment to the main meal.

We had a 1.6kg chicken last week

Sixty percent of a chicken on average is meat.

Which means you had a thousand grams of chicken, and you ate 400 grams of that at the first meal. Half a breast each.

Which means you had 17 other meals from the rest of it, which is an average of 20 odd grams per meal. Ten percent of an average chicken breast

Does this not move into what’s the point? You’re not getting a portion out of it, it’s not even enough to add flavour. Is it not just better to enjoy the chicken properly in fewer meals and have veggie meals and soups the rest of the time, instead of eeking it out to such a level that no one can really taste it?

I never need an MN chicken as I buy an MN turkey and that lasts me all year...

Seriously though I would expect a large chicken to feed a family of four for 3 main meals (roast, risotto, curry) and a lunchtime salad - either pasta or noodles. Plus stock. This is why I can't get my head around "Meatfree Monday" as that is the day you really ought to be eating meat - Meatfree Thursday would make a lot more sense but would sound less catchy.

We have roast chicken for 4 people (DD has a fairly small portion) maybe a curry for 2 or 3 people and then boil for stock or soup , (I'm a bit lazy about that but DH enjoys making soup)
DD is fussy so only interested in the roast dinner.

There is only one use for the carcas of a chicken
Avolegmo soup

strip the bones and then boil the bones
add rice and rest of the chicken and cook until the rice is cooked
thicken with egg

flavour with lots of lemon and salt and pepper

1 x extra large chicken does 6 of us for roast. It's stripped to the bone.

The obligatory wings are always left over which hang around in a bowl for a few days as DH says 'I'll eat them tomorrow' .....never does.

Never boiled a carcass in my life

We had a guinea fowl (very MN 😁) so size of a small chicken.
Roast for 2 adults 2 kids
Stripped remaining meat, that did chicken sandwiches for all of us (several rounds for huge eater DH)
Boiling carcass plus some extra wing bones from the freezer - that will make stock for two meals I reckon eg one risotto one soup

Can’t believe people don’t like the wings and skin, they are my favourites.

Since trying Gousto / Hello Fresh we have got used to have one breast between us so a full chicken does 4-5 meals - 2 meals with each breast, 2 with the thighs (Gousto crispy chilli chicken is amazing) and then maybe a chicken stew or lasagne if we can be bothered. Save with Jamie has a section on making the most of a chicken.

depends on how big the bird is and how hungry the kids are. sometimes we have leftovers and then we use that in a wok with veg and noodles and home made stir fry sauce (super easy, usually three to four ingredients)

And the New York Times had a great chicken soup recipe which the whole family loves, that's great for the carcass and any leftover meat.

DH wont eat the brown meat so I use it in soup (which i love).

A whole chicken for us therefore is 1 x roast dinner and 1 large pot of soup (about 3-4 large portions).

i much prefer beef