When you roast a chicken, be honest! How much do you waste?

[WheresThatCatGoneNow]

When I cook a chicken, nothing is wasted!

The stock is poured into a tub, and goes into my freezer. All the meat left on the bird after I've had my meal, and all the fatty gristly bits, are painstakingly picked off and stored in airtight containers in the fridge.

They will feed my cats for at least four mealtimes!

Nothing is wasted in my house.

I've watched my brother roast a chicken, take off a leg and some breast, and then throw the rest in the bin because he couldn't be bothered dealing with the messy part! And he threw the stock away aswell

I was furious.

I always forget to make soup/stock from the carcass. My late mother's chicken noodle soup was the business.

But as for the rest of the bird, it almost all gets eaten on the day. I buy a smaller organic one. If we have a roast I do it for a late lunch, and the four of us (teens so adults for catering purposes)invariably overeat hugely, negating the need for any further meals that day, so all that's left is scraps for a sandwich or two.

Three of us fight over the dark meat, especially the oysters, and the other crazy fool has a breast, so it's usually breast meat that's left over if anything.

Eat the meat
Make either sandwiches or a risotto with the leftovers
Make stock with the bones

We always pick all the meat off, and freeze. Use for pies or pasta or something.

Sometimes make stock if I can be bothered, but often not.

I don't have a cat...

We use most of the meat for dinner, and I will make chicken soup from the carcass and and any leftover meat. I don't have pets yet so the fatty and gristly bits gets binned.

I don’t waste any of the meat. There’s 3 of us and we have the legs and a bit of breast for the first meal, The rest of the breast goes in sandwiches and then all the bits and bobs bits of meat go in a stir fry. I don’t boil the carcass because I did it once, hated the smell and then didn’t get round to using it before it went off (I don’t have a big enough freezer to store stuff like that).

Our cat won’t eat human food. Weirdo.

We eat the meat, I put the picky bits into a risotto or a pie but I chuck the carcass. The smell of poultry cooking makes me feel sick, I can cope with it for the roasting process, but making stock would be too much to bear.

I'm vegetarian and am really squeamish about roasting a chicken so tend not to do it very often. But I do strip the carcass completely when cold (usually heaving) for the dogs as it will do them a few meals sprinkled over their biscuits. I feel that if an animal died for making us a meal, we're going to make use of every scrap of meat. For that same reason I tend to freeze all meat and fish so nothing gets wasted or goes off.

DH would happily carve the breast off then throw away

Quite a bit. Life’s too short to eat gristly chicken 🤮

I’m like you- I leave very little. But my in-laws will only eat the Brest and bin the rest!!!!! I was flabbergasted…. I mean the breath isn’t even the tastiest bit

Part of it for tea, the rest of the good bits stripped off for lunch the next day (usually chicken wraps). My daughter isn't old enough yet for a decent amount of chicken so it's mainly just me and my partner who eat it.
I take off scraps for the cat but put the carcass and any rough looking bits or sloppy bits from underneath in the bin.

Absolutely no way am I messing about making stock from the carcass.

Quite a bit. Life’s too short to eat gristly chicken

I don't eat gristle. There's barely any gristle on a chicken! We eat the breast, legs, wings and oysters. That's pretty much all the meat, and it's all good. What very little remains is still on the carcass when it goes in the stock pot. No gristle consumed and no waste!

Meat from legs, thighs and breast are eaten, along with the crispiest bits of skin. Rest in the bin. I'm a full time carer to an autistic child and also have a preschooler. I don't have time to boil bones.

I do love spatchcocking a chicken and roasting it with shitloads of garlic though, that's a super easy dinner. We have it with homemade oven chips and homemade slaw. Just because I'm not a bone boiler doesn't mean I feed my family shit.

In my twenties I used to religiously make a delicious chicken soup with the carcass. Now in my fifties I don't bother lol.

Quite a bit. Life’s too short to eat gristly chicken

No ones eating gristle, what an odd comment. 😂

And why is there such an aversion to making stock? It couldn’t be easier.

Does anyone else remember the thread were the MIL badgered the OP to keep the carcass. In the end, mid service, the OP shouted 'you are the bloody carcass'.

I use everything except the carcass. I've always had canivore pets, so I get left overs from family and I'm not embarrassed to ask friends for what they are going to bin if I'm there, for my cats.

@TheKeatingFive

Quite a bit. Life’s too short to eat gristly chicken

No ones eating gristle, what an odd comment. 😂

And why is there such an aversion to making stock? It couldn’t be easier.

I know how to do it. I just don't have the time. And I would never end up using it and my freezer would be 90% stock 10% mini milks.

It's my job in the house to pick all the remaining chicken from the carcass, I wouldn't dream of binning any meat left on a chicken, Quite often make a chicken pie with leftovers the following day, or give a treat to the cats.
I sometimes also make stock with the bones.

Very little left here too. Depending on the size of the chicken the 2 of us get at least 3 main meals off one plus the puppy gets the odd bits left after stripping the carcass.
I make stock too.
I buy organic free range which are more expensive and I have no intention of chucking out anything more than bare bones!

Why were you furious with your brother? I really don't understand what it's got to do with you what he does with his chicken.

We take the meat off the chicken, throw the rest of it away straight away. I take as much of the meat off as I can, but don't pick away at it for hours.

cba with the wings.

Don't make any stock or anything.

Usually only get one meal from it, but if there's any left it goes in the fridge and gets used for sandwiches. There's never enough for 2 meals.

We eat most of the chicken as a roast, then I strip it for chicken pot pie the following night. I used to use the carcass for stock, but I've tried it a lot of ways and it's always been pretty unrewarding! The "flavour" was barely detectable. And this is hours on the hob, or in the slow cooker, with onions, celery, carrots, etc. Do I simply have jaded taste buds? Or is there a secret to flavourful stock that I don't know?

Just the carcass goes in the bin. We get the largest chook and roast it. Pick the leftover meat off and pop into a box in the fridge. It gets used for lunches, pasta or stir fry, depends on our week ahead really. Dh loves picking the meat off as he eats some.
‘Little pickers wear bigger knickers’.

When I do a chicken we have roast, stock is frozen, then its chicken sandwiches for lunch the next day, then I pick off every little bit and make a chicken curry for dinner that night or freeze it.

Eat the breasts ourselves, the rest of the meat and scraggy bits for the dog.

Just the breasts?
That's so wasteful (yes I know the dog eats it but you know what I mean).

We eat breasts, legs and thighs (usually there's enough for the roast itself and then lunch the next day, or another dinner of e.g. chicken risotto). My DP makes stock. Unfortunately we have no pets, so the fatty gristly bits are just used for stock and then thrown.

People really need to get skin on breast if they don't eat the rest of the bird. Pretty weird to cook the whole thing for just 1 part.