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 go the full Mumsnet chicken I'm afraid.

I really fancy a roast chicken now! Butter, lemon, garlic and tarragon, I think!

Nothing gets wasted from any kind of roast meat in here. Other food however does get wasted quite a bit. I very rarely buy fruit now because no one eats it.

I wonder about some of these giant chickens!

Our chickens are about 3.5 - 4 lbs so I just joint it up and serve it and there's no leftovers with 5 of us. No carcass at all. I buy chicken for stock. It's better with meaty pieces anyway, but my butcher's also sells packages of bones and necks that I toss in the stockpot.

Back when we still had leftovers the extra got used for sandwiches the next day.

I'm a fan of ready-made stock (powder not cubes), but I do like using home-made stock too when DP has done some. It has better, deeper flavour, probably because of all the bones.

@TheKeatingFive

an hour's cooking to replace a single stock cube? No thanks

It’s far better than a stock cube though.

For most things you wouldn’t notice, but soup or risotto it’s a game changer.

This. Also, use a slow cooker on carcasses from many roasts. It’s divine.

Usually have a roast dinner or some dinner when we had dogs we would strip the bottom the stock we use for the juices that come off of it are used for the gravy or sauce for the first dinner and any white meat used for sandwiches or salads the next day none of us are keen on the under meat so since we lost out last dog that goes in the bin!

I make stock in the slow cooker overnight, but I usually only bother in the winter. Freezing carcasses is a good idea; I'd be able to fit 3 in our slow cooker and that would make a better stock.

I use it all but I’ve never managed a full mumsnet chicken. Always only get three meals for 3-4 out of one chicken - the original chicken, curry/pasta/pie/risotto and soup/stock.
Agree with pp re freezing the carcass. It also works well to make the stock and freeze that for when the weather is suitable (let’s face it, in the UK you get days of soup weather even in the summer!), or you can make a cold soup.

I think I'm doing life wrong.
1 meal from a chicken, no idea how to strip the whole thing. No idea what oysters are. I'm ashamed of myself tbh.

I get 4 dinners, one sandwich, one serving of stock. That's it.

Left overs get used in salads or turned into coronation chicken for DD.

I put the carcass and left over bits including skin into the slow cooker over night for chicken broth with an onion and lots of salt.

We eat it all. I dont eat that much meat but my DS does. I do a roast, two lunch sized roasts for the next day then sandwiches if there is anything left. Anything a bit ropey looking Boycat eats. I used to boil the carcass and when we move I will again.

I don't have animals and don't use chicken stock. The smell of chickens being boiled for stock is stomach turningly awful, so it's just the meat for me. I pick off leftover meat and use it for sandwiches but people who have very different lives to you will, of course, have different outlooks on how much of chicken can be eaten.

There's no way I'd pfaff about making chicken stock on the hob though. I've only making it since I found out you can leave it in the slow cooker for hours and it has a lovely deep taste to it and that's with just salt and an onion and a clove of garlic.
I add celery and carrots and a bay leaf if I have them.

Usually get two meals. Roast dinner then make a curry or a stir fry the next day.

There's no way I'd pfaff about making chicken stock on the hob though. I've only making it since I found out you can leave it in the slow cooker for hours

Why is leaving it in the slow cooker for hours any less faff than leaving it on the hob for hours?

We roast two at a time .
First meal we use 2 legs, 2 thighs and 3 breasts for a roast.
Strip the carcass and use for one of the following meals: quesadillas, curry, chicken and leek soup etc.
DH turns the carcass’ into stock. We often freeze a few at a time for a richer stock.

I always use the leftovers (meat and bones) to make a pot of chicken broth.

The last one I got 400g of meat off the carcass after we’d had a roast from it. That will do us 2 lots of chicken jambalaya.

I don’t boil the carcass because I can’t be arsed with it. 3 meals for a family of 4 seems reasonable.

@lazylinguist

There's no way I'd pfaff about making chicken stock on the hob though. I've only making it since I found out you can leave it in the slow cooker for hours

Why is leaving it in the slow cooker for hours any less faff than leaving it on the hob for hours?

Slow cookers are better in my opinion. I can put things in them and forget (get a timer?). I can’t do that with my hob. You get the water seal, even heat, the timer and the warm function, all in one. For some of the more complicated dishes that I make, slow cooker is much better than the hob.

Hmm. I've never owned a slow cooker. Too many people say everything made in them tastes 'meh' or that they just sit in a cupboard gathering dust. And yes, I use a timer for the hob! What do you mean by a water seal?

Hmm. I've never owned a slow cooker. Too many people say everything made in them tastes 'meh' or that they just sit in a cupboard gathering dust

Too many people can't cook

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Hmm. I've never owned a slow cooker. Too many people say everything made in them tastes 'meh' or that they just sit in a cupboard gathering dust

Too many people can't cook

😂 Also, too many people folow the water amounts in the recipes. I genuinely found that I need to use considerably less. So I stopped using recipes and wing it lol

Yeah, you barely have to use any water as it makes its own.