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 only buy chicken breasts now for DD and me, as I was wasting so much before.

DD and me had the white breast meat, and gave some to the cats, but I cannot abide any hint of brown or bones or any other part of the chicken, when DD1 still lived at home she ate the legs, but DD2 and me didn't.

So for the last few years I've just bought chicken breast fillets.

I fail to see how a pot on the hob is significantly more effort than a slow cooker.

You don't have to watch a slow cooker.

You don’t have to watch a pot on a low simmer either

You don’t have to watch a pot on a low simmer either

Exactly.

I use a pressure cooker. Takes minutes.

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

I was more under the impression that it's the people who can cook, but are convinced into buying a slow for convenience, who find that slow cooker meals are tasteless compared with their normal good cooking. And the less keen cooks who love the slow cooker and don't notice the slow cooker food being bland because it's no worse than their normal cooking . Maybe I'm mistaken...

@lazylinguist

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

I was more under the impression that it's the people who can cook, but are convinced into buying a slow for convenience, who find that slow cooker meals are tasteless compared with their normal good cooking. And the less keen cooks who love the slow cooker and don't notice the slow cooker food being bland because it's no worse than their normal cooking . Maybe I'm mistaken...

I have a slow cooker and I only like pulled pork in it. Everything else tastes meh to me

Last time I had a chicken I was sat on the kitchen floor stripping the last bit off the bones with two cats sat neatly waiting for their bits

@lazylinguist

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

I was more under the impression that it's the people who can cook, but are convinced into buying a slow for convenience, who find that slow cooker meals are tasteless compared with their normal good cooking. And the less keen cooks who love the slow cooker and don't notice the slow cooker food being bland because it's no worse than their normal cooking . Maybe I'm mistaken...

It's only tasteless if they don't flavour it properly. I love mine. I like to make sauces in it because 4-6 hours make the flavourd marry beautifully.

It is different to hob cooking and I think the issue is more about people using same amount of spice, liquid etc as on a hob, having few meh meals then and giving up. My first stew in it was pretty disappointing too

Crispy duck is amazing in it😁 then just crisp up under the grill for couple of minutes

We (couple) get roast chicken, stuffing and gravy for two nights, then I pick it and make curry enough about for about three one-person lunches. I freeze them and take them to work.

I must confess: I do waste the bones.

You can't go to work for 8 hours and leave a pan on the hob.

Anyway,

I leave my stock for 90 mins tops, not 8 hours.

Lovely

I have been known to throw away a carcass when I haven't got the energy to deal with it. But I buy a whole chicken very rarely, and when I do, I like to get a good, free range one, which isn't cheap, so I like to make the most of it. I eat every bit of meat I can, and strip the carcass down, have a tupperware pot of edible bits that aren't pretty enough for sandwiches, and another of nasty bits like bones and skin. Then I boil up the nasty bits to make stock, and use that and the nice but not pretty bits to make soup.

I just had some soup today which I made months ago and froze, and omg it was delicious!

and another of nasty bits like bones and skin
😱😱😱

Crispy roasted chicken skin 😍

Mmmmmmm chicken skin! God I love low-carbing - yes there are some things that are hard to forgo, but there are many upsides, one of which is that getting as much fat into yourself as possible can be so fantastically delicious!!

@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.

When you say he threw away the stock - what do you mean? You have to make stock from the carcass - it's not just there?

You do get cooking fat and juices that you can use for gravy or roasties or whatever, but that's not stock.

Anyway, to answer your question - we use all of it. Leftovers in a risotto. Bones to make stock. Use giblets in the stock too.

@thanksforyourcommentrandomman

We use the breasts and legs, I eat the oysters when I'm stripping it, the dogs get the underneath bit and the gristle

So I'm not the only meanie who commandeers the oysters when I'm cutting it up!

I get the oysters because that’s the cook’s reward.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

and another of nasty bits like bones and skin 😱😱😱

Crispy roasted chicken skin 😍

Not the nice crispy bits! I eat them in the first meal! I mean the flabby bits from underneath, where they've sat in the fat for a few hours and gone all congealed and soft.... Full of flavour for stock though!

I wouldn't get angry at someone throwing away bits though, if it's their chicken and their kitchen. I remember staying at my auntie's one Christmas. She always cooks good meals and is 'fancier' than our house ever was, but my mum and I gawped a bit as she threw away the turkey carcass after Boxing Day. Bagged it all up and chucked it out. But then, I can understand her. She was fed up with it, bored of cooking and fed up of the kitchen smelling of poultry.

I'm shocked that having stripped the meat and boiled the carcass no-one has then ground down the carcass to add to your rose bed as fertiliser, that a load of wasters!

I probably would do that if I had a garden with rose beds! 😆

I want chicken so badly right now. Haven’t had a KFC in well over a year...

I use the lot! It's roast then curry or cold with salad and any little bits after that would go in a rice or orzo dish with some vegetables and then freeze the bones until I have 3 or 4 carcasses and make a load of stock.