I can't believe I'm asking this. Using the whole chicken?

[Spookle]

Please don't laugh too much

I'm new to actual real cooking with fresh things and I have never dealt with a whole chicken before.

Further to my chicken conundrum this morning I went shopping and bought a lovely chicken. It seemed meaty, had a nice Tesco label and is organic. All for the bargain price of £6.50.

Chicken is now cooked and I've just had a small piece or four and it is delicious. So delicious I thought I had better check the label so that I could look for the same one again.

That's when I saw why it was so delicious. It was £6.50 per kilo and at 2.5kg it had cost me £16. So I'm sure you'll understand why I want to get the most I can out of it.

I cooked it in a roasting bag and there is a good amount of lovely jelly stuff. Can I make anything with this? Can I freeze it and use later in a chicken stew or something or would it be too greasy?

I am going to try making a stock from the bones so any tips for that would be great too.

Thanks Allalonenow. I won't have time to pick some up for a couple of days so I have just gone to put my stock into a tub for the freezer and it has turned into jelly! Is that normal?

I tipped the bowl expecting it to pour and it jellyflopped out

The natural gelatine in the bones makes it set. It will go back to liquid when you eat it.

Yes, it's normal, means you have done it well!