WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD

(Disclaimer: Today’s blog is not meant to offend vegans)

Whenever I’m in the car, I travel with two important items: my coupon box and my insulated pink bag.

The reason for the coupon box is that I never know when I’ll find an unexpected sale and have a coupon for that item. The insulated pink bag is for any food item that needs refrigeration.

Last fall, DH and I were enroute to visit family in North Carolina. Before traveling, I viewed the grocery ads online so I knew the loss leader item. While we were there, the local grocery store had whole chickens on sale for a low price of $0.69/lb. This was going to require more than my small pink insulated bag. This was going to require the mother of insulated containers… a tail-gate sized Coleman cooler!

DH didn’t stand a chance. Chickens were coming home to GA. The store had a limit of six chickens per customer so my DDIL offered to buy four chickens and I would buy six and together we had 10 chickens to load in the car for the long trip home.

Packed in lots of ice, the chickens crossed the road to arrive safely in GA.

Skilled at deboning whole chickens, I had my work cut out but it didn’t take long for the process to be completed and the chickens packed in the freezer. There were wings, boneless skinless chicken breasts, chicken tenders, skinless chicken thighs, legs and rib cages/backs for homemade chicken stock; all wrapped for storage. For quite some time, I was “shopping” from my freezer when I needed chicken for dinner.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: You don’t have to be a skilled “at home butcher” to take advantage of whole chicken sales. Most grocery store butchers will debone a whole chicken for you at no additional charge. [I would not suggest you ask them to perform this task on 10 whole chickens]. If you don’t know how to cook a whole chicken, you can roast it in the oven or boil it in a large pot of water to use the meat for recipes that require cooked chicken. A whole chicken is a very economical way to feed a family. Try it in recipes such as casseroles or burritos. You won’t be disappointed!