Buying a whole chicken & cutting up vs. chicken parts...which is cheapest?


 
Chris Allingham

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
What's more cost effective—buying a whole chicken and cutting it up, or buying chicken parts?

According to Cook's Country magazine, to compare the price per pound of whole chicken vs. chicken parts, multiply the per pound price of the whole chicken by 1.25 (this accounts for 20% waste consisting of the backbone and wingtips). If the result is less than the price per pound of the chicken parts, then it's more cost effective to cut up the whole chicken.

Of course, there are other advantages to cutting up a whole chicken. You'll get consistently sized parts, they will be cut just the way you want them, and if you're frugal, you'll use the backbone and wingtips for stock.
 
Growing up, I didn't even know you could buy parts. My mom always bought whole chickens and cut them up. The way that she did it, the backbone was always cut in half, one half had the tail and the other didn't. I don't know why, but the prized pieces were always the upper backbone and the heart. No one ever ate the liver. She was extremely consistent in sizes. Maybe she used a ruler. I don't know.

I, on the other hand, have difficulty getting the chicken out the wrapper. Most of mine are cooked whole or spatchcocked.
 
I usually buy whole chickens for the smoker and spatchcock them. When I cut the backbone out, I save/freeze them to make chicken stock out of them.
 
James Lake said:
Great information Chris, but I don't think you have ever seen me "butcher" a chicken....no consistent sized parts.
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Right there with you James!

Chris Allingham said:
. . . and if you're frugal, you'll use the backbone and wingtips for stock.
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I'd like to think that the future stock makes it worth it, but the current reality is that in my house my wife makes the stock when/if she gets around to it. So there are at least two or three smoked carcasses in my freezer right now, and not all of them are vacuumed because "I'll make stock soon"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I love my wife but she does have her hands full most days keeping the house in order and caring for our daughter. I'm just saying we aren't the best at following up with the stock making.
 
Just last week I had bought a whole roaster planning to cook it on my WSM , but I had been watching americas test kitchen and saw them do "the perfect roast chicken" . They took the whole bird and broke it down , piled potatoes and carrots and Brussels sprouts on a half sheet pan and set all the parts(minus the wings) on top. 425 degree oven for one hour and hey presto....roast chicken!
well , long story short I chickened out on cooking outdoors (too cold and not enough time) I did it just like that (except no BS and I cooked the wings) and it came out UNBELIEVABLE. And that chicken was 88 cents a pound.
 
I'm with Frank on this one. You can get a whole chicken for 4-8 dollars, but probably cant get that much chicken cut up for that amount.

Although I hardly ever buy whole chickens any more (lazy), I found using a pair of kitchen shears makes it easy to cut them up. I use those also when preparing ribs St. Louis style.
 
I'm sure I will get better with practice, however going forward I would prefer to buy a whole chicken and break it down myself. It's not a pretty sight, I have to send the ladies out of the kitchen and I feel like I have to sanitize the whole kitchen after I'm done, but I'm sure I will get better with time.
 
Kitchen shears have made this endeavor much easier (and safer) for me. Interesting reading and analysis. My butcher will cut up the chicken for me at no extra cost. That makes it easier too.
 
When I was 16 I worked in a local restaurant's kitchen learned how to cut up chicken, filet fish, chop vegetbles and do a lot of basic things. My wife doesn't like to cut up chicken or butcher anything for that matter. But I buy packages of wings and chicken thighs for many recipes.
 
I am able to get Chicken quarters, thighs, legs & boneless skinless breasts on sale for $.99 per pound. Wife will only eat the breasts.
Wings very rarely go on sale. Whole roasters will go on sale for $.88 per pound. Whatever's on sale, I'll stock up.
 
I'm my area I can get whole chicken for about 4 dollars. Chicken parts range from 1.49 to 3.49.
But will buy what ever is on sale.
 
Raise your own chickens and you will know what they have been fed and that they were not raised in poultry barn factories. Of course you have to ring necks, pluck and scald as well as butcher; but you wind up with a product far superior to anything you buy in the average supermarket.

The first money I ever earned 60+ years ago was killing chickens for a tenderhearted neighbor lady. I got a dime for killing and plucking the bird. At Thanksgiving I got a quarter for killing the turkey.
 
I prefer pre cut chicken, but with that said I have 4 whole chickens in my freezer. Why? At .49 a pound on sale I'll take the effort to cut them up.
 
R. Hutchins said:
Raise your own chickens and you will know what they have been fed and that they were not raised in poultry barn factories. Of course you have to ring necks, pluck and scald as well as butcher; but you wind up with a product far superior to anything you buy in the average supermarket.

The first money I ever earned 60+ years ago was killing chickens for a tenderhearted neighbor lady. I got a dime for killing and plucking the bird. At Thanksgiving I got a quarter for killing the turkey.
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Off topic, but I can remember seeing my grandmother (in western NC) chase down and catch a chicken out in the yard, wring its neck, dip it into a big black iron pot full of boiling water over an open fire to loosen the feathers, pluck it, then singe off the hairs with a burning newspaper. Nobody had ever heard of free-range poultry, but that's what we ate.
 
definitely cheaper buying whole chickens. but it does take time and effort to cut & bag them up, plus the extra mess and cleanup. sometimes its worth it. when whole chickens are on sale I bbq them whole (ie beer butt chicken, Mediterranean chicken, etc), and when pieces are on sale I bbq pieces (ie the wings, boneless breasts, leg quarters, drums, etc).

hope this helps...

don't lift the lid...
 
That's pretty much the way it was in Raleigh during and just after WWII. Chickens ranged all over blue collar neighborhoods like the one I lived in. Some had coops and would buy live pullets and feed them up to cooking weight just to know what they were fed. Most just let the chickens roam their yards and roost where they could.
 
I usually buy whole chickens and cut them uo. However, if I am making a dish that calls for only certain pieces (such as boneless, skinless thighs), I will buy the cut up pieces.

If I cut up a whole chicken, I definitely make a stock with the wings and back. I do not wait for my wife to do it since it is so easy to do.

I also use poultry shears to make the job easier.

Ray
 
Besides the cost, buying a whole chicken gives you more cooking options than buying pieces.
 
Whenever I've cooked chicken, it was usually always legs and thighs only or breasts only, therefore I usually buy the pre-cut stuff. It's very rare that I roast or BBQ a whole chicken. I know it would be cheaper to buy a whole chicken and butcher it myself, but when you're serving 10+ people with only thighs or only breasts, I'd say the pre-cut stuff is the way to go.
 
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