Posted on 07/14/2022 7:13:33 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Rising prices for packaged chicken breasts, thighs and wings can leave a consumer squawking: Enough is enough.
Egged on by the high cost of chicken parts, Simon Kirsch, a 33-year-old tech worker from Portland, Ore., decided to spring for the whole bird and take it apart himself.
Whole bird “I couldn’t justify spending that money,” he says.
Before inflation, he says, “I wasn’t, like, making soup on the weekends.”
As of last week, the price for a whole chicken, on average, was $1.56 a pound, according to the Agriculture Department, up from $1.09 a year ago. Boneless, skinless chicken breast prices were $4.26 a pound, up from $2.46 a year ago.
Clara Cannucciari, who died at age 98 in 2013, lived through the Great Depression near Chicago and posted videos about how her Sicilian-American parents stretched food in dire times. Christopher Cannucciari, her 43-year-old grandson, says the page got tens of thousands of more views than usual in May. The channel has drawn thousands more subscribers in recent months than it usually adds, he says. Fans reach out to him personally or leave comments on old videos, such as the popular “Poorman’s Meal”—fried potatoes, onions and hot dogs—expressing their gratitude, he says.
Jan Wardell, who is 71 and also lives in Pocatello, bought a whole chicken recently but is ruling it out for the future. There was too much chicken.
“You don’t want to have the same meal over and over and over until it’s gone,” she says.
But she isn’t throwing any away. “I’m too cheap for that,” she says.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
You want some “Depression era” recipes? My Grandma used to make “Irish spaghetti”... which was spaghetti with ketchup :D
“Cheap meats are tender if the are roasted in an old fashioned Dutch oven.”
Oh yeah, get those cheap cube steaks and slow cook em for about 2-3 hours and they’ll melt in your mouth, and you get a bunch of good gravy out of em too.
I have been doing the same if I find a whole chicken on sale, cat food has gone from 53 cents a can to 83 cents a can my cat LOVES chicken and right now fresh chicken is cheaper than cat food!!!
Red Baron’s pizza went to $6 around here so I’ve been making my own and use the bread maker to knead the dough. I cut it off before the whole 1 1/2 hour cycle though. I let it knead for the 20 minute cycle and rise for 10 minutes and then pull it.
I buy the big bag of mozerella and a bag of Italian blend cheese from Save-a-Lot and use canned pasta sauce which is about the same as pizza sauce but a whole lot cheaper. Still doesn’t save much money because cheese and pepperoni aren’t cheap. Probably saves $1-2.00.
I haven’t started making bread again yet but use to. Store bought sandwich bread is getting scary these days. Lasts for well over a month without getting moldy. Never used to be that way. What’d they do to it?
Costco rotisserie chicken has always been a favorite with us.
Yes , I always buy Costco rotisserie chicken but I find I spend too much at Costco so I’m cutting back
—”Labor costs money.”
Before I retired it was ‘TIME IS MONEY’
Now being retired the shape of time has shifted and changed.
I find that with most quotidian stuff, I can DIY faster, cheaper, and with better results.
It’s why we don’t eat out anymore.
I want to know too!
*** Store bought sandwich bread is getting scary these days. Lasts for well over a month without getting moldy. Never used to be that way. What’d they do to it?***
Preservatives. There are a few brands that don’t have preservatives in them, but you have to really read labels.
Bought a rotisserie for 2 bucks at a garage sale, works great. Fun to watch and good to smell especially in the winter when the heat is also a benefit. Otherwise do it on the patio and enjoy a cold one while it’s cooking.
Instead of steaks, I now smoke chuck roast on my Traeger for 3-4 hours, and I am more likely to grill chicken than beef.
Chicken shawarma...yum!
—”I have a bread maker I’ll haven’t pulled it out in a while, but perhaps I will.”
I used to make bread often in the winter to use the leftover oven heat for the house.
But I enjoy the bread a bit too much and had to cut back.
—”I can eat a whole lot better buying a whole cut of meat, “
And I don’t believe they inject water into the whole chickens as done with the breast.
You're lucky. My cat won't eat human food. He's addicted to Fancy Feast which makes me wonder what's in it. Stuff is expensive. I have tried slowly mixing in real food into his canned food but he's just too smart.
I cook for my dog so at least that saves me some money... except when dog steals cat food...
Slow cookers, pressure cookers and sous vida appliances will be given this gifting season. While pressure cookers might seem old fashioned, there are many years of recipes when they were the kitchen high-tech in the 40s-80s.
Inflation, as much as its twin of necessity is an inspiration to the wise and a tool for the frugal!
I cut up whole chickens a lot of times. It isn’t hard to to do if you do it right.
They are still expensive right now.
I remember the day when we used to chop their heads off in the back yard and watch then run until they collapsed. Then you had to pluck their feathers off by hand.
Wake me when people start buying whole cows.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.