Chicken part 2: How to save money at the grocery store

This is part 2 in a series on buying and preparing chicken. Here is a link to Part 1, “How to buy chicken without getting punched.” If you enjoy these articles, please considersubscribing to Almost Fit. It is free, as always. Thanks.

As I mentioned inpart 1 of this series, we have taken our next step in seeking out real food: we are eliminating the purchase of meat and poultry from grocery stores by going directly to the farmer.

Of course, not everyone has access to local farm-raised chicken, so in this article I’ll describe how to save money at the grocery store when you’re trying to make better choices. This piece of the series evolved from a reader’s comment from the last post where the question of cost was raised. I think it’s important because it’s a common feeling among those of use trying to make “better” decisions on what we eat, that we’re going to have to get a second mortgage to be able to afford good food.

Princess Dieter said:

“[…] I pay 13 bucks for just under a pound of organic, free-range, yadda yadda chicken breasts, boneless, skinless.

13 bucks for 11 oz or so.

Sometimes, I get the brand that’s 11 bucks for about 11 oz.

It hurts so bad.

I get free range, organic-fed, high-omega 3 eggs from a local farm. nearly 5 bucks a dozen.

I’m going to go broke trying to eat right, I swear.”

These prices are of course, sky-high (and quite honestly, in my opinion chicken at that price is ridiculously overpriced - though not uncommon), but I remember years ago a visit to a high-end grocery store where I paid nearly $35.00 for 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts because I was in a pinch for time, and that was all that was available.

I have resented that purchase for years. Apparently the cheapskate in me has a hard time letting go.

These days I never spend that much on chicken. But Princess Dieter really got me thinking…How much DOES it cost locally at grocery stores? With rising fuel costs, I know food is really going up, but $13.00 a pound for chicken? So I decided to go to the store yesterday (the same one at which the angry butcher dudeused to work- he seems to be gone now) to do a little price checking.

I gathered my information, and here’s what I found for my region, at this particular store:

Boneless, skinless, organic, free range chicken: $9.49/lb

Conventional: $4.49/lb

In some ways this didn’t surprise me - and at this price, I think $13.00 a pound is within reach of what my local store charges. But it made me wonder, were wereallypaying this much for chicken before we stopped buying it at the grocery store?

I came home and asked my resident shopping guru - my wife - if we were paying that much before our current plan.

“Well no, of course not, are you kidding?”

“Well then how did we buy chicken before?”

“We didn’t buy boneless skinless breast cuts - those cuts are far more expensive than legs, wings, or whole roaster chickens.”

My wife. So smart.

The truth is you can easily spend that much money on chicken, of course, but there are more reasonably priced alternatives.

How to save money on chicken at the grocery store

So how do you save money if you are buying the best you can afford? Here is a short list of easy tips to save money at the grocery store when you are buying chicken:

• Buy the whole chicken - not just the boneless skinless chicken breasts. For the price of a couple of breasts, you can get a whole bird.
• Buy chicken breasts with the skin and bones still on. This option isn’t as cheap as the whole chicken, but it’s much cheaper than the boneless skinless option.
• Buy cuts other than the breast. Thighs are remarkably affordable - sometimes less than half of their equivalent. Thighs in particular are a great alternative, have more flavor, and typically hold seasoning and marinades better than breast meat. The caloric difference is less than you might think, for those concerned with calories.
• Watch for sales on the cuts you like, and freeze them for later.
• Rather than buying cuts for convenience, do a little work ahead of time - cook extra, cut it into convenient sizes, and freeze. Both shredded and cubed chicken freeze and reheat well, and are convenient for all kinds of quick meals.

For many of us, a whole chicken can be a little intimidating to cut. For a quick primer on separating a chicken breast from the bones of a whole chicken, check out this video at Chow.com:

What to buy

In the next article in this series I’ll describe what the labeling of chicken actually means from both a health and an ethical standpoint, which will include a short list based on my assessment of the options. I say that it’smy assessmentbecause, as you’ll see in the next article, labeling has become a dizzying array of certifications, pseudo-certifications, and unregulated terms which are increasingly difficult to decipher - which meanswe each have some personal choices to make. It’s not just a nutritional issue. Stay tuned.

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