Chicken, Chicken, and More Chicken

I bought 36 pounds of chicken for $28. Seriously.

I was at SAMS Club last week and had my list of things to pick up (I'm there about every 3 weeks). I was doing pretty well sticking to it with only 2 impulse buys, one of which was Christmas wrapping paper for $1, until I got to the chicken counter. There were no prices posted. A big no-no in my shopping book.

I grabbed a man working and asked him what the prices were for the whole chicken (a staple in my house, as you know) and the legs and quarters (thigh and leg together). First, I am happy to report that whole chicken was 11 cents per pound cheaper at SAMS than CostCo - down to 78 cents, so I picked up a pack of two. The next thing he scanned were the quarters, and my mommy antennae caught the look of confusion on his face from the first few packages he priced. So then he says to me, these have been marked down because the expiration date is tomorrow.

Well almost everything goes in the freezer when you shop in bulk and have only 4 people, so I picked up two packages with the next day's date and headed for the check-out. Well the chicken came up to $5.12 for 7 quarters or 7 pounds of meat (73 cents/pound)! Wes headed back to get the rest and I spent some time when I got home packaging up quarters.

Some people don't eat dark meat and that's fine for you. But my kids love legs, and dark meat is less expensive and just as easy to be creative with. It makes great chicken pot pie, chicken tacos, and chicken noodle soup or chili. It works in casseroles, as barbeque, braised in your pan or baked in a 1-dish casserole. Plus it isn't as dry.

I joked at preschool the next morning that I would be eating chicken every other day for 2 months (it isn't that bad, really, I got 9 meals of quarters and the two whole chickens). But for THAT price, it is worth going off my shopping list and taking the time to package it appropriately and update my freezer list and start thinking of recipes that include either chicken legs, chicken thighs, both or pulled meat.

Again, you know my shopping rules:

• make a list
• only go when you absolutely have to have it
• don't go hungry
• don't impulse shop

So this was the exception to my rule, buying something off my list, but it DID fall into earlier advice that it is OK to buy clearance products, such as meat, fruits, or vegetables - so I broke a rule to follow my own advice.

And by the way, I showed my brother & sister in law my chicken trick - to bake a chicken, make a casserole with the leftovers and then make stock with the bones, all in one afternoon! I think it might take off!