This Old Church Kitchen Trick Saves Me $360 A YEAR on Chicken

Boneless chicken breast averages $4.17 a pound. A whole chicken averages $2.01. Cut the bird up yourself the old church kitchen way, make stock from the back and neck, and you save about $7 a bird. That's about $360 a year if your family eats one chicken a week. Here's the whole method: the 8-piece cut, the stock, and what to look for on the label. WHAT YOU NEED 1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 lb (check the label: skip any that say "solution," "broth" or "enhanced"; "air chilled" means no added water) A sharp knife and a cutting board that doesn't slide (put a damp towel under it) THE 8-PIECE CUT 1. Legs: chicken on its back. Pull a leg away from the body, cut through the skin, then bend the leg back until the hip joint pops. Cut through the gap. Don't cut the bone. Repeat on the other side. 2. Thigh and drumstick: skin side down, find the thin fat line at the knee, and cut straight down through the joint. 3. Wings: pull the wing out, wiggle to find the shoulder joint, and cut through it. Save the wing tips for stock. 4. Back: stand the bird on its neck end and cut down both sides of the backbone with a knife or kitchen shears. 5. Breast: skin side down, cut down the middle along the breastbone. (Optional: cut the front piece around the wishbone as a pulley bone.) You get 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks and 2 wings, plus the back, neck and wing tips for stock. THE STOCK (about 2 quarts) Back, neck, wing tips, gizzard and heart (save the liver for gravy) 1 onion, halved 2 ribs celery 1 carrot 1 bay leaf About 3 quarts cold water Bring it up slowly, then hold it at a lazy simmer for 2 to 3 hours, skimming the foam. Strain. THE SUNDAY HABIT Cut one bird a week. Bag the pieces by how you'll cook them, label and date them, and freeze. Raw chicken pieces keep for months frozen. Freeze the stock in quart containers; it keeps a couple of months. THE MATH 5 lb whole bird at $2.01/lb = about $10. That's about 3 lb of meat (white and dark mixed), worth about $12.50 at breast prices. The frame makes about 2 quarts of stock, worth about $4.54 in store cartons. Total: about $7 saved per bird, or about $360 a year at one bird a week. Prices: BLS U.S. city averages, August 2026. Yours may vary. CHAPTERS 0:00 You're paying chicken prices for salt water 1:09 The $7 a bird math 2:49 How the whole bird disappeared 4:13 Big Mama's Saturday chickens 5:05 A chicken is a house 6:14 Read the label on the whole bird 6:48 The secret: pop the joint 7:50 Thighs, wings, back and breast 9:50 Homemade stock from the frame 10:34 What's really in that pack 11:41 A bird a week, $360 a year Tell me in the comments: who in your family got the chicken neck? And did your house cut out the pulley bone? #soulfood #wholechicken #churchkitchen