Hi all,
I am taking cooking classes online–long story short, I’ve got a year’s access to the classes (one new class a week, and this week was Midwestern comfort food) and all the archives for $10. The New York-style bagel recipe alone made it worth it. They just sent me a recipe for chicken eggrolls, and I thought I would share a tip from my job–I work at an upscale Asian restaurant.
If you like chicken, you’re probably familiar with leg, breast, and wing, all of which vary in price. But have you considered thighs? They’re white meat, but most chefs (including my boss) swear they’re more succulent than breast meat. They’re also considerably cheaper! We use thighs for our karage bowl at work (that’s a rice bowl with deep-fried chicken). I tried using thigh in my fried rice recipe and may actually make some eggrolls–the local grocery store sells eggroll wrappers and I’ve got some coleslaw mix I want to use up along with what’s left of the thighs.
Just throwing out a suggestion. Anyone else know any good tips on how to get meat at a reasonable price?
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Love thighs! I get them boneless and do all kinds of things with them. I do consider them dark meat like legs though. They never dry out and have always been our favorite piece!!
Costco has chicken pieces, including thighs, sealed in plastic for freezing. Good prices.
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I found that buying chickens whole and chopping it up myself has saved me a few dollars .
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** whole chicken is likely considerably cheaper per oz. or lbs. **Same with cuts that still have bone and skin **dark meat is cheaper than say breast or wing meat ** ground Turkey is an alternative but a little pricey ** hindquarters are usually about the best buy I’ve found per lbs. Hindquarters are both thigh and leg still attached
I might just be picky but I never considered thighs as white meat and I have just never been a fan of them.
But if it were to come down to having an impact on my financial well-being, I would be fine with doing whatever it takes to save money.
At this point in time, it is just my wife and I so buying chicken breasts doesn’t significantly impact our grocery budget. We do eat a lot of pork though, which I am not a huge fan of either but it does come out to be quite a bit cheaper.
Costco can be a good place to get meat although you have to do the math because sometimes you just end up getting a larger portion for the same or a very comparable price.
First time with chicken thighs… went to Aldi this morning and got 4 packages of boneless chicken thighs each was a little over $5 with $3 off! I cut off excess fat off and put 2 packages in my pressure cooker… Fell apart when I tried to take out of cooker which was great. I put 3 freezer quart bags into freezer which will each make a meal for us plus set aside in fridge 2 more meals - 1 chicken with broth for chicken n dumplins and 1 chicken to add bbq sauce to for bbq chicken sandwiches.
Very little waste as I found 3 small bones and a little bit of fat that I picked out after cooking. The chicken is more white meat than dark and is super tender. Tastes great and way cheaper than chicken breasts as they were not on markdown this week.
Two more packages to cook and freeze. Suggestions for using shredded chicken would be great… I would love to learn to make chicken eggs rolls and chicken hunan…
Shannon H,
Here’s one of my favorite recipes calling for shredded chicken–hot and sour soup!
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup cooked chicken, shredded
1/2 cup mushrooms (the cookbook recommends shiitake or cremini), diced
1 Tablespoon garlic chili sauce (I prefer to use sambal oolek)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/3 cup canned bamboo shoots, julienned
3-ounce block of firm tofu, cut into half-inch strips
1 Tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 Tablespoon cold water
1 egg, beaten
2 green onions, diceed
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Simmer broth in a wok. Add chicken, garlic chili sauce, mushrooms, and soy sauce. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes. Add bamboo, pepper, tofu, and vinegar and simmer 5 to 7 minutes. Add cornstarch slurry and stir. Simmer until soup thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour egg through a fork and stir. Add green onions and sesame oil. Stir and serve.
This recipe serves four. If you like it, it’s a tweaked version of Naomi Imatome-Yun’s, found in “The Essential Wok Cookbook”. I highly recommend it.
