Chicken is a fantastic meat bargain which is why it turns up on the menu at our house at least twice a week. Even though chicken can be purchased in different "cuts" such as thighs, breasts, or as drumsticks, I've discovered that the best value of all is a whole chicken, known as a "fryer."
A whole fryer can be roasted in the oven (325 degrees for approx. 90 mins) and then divided into portions for upcoming meal planning. I can usually get about four family dinners from a single roasted chicken by prepping the meat in the following way:
Breast
The meatiest part of the chicken is the breast meat which contains enough meat to feed four to six people. After roasting the whole chicken, I'll pry away the two breast pieces from the body and package them for two different meals. The breast meat can be used as a beef substitute in Tex Mex meals, for preparing Chicken Cacciatore, making chicken salads (or chicken salad sandwiches), or served with a drizzle of Bernaise sauce and rice pilaf on the side.
Legs, wings, thighs and other parts
The legs and wings contain the dark meat and while they aren't as meaty as the breast, there's still plenty of meat to be picked away. To get the most meat possible from the carcass, I'll wait until the meat is cool enough to handle and then use my fingers to pry away the meat from the bone. With little effort, you should be able to find at least 10-12 ounces of meat in these areas which can be chopped up and used in family-sized recipes for chicken pot pie, stew, Asian or pasta dishes, chicken ala king, or in casseroles.
Broth
When all the meat has been picked away, one final step is boiling what's left in 2-4 cups of water to extract the broth. I'll use a pressure cooker for this although a heavy stock pot will also work. After boiling, the broth is filtered through a sieve and set aside for future use as chicken stock which can be used to make chicken soups of all types.
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