<p>Define “picky”
I never buy frozen. Most of the time I buy my chicken boneless and skinless. I mainly buy the store brand at Gelson’s. It is free range hormone free. Usually around 6.99 per pound boneless breast. If I am buying chicken on the bone I will buy Empire brand from Trader Joe’s.
My husband is a converted vegetarian. He is extremely picky about his chicken. He likes his chicken “clean” no bones, no skin and well-done.
The chicken I buy is more expensive but my husband and kids can tell when I buy cheaper chicken.
I do most of my shopping at Trader Joe’s. I go to Gelson’s for my chicken and my coffee. (for those who know Gelson’s)
Like Vulture- cooked chicken and tortillas are a staple in our house.</p>
<p>I’m picky about my chicken. I’ll only buy the air-chilled (though don’t spend the extra for the totally organic, this stuff is all veggie-fed.) It tastes SO much better and it is not plumped up on saltwater, and it doesn’t cook down a lot when you cook it since it has less water to start.</p>
<p>galoisien, if you put your frozen chicken in the refrigerator, it will thaw in about a day, if it’s cut up. If it’s whole, I would give it a another day. Also, chicken is easier to de-bone if it is still a little frozen. And the best knife is a smaller but very sharp knife.
I like kosher chicken, especially the legs, for roasting. It’s expensive though, and you can’t stretch it like in stir-fry. But once in a while, I like a whole leg with the crispy skin!</p>
<p>Okay how much does refrigerator defrosting cost you in decomposition time? (The clock gets moving again…) </p>
<p>The thing is my supermarkets always like to sell their chicken 3-5 days before the sell by date, and within 2 days of the sell by date I can already notice slight signs of decomposition (the tendons are a little softer and easier to cut, etc., the skin is slightly slightly more watery). Usually my standard treatment when I notice this is to wash the meat again. I’m just worried that if I spend so much time defrosting I might be pushing the preservation a little.</p>
<p>Also what is the most cost-effective way of marinating chicken? I just discovered the power of wine vinegar (I’m using it for vindaloo) … well not by itself, but when I followed a recipe to add it to fried onions and allow it to boil off, I think I detected isoamyl acetate :D; didn’t seem too bad at 2.99 a bottle. If I use glacial/concentrated acetic acid, water and wine vinegar and just toss in some herbs, that’s a good poor man’s marinade I suppose? Do I want to aim for a variety of organic acids (lemon juice?) or is acetic acid sufficient? I don’t have the dining halls no more, I can’t just take a takeout box full of salad dressing!</p>
<ol>
<li> I watch the supermarket circulars. We have Harris Teeters, Giant, Safeway, Bloom and Food Lion. Harris Teeters’ about every 6 weeks runs a weekend special. Buy 1 get 2 free on fresh chicken breasts, they limit you to 6. I go everyday and buy 6 packs each day. The cost for about 12 pounds of fresh chcken breasts boned, is @10, you can’t beat it. Sometimes I will even have Bullet stop if he is running errands. I then place in the freezer and am set until the next sale.</li>
</ol>
<p>I find fresh is more tender than frozen. Typically at HT, 3 weeks later they will run the same buy 1/get 2 free on the frozen bag of chicken breasts and I do buy that, but only do it 1 day. </p>
<p>The best marinade I have is my kids favorite. Teriyaki. I place the ingredients in a large ziplock bag and throw the chicken in the morning of or the night before. The marinade takes 2 seconds and it is so easy to remember.</p>
<p>1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium and store brand is fine)
1/4 brown sugar
1 tsp of crushed garlic.</p>
<p>You can add 1/4 tsp of fresh ginger if you have it, but it really doesn’t make that big of a difference.</p>
<p>I love lamb, so if you like lamb, here’s the easiest marinade, Greek salad dressing and then call it a day.</p>
<p>Here are my 2 cheap, easy meals that no matter the quality of chicken it tastes great, plus freezes really well.</p>
<ol>
<li>Chicken Cacciatore.</li>
</ol>
<p>1 sm. onion diced
4 oz of mushrooms
4 slices of bacon (chopped, before frying)
1 tblsp of garlic ( YES TBLSP)
1 large can of diced tomatoes, best if you buy the one with spices so you don’t have to add it (oregano, basil)
1 package of chicken thighs or legs.
1 can of chicken broth</p>
<p>Brown the onion, mushrroom, garlic and bacon together, remove. Brown chicken in left over grease. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook in low oven 275 for @ 2 hrs. When you take the chicken out, the bones will fall off, so just remove them.<br>
Day 1 it will be just large pieces of marinated chicken, like stew.
Day 2, it will break down more and be like chilli.
That recipe easily feeds 6. EASILY. In my house it feeds all 5 of us, and then I still have enough for 2 individual plastic containers, that Bullet can take to work for lunch.</p>
<ol>
<li>White Chicken Chilli</li>
</ol>
<p>1 can of white beans (DO NOT DRAIN)
2 chicken breasts diced
1 sm onion diced
1 can of chicken broth
1 tsp of crushed garlic
1 sm can of diced green chillies
1/4 tsp of oregano</p>
<p>Saute chicken, garlic and onion together. Add the remaining ingredients cook for about 30 minutes, just so sauce will thicken.</p>
<p>Finally the best marinating ingredient for anything if you want to be natural are tomatoes, their acidity breaks the meat down and tenderizes it.</p>
<p>Time is money too. Figure that into your calculations.</p>
<p>galoisien, it sounds like a Costco (or Sam’s club or BJ’s) membership might be of some benefit to you, if you can split the membership cost and the “loot” with some of your fellow dorm dwellers. I read an article about students at the local flagship who mastered such “conquer and divide” technique using Excel spreadsheets. Costco (in my neck of the woods) sells great skinless boneless chicken thigh meat for 99 cents a pound.</p>
<p>For marinating meat, you do not need to add any other acids to vinegar. Vinegar is ca. 5% acetic acid, and it is sufficient to tenderize meat. And please do not use any glacial acetic acid from your org. chem. lab even if it says that it is 99.5% pure. There might be some stuff in it that you would not want in your body (e.g., traces of heavy metals), especially if it has been opened and dipped into by students (
but my labmates and I once ate molecular biology-grade sucrose because we ran out of sugar for our coffee, and the nearby stores were closed at 1 am)</p>