How to Purchase Organic Chicken Affordably

It's very sad, but the generally adopted commercial method of raising chicken is quite inhuman and frankly unhealthy in various ways. The result of availability of very cheap chicken products is a huge pollution problem as well as antibiotic resistant bacteria to which humans are susceptible.

My own solution to this problem is to purchase only organic chicken, but that can be costly as well as inconvenient. I've recently adopted a new practice that allows me to purchase all my organic chicken for between $2.49/lb. and $2.69/lb. Yeah! Now I can eat healthy, humanely raised poultry and still eat again tomorrow.

I have always been able to find whole organic chickens at affordable prices, but I keep a stocked freezer, rather than shopping every day. It takes two days to thaw a whole chicken in my refrigerator which makes spontaneous meals of chicken not so easy. Purchasing organic chicken pieces can cost upwards of $7/lb. which is very costly and not at all necessary. Now I buy whole chickens 3 or more at a time and cut them up for pieces. I save wings, thigh/leg sections and boneless, skinless breasts all separately. When I cut up my chickens, I immediately roast the backs, breast bones and necks and reserve them to make soup or stock.

What you need are a good cutting board, a very sharp knife, and a chicken. I start with the wings, but you can start with the legs as easily.

To cut up a whole chicken:

Dry off the chicken inside and out
Hold the chicken by one wing, and allow the weight of the body to pull away toward your cutting board.
Using a very sharp boning knife, cut a slit into the skin where the wing meets the breast.
Next, with the chicken laying flat, breast up, pull the thigh away from the body and run your knife close to the body through the skin - you should be able to see where the joint occurs, but if not, pull up on the thigh and it will be obvious.
Cut the flesh down to the joint, bend joint back to separate and cut through.
Next remove the skin from the breast section.
Feel down the middle the bone and cartilage separating the breast halves. Run your knife down one side about 1/4 inch deep. Using the tip of the knife, continue to run the knife along the bone and down, pulling gently on the breast half to remove and guide your knife.

Here is a link to some photos and further description... Cutting up Chicken

To roast backs, neck and breast bones

Preheat oven to 400º
Place backs (skins side up or you can remove skin), breast bones and neck pieces on a foil covered baking sheet with rim in a single layer
Drizzle with a little olive oil if desired and sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper
Roast until browned, turning once or twice for even browning
Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature
Place bones and any broth/fat into a ziplock bag and store in the freezer until ready to use.

3 chickens will be sufficient to 12 cups water for soup base.

Some references about pollution and antibiotic use in the poultry industry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/us/29poultry.html
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/02/21/parker/
http://www.oag.state.ok.us/oagweb.nsf/srch/7DB11B73010BFF99862572B4006F60FB
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1987664/
http://www.upc-online.org/environment/
http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/th-20081205-e.htm
http://www.circleofresponsibility.com/page/19/poultry.htm
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD61F3CF930A25751C0A9649C8B63

Questions about this recipe?

Not the recipe you want? Enter an ingredient in the box below: