Wal-mart Chicken Sale

Our last house was rural, about a 30 minute drive from the closest grocery store.  That meant a lot of times I passed by the sales because driving a total of 1 hour just to save a few cents or even a couple of dollars was not justified with the current price of gasoline.  We now live within walking distance of one grocery store and a 7 minute drive from Wal-mart and another grocery store.  It is quite possible to walk or bike to either on nicer days.  What this means is I can easily take advantage of cherry picking the sales without having to drive plus I'm getting a bit of fresh air and exercise at the same time. 

We let our food stock dwindle somewhat while the house was on the market and once the house sold.   We essentially bought only the bare essentials and mind you that wasn't much.  What I did was take any money that I would have spent on groceries to create a restock fund.  We normally spend about $50 per week on groceries if that and that is mainly dairy, fresh produce and the occasion splurge item.   While the house was on the market and during the move we pared that down to about $20 per week so over the 18 month ordeal I managed to stash away a tidy sum for restocking, not that I will use anywhere near that!

Wal-mart (Canada) has a sale on chicken this week where we live.  The last time they did this it was imported from the USA but this time it is chicken produced in Canada.  We always support our Canadian growers whenever possible.  The chicken is priced at two whole chickens for $10, limit two per customer per visit.  

The total weight for the two packages was 6.492 kg (14.312 lb) which works out to $3.08/kg or $1.40/lb.  This is an excellent price!  In comparison chicken breasts with skin and bones is $6.59/kg ($2.99/ lb) and boneless skinless chicken breasts are $13.82/kg ($6.25/lb).  A cooked rotisserie chicken is $7.47 with clearance after 5 PM but I can easily cook it and still realize a savings of about $2 per chicken.  I am stopping tomorrow to pick up a couple more packages and may even stop again on Tuesday.  Each chicken is enough for two meals for us with a bit of left-overs and bones for stock but the number of meals can be stretched if the chicken is used for soups, casseroles, and stews.

I prepared one of the chickens for roasting on the outdoor grill (will post later this week).  Then I cut one chicken in half.  Why would I do this?  Cutting the chicken into pieces as desired is saving me at least $1.50/lb.  While we do have a gorgeous dual fuel (charcoal/propane) grill, it is not equipped with a rotisserie given the design so cutting some of the chicken destined for the grill makes sense.  Half chicken is a cut that is very difficult to find in the stores but it is delicious cooked on the grill.  The trimmings (left) went into the scrap bag I keep in the freezer to make stock when I have enough and time permitting.  The chicken halves will be grilled on the outdoor grill likely on the charcoal side.  I froze them for later use. 

The whole chickens are already tied to keep the wings and legs looking nice when roasted.  I put two of the chickens in freezer bags for later use.  These will end up being roasted either in the oven or more likely on the outdoor grill.

Tomorrow's purchase will be cut into chicken pieces then packaged in meal sized portions.  I will end up with BLSL chicken breasts, chicken legs with backs attached, ribs and wings.  Wings tend to be rather expensive here but using the wings from the sale chicken will give me 16 pieces at a rather inexpensive price per kilogram.

At any rate I am pleased with the price per kilogram for the sale chicken.  With any luck I will be able to pick up enough chicken to last us the summer.  Watch for Tuesday's post of roasted chicken on the outdoor grill.  It was phenomenal!