The Lie - Winner Winner (chicken dinner)

Every couple of weeks or so, my family will cook up a whole chicken for Sunday supper. I know, it reeks of trad-wife traditionalism, but it's less about tradition and more about trying to do some cooking that will help the rest of the week go smoother. 

When I get a chicken, I want to be able to gorge myself on Sunday night, but also have something for my sandwich on Monday and my fried rice on Wednesday. And most importantly, I need to boil up all of the otherwise unused bits of the carcass into chicken broth I can freeze and use for soup and sauces over the next few weeks. 

But there is a problem. Over the last few years, it's been nearly impossible to buy a full-sized - or at least reasonably sized - full chicken at the grocery store. They're all small "fryer" sized, which means I barely get the full supper meal in, and the small amount of broth it makes is almost a waste of my time. This past weekend, I actually went to the trouble of buying a 2-pack of these chickens just so that I ended up with the leftovers that I wanted and needed. And that worked for sure. We ended up with a full Sunday supper, 6 litres of chicken broth and enough leftover chicken for chicken pitas at supper last night and some chicken for lunchtime sandwiches this week. Anything leftover by Wednesday will become a highly desirable treat for the dogs. 

I think this pivot to only small fryer chickens is an intentional act by the grocers. Smaller chickens are cheaper to produce, you can fit more chickens in the same area and turn through more product by harvesting them small. And at best, you get a couple of meals out of one for a small family. If they made them larger, they'd need to spend more on feed, space and transportation for only marginally more income. I can imagine they get less profitable as they grow larger. 

Not to mention, if a single chicken can meat (get it?) the protein needs of a family for most of a week, then you aren't buying deli meat, boxed broth or another package of chicken to feed everyone. 

Of course, living in Saskatchewan, the Hutterites are always an option, and I take advantage of their chickens whenever I can. Not only are they larger, but they also taste so much better. It's like garden tomato versus grocery tomato. There really isn't a comparison; it's so good. But I'm not in a position where I can just call up a Hutterite. Not to mention, they're usually selling like a dozen at a time, and I'm not exactly swimming in extra cash at all times. 

I guess that's just living in late-stage capitalism for you. 

I will say this. If the apocalypse we've all been praying for since Y2K finally comes around, getting my hands on some good chickens will be an early priority for me. Goats are probably a good option too, but I think I know enough about chickens to muddle my way through and have a reasonable source of food moving forward. Plus, they're manageable by 1 or 2 people. I don't think I could handle a whole cow by myself.  

And you can bet that I'll be growing those chickens nice, big and fat.