Cooking For Engineers

[CTepera]

I'm trying to decide whether it's more economical to buy whole chickens and debone them myself, or to buy deboned chicken on sale. Does anyone know on average what percentage of weight of a whole chicken is bones, and what percentage is meat? I've been all over the internet looking, and can't find anything.

[SirSpice]

Where I live it seems that for the amount of meat I get it's the same, but I do get to keep the bones to make stock (though I rarely do).

[McDee]

The answer to your question depends on whether you will use the trim and how well you can bone a chicken.

Conduct a butcher's yield test to decide whether it's worth the price to buy your meat pre-fabricated.

As purchased weight (APW) x purchase price ($/#) = As purchased price (APP) (should be the same as on your recpt)
-or-
APW x $/# = APP

Bone the chicken

Weigh the bones and trim = (waste or usable)
Weigh the meat = Fabricated weight (FW)

Fabricated cost per pound = APP/FW

Is the fabricated cost per pound significantly different than your cost for pre-fabricated meat? How much money are you willing to pay the butcher to do the job for you?

Do you use the bones for stock?
Do you use the trim for something else?

[DrBiggles]