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Costco Rotisserie Chicken - what a great deal!


MickinMD

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I have bought two Costco Rotisserie Chickens, $4.99 each and labeled "3 lb," and had six meals with each one: the chicken was well-cooked and good and juicy.

The weight of each leg quarter and wing pair of the first was 12 oz, 9.5 oz with the 2nd.

I then removed all the meat from the carcass: 20 oz. for the 1st and 16 oz. with the 2nd.

Then, to compare, I bought a 4 lb 7.5 oz. chicken, $10.23 - little high priced but the only under-5-lb chicken I found, and baked it in the oven:

Each leg quarter and wing pair was 11 oz.

All the meat removed from the carcass was 14.64 oz.

I'll get Costco's rotisserie chicken from now on when I want a whole chicken (so I can make gravy with the carcass, drippings, etc.)!

I asked the Costco workers if there were any tips they could give me about showing up at the right time to get the best chickens - there are often a dozen or more on a hot counter but sometimes only a few - like when I got my second, smaller one.  They said there wasn't an exact schedule for making them - a new batch normally comes out about every 90 minutes - and said sometimes they get a shipment of fat birds and sometimes skinnier ones so they couldn't tell me a time or day to get the good ones.

But even the scrawny one was in the ballpark of the raw chicken I bought for twice the price.  And it's still excelled reheated in the microwave.

I make gravy from the carcass, bones, drippings, etc., - a few cups worth, and that made allowed me to cover 12 avg-sized slices of bread with cut up chicken and gravy - that was 4 meals for me: 675 Calories total including 1/2 of 14.5 oz cans of green beans and stewed tomatoes.

 

 

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18 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

I have bought two Costco Rotisserie Chickens, $4.99 each and labeled "3 lb," and had six meals with each one: the chicken was well-cooked and good and juicy.

The weight of each leg quarter and wing pair of the first was 12 oz, 9.5 oz with the 2nd.

I then removed all the meat from the carcass: 20 oz. for the 1st and 16 oz. with the 2nd.

Then, to compare, I bought a 4 lb 7.5 oz. chicken, $10.23 - little high priced but the only under-5-lb chicken I found, and baked it in the oven:

Each leg quarter and wing pair was 11 oz.

All the meat removed from the carcass was 14.64 oz.

I'll get Costco's rotisserie chicken from now on when I want a whole chicken (so I can make gravy with the carcass, drippings, etc.)!

I asked the Costco workers if there were any tips they could give me about showing up at the right time to get the best chickens - there are often a dozen or more on a hot counter but sometimes only a few - like when I got my second, smaller one.  They said there wasn't an exact schedule for making them - a new batch normally comes out about every 90 minutes - and said sometimes they get a shipment of fat birds and sometimes skinnier ones so they couldn't tell me a time or day to get the good ones.

But even the scrawny one was in the ballpark of the raw chicken I bought for twice the price.  And it's still excelled reheated in the microwave.

I make gravy from the carcass, bones, drippings, etc., - a few cups worth, and that made allowed me to cover 12 avg-sized slices of bread with cut up chicken and gravy - that was 4 meals for me: 675 Calories total including 1/2 of 14.5 oz cans of green beans and stewed tomatoes.

 

 

I walk by a display case of rotisserie chicken every time I go shopping.  I probably would cut over half of the chicken skin off and eat the rest.  Sorry, the skin looks ...fatty.  I still haven't bought a whole one for myself. Or even half or 1/4 one. 

The last time I had  rotisserie chicken was at Swiss Chalet.  That was  well...25 yrs. ago or more. 

But enjoy your chicken... and yes, looks like several meals.

I was intrigued to  learn from my siblings that my 88 yr. old mother got a kick occasionally, when they would buy a rotisserie chicken for her occasionally. I know immediately she would have shared a piece with whoever bought it for her. 

But I plan to buy her BBQ Chinese pork when I visit her..after 3 yrs. Or if I see a lean Beijing roast duck (most  likely not).. 

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I do the same, except skip the gravy. Two meals for two off one $4.99 chicken, then boil the carcass to loosen the remaining meat and during summer make a chicken casserole, and winter chicken noodle soup (and better the second day.) That broth created when boiling the carcass is rich in the spices from the original rotisserie.

Raw chicken from Publix, and even Aldi or WalMart, can't compete pricewise with the fully cooked $4.99! 

Oh, I think those that don't sell are not sold the next day...so the whole chicken is always fresh that day. I notice they do sell packets of cut rotisserie chicken meat which suspect may be prior day unsold chicken cut up and re-packaged.

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12 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Pretty heavily salted though, Mick. 

Doesn't sound good.  Why does it need sugar?

Costco rotisserie chicken ingredient list includes: Whole chickens, water, seasoning [salt, sodium, phosphate, modified food starch (potato, tapioca), and potato dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose, spice extractives].

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12 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Doesn't sound good.  Why does it need sugar?

Costco rotisserie chicken ingredient list includes: Whole chickens, water, seasoning [salt, sodium, phosphate, modified food starch (potato, tapioca), and potato dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose, spice extractives].

I don't buy Costco meats.  I get mine here: https://www.longos.com/product/00772468032915/Longos ROTISSERIE WHOLE CHICKEN

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Just now, Wilbur said:

Two other Costco meats I buy are stew beef (4+ lb package) and 87% ground beef (6+ lb package). With both I will use a postal scale and divide into 1 to 1.25 lb  units and store in freezer bags. Price per lb is far superior to other sources.  

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We did the several meals this weekend, but not with a rotisserie chicken.  We bought a 9 lb (almost a small turkey) oven roaster and had a large chicken dinner for 3 plus 2 or more days of Westminster Chicken Soup plus a chicken parm stuffed bread tonight and there are still leftovers to do some more meal making tomorrow.

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2 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

Doesn't sound good.  Why does it need sugar?

Costco rotisserie chicken ingredient list includes: Whole chickens, water, seasoning [salt, sodium, phosphate, modified food starch (potato, tapioca), and potato dextrin, carrageenan, sugar, dextrose, spice extractives].

I’m guessing a brine or injected with the above ingredients to keep it moist & flavorful.  

I don’t usually buy store rotisserie chicken but I do brine my own birds & smoke them.  I generally brine in a chicken stock with brown sugar & herbs.  

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13 hours ago, shootingstar said:

I walk by a display case of rotisserie chicken every time I go shopping.  I probably would cut over half of the chicken skin off and eat the rest.  Sorry, the skin looks ...fatty.  I still haven't bought a whole one for myself. Or even half or 1/4 one. 

The last time I had  rotisserie chicken was at Swiss Chalet.  That was  well...25 yrs. ago or more. 

But enjoy your chicken... and yes, looks like several meals.

I was intrigued to  learn from my siblings that my 88 yr. old mother got a kick occasionally, when they would buy a rotisserie chicken for her occasionally. I know immediately she would have shared a piece with whoever bought it for her. 

But I plan to buy her BBQ Chinese pork when I visit her..after 3 yrs. Or if I see a lean Beijing roast duck (most  likely not).. 

The skin on Costco's rotisserie chicken is fairly crisp.  But, except for the leg quarters and wings, I put the rest of the skin in a a pot or instant pot along with everything left on the carcass after I pick all the meat off it which goes into sandwiches, gravy bread, etc.  The skin, carcass, leg/thigh/wing bones, drippings, plus a little celery, carrot, onion, and dry Italian Seasoning is put in a pot with 3 cups of water and either simmered on the stovetop or pressure cooked for an hour.  Then it's poured through a sieve, the solids discarded, and that stock is turned into a great gravy by adding a tbsp of Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base and a roux made of 4 tbsp flour and 4 tbsp butter - the roux nuked for 20 seconds in the microwave, stirred into a paste, then added little-by-little with stirring into the stock.

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4 minutes ago, dinneR said:

It's sad to say, but most chickens in the USA are raised the same way.

ONLY in the corrupt USA among democracies, does the government allow chickens to be sold as "free range" chickens if they've only had 15 minutes per day "outside" in a chicken wire cage, then they are moved back into crowded conditions.  The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and Congress allow that to be sold to people as "Free Range Chickens."

The problem in a lot of cases, is that chicken farmers are subcontractors to Purdue, Tyson, etc. and are supplied with birds and feed and expected to raise the chickens at a certain price.  This forces the farmers to cut corners to make a living - if they won't do it, Purdue, etc. will find someone who will.

On Maryland's Eastern Shore, a historically chicken-farm area, the farmers have problems making profits while dealing with the chicken crap.  Consequently, it ended up in huge mounds where rain washed a lot into the Chesapeake Bay.  That brought an end to that: the Bay is too precious recreationally and economically to let anyone screw it up.  So Maryland tightened laws for chicken farms.  The result?  Purdue, etc. moved some production out of Maryland to states that allow bad practices.

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3 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

There is no better deal on rotisserie chicken in the country!  I wish it made sense for me to be a member or a Costco close enough to take advantage of one. 

Even the $6.99 rotisserie chicken at a supermarket I was in last week: two dollars more, same size as Costco, looked to be cooked the same, is cheaper than buying a small raw chicken - if you can find one a little less than 5 lbs.

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1 minute ago, MickinMD said:

It's sad to say, but most chickens in the USA are raised the same way.

ONLY in the corrupt USA among democracies, does the government allow chickens to be sold as "free range" chickens if they've only had 15 minutes per day "outside" in a chicken wire cage, then they are moved back into crowded conditions.  The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and Congress allow that to be sold to people as "Free Range Chickens."

The problem in a lot of cases, is that chicken farmers are subcontractors to Purdue, Tyson, etc. and are supplied with birds and feed and expected to raise the chickens at a certain price.  This forces the farmers to cut corners to make a living - if they won't do it, Purdue, etc. will find someone who will.

On Maryland's Eastern Shore, a historically chicken-farm area, the farmers have problems making profits while dealing with the chicken crap.  Consequently, it ended up in huge mounds where rain washed a lot into the Chesapeake Bay.  That brought an end to that: the Bay is too precious recreationally and economically to let anyone screw it up.  So Maryland tightened laws for chicken farms.  The result?  Purdue, etc. moved some production out of Maryland to states that allow bad practices.

My oldest brother had recently retired and was helping his step son who was a contract chicken farmer when he passed.  I spoke to him about the chicken farming and what he said mirrored what Mick says.  

But the chicken farmers  are paid by the pound of chicken they sell back so there is an incentive to keep the chickens alive & healthy. He had a fairly low death rate but kept his chickens indoors.  He did tell me that many chickens go blind due to ammonia build up in the pens (giant barns) but otherwise are healthy birds. 

I never asked him what they did with the poop though.

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1 hour ago, Dirtyhip said:

We have rarely bought them.  Roasting a chicken is prettuy easy, and the process heats up my tiny home in the winter.  :)

They are too salty, when I have bought them.  Deliciously salty.  

Probably why they make good gravy stock too! 

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My farmer's name is Curtis. He sells me food and gives me a bucket for my food scraps which he turns into compost. Curtis herds his cattle on a fatbike. Curtis asked me about getting his wife to ride a fatbike too. 

I buy a lot of food from Curtis and his family. His service and the quality of food is worth the premium price

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