On Thu, 28 Nov 2019 23:57:24 -0700, rbowman
wrote:

On 11/28/2019 10:00 PM, wrote:
This is really picking the bones clean tho. Since I am making Chili
with a lot of it, little pieces picked out of the carcass is still
meat. That seems to mean a little over half is lost to cooking or
bones.

I think the National Turkey Federation claims 53% yield.

I was never ambitious enough to figure the net cost per ounce of cheap
whole chickens versus the various parts or skinless boneless breasts.
The local market usually had skinless boneless breasts at a very good
price. Cheap protein but I ate them so often I've developed sort of a
gag reflex.

I am a pretty careful shopper and it appears that the skin and bones
makes up around 25-30% of the breast with ribs, depending on whether
they sell you the breast bone two. Typically half have it and half
don't, just because of where they cut. At that point you have some
math to do. My take away is when the boneless, skinless, tasteless
breasts are on sale, it is a better deal than with the skin and ribs.
Not on sale, you have to do the math but your labor is worth something
too.
I really prefer the dark meat anyway and if you are willing to buy
thigh quarters you can get them for less than a buck a pound in the 10
pound bag. Again there is lots of waste but if it is 69 cents a pound,
who cares? With a sharp paring knife, you can bone the whole thing out
in less than a minute and end up with one slab of meat that is great
on the grill. I leave the skin on for that.