A Chicken in Every [Pan]

Since I have so many medical bills right now, my budget is tight.  (I'm careful not to refer to myself as poor anymore even it doesn't always feel terribly different).  That means that I have to plan all of my purchases very carefully.  That also means putting forth more effort to make something into food.  As I'm sure all of my readers know, every step the manufacturer goes through to make your food easier to eat, cost more money per unit.  I realized this first-hand at the store when I was pricing meat.  The cheapest meat I could find was packaged chicken thighs for $1.19/lb., which is pretty good.  As I was about to put the package in my cart, I saw that if I bought a whole chicken, it was only $0.69/lb.  I quickly went for the whole chicken.

Here's the thing, though: I've never cooked a whole chicken before.  I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I could butcher it and cook one piece at a time, or I could roast the thing whole like it was a mini turkey.  I opted for the second option.  I rubbed it down with olive oil, dusted it with kosher salt (the best kind of salt) and black pepper, and (since I didn't have any apples) cut an orange in half and placed it in the body cavity.  I baked it uncovered for about an hour and twenty minutes, until the skin got nice and crispy.  Turns out, I bake a mean chicken.  And now I have dinner for the rest of the week.

While living on a tight budget isn't easy, sometimes that very challenge delivers some fun rewards.