Are Rotisserie Chickens a Bargain?

https://priceonomics.com/are-rotisserie-chickens-a-bargain/

by andyraskin • 10 years ago

147 123 10 years ago

VLM• 10 years ago

Something kind of similar goes on in the produce aisle with bags of apples vs individual apples.

Bags of apples have a very high percent mass loss when peeled and rotted parts cut off and served into apple pies or apple sauce or canned into brandied apples and are very small making a huge amount of labor to peel like ten mini apples per pound.

Individual apples are large and about can select externally flawless apples, and the surface area to volume scaling means for a given amount of finished product your compost pile will have maybe half the compost. Also the labor demand is immensely lower, it takes just as long to peel a baby apple from a bag that smaller than a baseball as it goes to peel a freakishly large individual apple thats bigger than a softball.

Solely on price per pound, bags of apples are mystifyingly cheaper than individual apples per pound, but in terms of final product and factoring in the labor annoyance of prep time, individual apples are often a much better deal.

I suppose much as there are people shocked that I find applesauce making and brandied apple canning fun and recreational and stress reducing, there probably exist people who are shocked that everyone doesn't find apple peeling and coring to be meditative and chill. For people who enjoy spending hours peeling tiny little apples, a 5 pound bag of little apples must be pure joy to them.

blakesterz• 10 years ago

That reminds me of the pistachios WITH shells Vs. pistachios without shells. A bag without the shells is way more expensive per pound, but from what I've read it ends up being a bit cheaper per nut because those shells weigh something. Plus those things are just hard to get out of the darn shells sometimes.

JoeAltmaier4• 10 years ago

And the shells harbor mold. I'm allergic to pistachios, but apparently its the mold that is the real problem.

nathanvanfleet2• 10 years ago

I would say that you should pay a bit extra so you don't have the emotional cost of having that one pistachio you couldn't possibly open.

blt• 10 years ago

OTOH, the shells help deter you from eating a pound of delicious pistachios in one sitting.

criddell• 10 years ago

Remember pink pistachios? I used to buy them all the time and the other day I realized that I haven't seem them in years.

This scene isn't going to make sense to future viewers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-TCvaNuKNQ

arprocter2• 10 years ago

In a bag of nuts with shells there are always a few which lose their shells in transit and they never taste as good to me.

Could it be some ancient hunter gatherer mental reward system thing?

JoeAltmaier4• 10 years ago

My grocer's bag of apples is not 50% waste per pound. Its often the same apples in a bag. Volume discount. I suppose that just means they're all too expensive...

gruez• 10 years ago

I think you misread the parent's post.

and the surface area to volume scaling means for a given amount of finished product your compost pile will have maybe half the compost

He means that the big apples have half the waste compared to small apples.

3pt14159• 10 years ago

I buy the smaller apples precisely because there is more skin to flesh. So if I eat two small apples this means more fiber and a little bit more potassium vs if I'd eaten one large apple. Plus I find the flesh is usually more flavourful and less mealy.

brendoncrawford• 10 years ago

The smaller apples seem to be more flavorful as well.

gmac• 10 years ago

Maybe also more pesticides and more wax, unless you buy organic.

maxerickson3• 10 years ago

A lot of people call the bagged apples hand apples and eat them without any preparation.

Extensive rotten parts on the bagged apples would also be a klaxon call not to buy produce from that grocer.

pjc50• 10 years ago

Cooking apples are different varieties, anyway. The best reason to process apples at home is if you have them fresh off the tree.

Pamar• 10 years ago

From the article: Customers can thank Boston Market—which opened its first store in 1985 in Newton, Mass., under the name Boston Chicken—for the modern rotisserie chicken industry.

This was a surprise to me. In Italy "Rotisserie chicken" have been a common urban offering since at least the '60s, probably even before. No idea about other parts of Europe or the rest of the world, but I distinctly remember small stores displaying roasted chickens since my childhood.

The only recent innovation is that you can now find these in larger supermarkets and that most of the stores are now managed as some franchise.

Gmo• 10 years ago

Yes, same in France

SmellTheGlove3• 10 years ago

I can confirm, Italian, but I grew up in the US. When I was a kid, we roasted a lot of chickens because la rosticceria wasn't a thing in the neighborhood - in South Philadelphia or then out in the NJ suburbs. When Boston Market opened up, we ate a LOT of that.

It was odd to my folks because it's the most basic of prep, and you could pretty much get a roasted chicken (or many other meats prepped the same way) on the go anywhere in Italy. It's fast food that isn't total shit.

pimlottc• 10 years ago

Yep, I remember when Boston Market came along in the 90s, it really spread like wildfire, seemingly overnight. They were quite popular, and no one else was doing rotisserie chicken at a mass scale like that before them.

douche2• 10 years ago

I used to love getting these from doner kebab places when I was studying in Berlin. Our lunch stipend was about 5 euro, and I remember that getting half a chicken, french fries and a Berliner Kindl.

_0ffh• 10 years ago

Same in Germany, only more often than not we get them from snack vans/food trucks.

Unfortunately, though I like grilled chicken, I find most of them quite horrible. The meat is usually too salty (and on top through-and-through too salty, because they soak the chickens in brine) and the only discernible spice is paprika 90% of the time, which fact I hate with a passion.

TheOtherHobbes• 10 years ago

Rotisserie chicken machines were common in London chip shops and other fast food places in the 70s. Some supermarkets used to have them too.

They've largely disappeared from chip shops now, although some ethnic food shops still have them.

mhurron2• 10 years ago

My introduction to rotisserie chicken was the Swiss Chalet chain in Canada.

One of the few things I miss about Canada.

peeters2• 10 years ago

Swiss Chalet accounts for 4 of the 5 worst dining experiences I've had. The franchise quality has really gone downhill. They have serious customer service issues.

That said, I can probably guess what you miss: http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/swiss-chalet-dipping-sauce-mix/6.... I'm sure they'll ship worldwide ;-).

rz2k2• 10 years ago

A cofounder with me on another project was involved in Boston Chicken in its early stages. Her sister living in NY at the time told her the business was a dumb idea because everyone could already get fresh cooked chicken whenever they want from food carts.

It's difficult to appreciate what was novel and what was obvious at different times in the past. I lived in Italy in 1994/95, and when I returned to a non-city in the US I was sure I wouldn't be able to find a good espresso, yet the independent coffee shops starting turning up right about when I returned. I also imagined that the per-minute local phone billing in Italy would end up precluding modems and the internet from taking hold back in Italy any time soon.

coldcode• 10 years ago

From what I remember Boston Chicken was a sort of stock scam that turned out a great buy when it went under. I vaguely remember McDonalds bought them out for virtually nothing.

peeters2• 10 years ago

Swiss Chalet and St Hubert in Canada predate 1985 by quite a bit. I guess the claim is either unfounded or talking about the American market.

fbellag2• 10 years ago

My grandparents had a Rotiseria here in Buenos Aires in the '30s and '40s, so I can confirm that is not a novelty :P

bluedino• 10 years ago

They're an even bigger bargain at the end of the night. When I worked 2nd shift I would stop at Kroger on the way home at 10:30pm, grab a baguette from the bakery for 50 cents and a rotisserie chicken for $2.99, both half-price because I assume they throw them out at closing time. Cheap dinner and lunch for the next day.

SmellTheGlove3• 10 years ago

My local supermarket (Hannaford) starts discounting after the lunch and dinner rushes by a dollar or two to move the chickens that have been out for more than a couple of hours. Whatever's left gets chilled and sold in the cold case at an additional discount later on that night and the next day. Honestly I think they're a bargain at full price because they're not terrible for you and they're fast - we don't always have time to cook, and given the alternatives, it just makes sense to grab a chicken. As a practical matter, we also get another one on the weekends when we grocery shop, pick it as soon as it comes home and just keep it in a container for a few days to snack on. Even with the added "solution" its way healthier than what we'd otherwise get into.

pwenzel• 10 years ago

I like to maximize the value of my rotisserie chicken dinner by cooking all the leftover scraps and bones in a pressure cooker. After an hour, you got yourself a stew!

Use ice cube trays to make broth cubes and store in the freezer for future meals.

namdnay• 10 years ago

I find that on average, rotisserie chickens are so strongly seasoned with spices+herbs that the broth will not be very "chickeny". YMMV

jessaustin• 10 years ago

My freezer contains about a dozen big sour cream/cottage cheese containers of broth made from rotisserie chicken carcasses at any one time. The flavor is superior to store-bought broth, whenever one has the time to actually cook.

IanCal2• 10 years ago

Whenever getting a chicken it's worth using the bones to make stock afterwards. We regularly roast a chicken, and then after the dinner we'll strip the remaining meat off and boil up the bones. Then we can make a chicken risotto the next day with some lovely rich stock and leftover chicken bits.

Making stock is something I wish I'd started doing a long time ago.

beachstartup• 10 years ago

that stock is also good for cooking noodles, especially asian styles like ramen or udon but also for western chicken noodle soup or matzo ball soup.

nearly every culture has an awesome chicken noodle dish.

dfrey• 10 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2PlqXw03Y

SmellTheGlove3• 10 years ago

The value is more than the price cooked versus DIY. To me it's a bargain because I'll eat something way worse for me if I'm in a rush and there's nothing available. We don't want to stop at McDonalds because I'm running late from work, my wife and daughter had an activity until 6, and we already ate everything in the fridge. Boom, chicken.

EDIT: I don't want to entirely rag on McD's. I lost a bunch of weight when I was in consulting and ate every meal on the run. Of the fast food chains, they have some of the most reasonable items with easy math on the calories. Pro tip: Egg McMuffins and regular cheeseburgers are 300 calories each. I'm not saying it was healthy, but I did control my calories and lose weight. I am likely partially embalmed from the trans fat and sodium though. Hopefully we can agree a supermarket rotisserie chicken is a superior option :)

lintiness• 10 years ago

rotisserie chickens are pumped full of sodium.

deegles• 10 years ago

There is no longer an official upper limit on cholesterol intake, and (for most people) sodium intake being harmful has also been debunked. Saturated fats also have been shown to have no link to heart disease.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/02/2...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-th...

http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/...

serg_chernata• 10 years ago

To add, when experimenting with diets such as keto, uptake in salt and electrolytes is a requirement. When you drastically cut down on carbs your body does not retain salt / water as it did before and thus supplementation above "norm" is required.

johnward• 10 years ago

What's wrong with sodium? I actually need to consume more of it.

EpicEng• 10 years ago

Drink more water

koolba• 10 years ago

The value is more than the price cooked versus DIY. To me it's a bargain because I'll eat something way worse for me if I'm in a rush and there's nothing available. We don't want to stop at McDonalds because I'm running late from work, my wife and daughter had an activity until 6, and we already ate everything in the fridge. Boom, chicken.

Yes these are awesome for that perfect blend of fast, easy, and not quite junk food. I wouldn't recommend having one 7 days a week but you can pick one up in place of fast food and feed you and your kids guilt free.

EDIT: I don't want to entirely rag on McD's.

I love McD's and the mere existence of the McDouble[1] proves that the human race is doing just fine.

[1] http://nypost.com/2013/07/28/the-greatest-food-in-human-hist...

ajford• 10 years ago

We'd normally pick them up on grocery shopping days. After shopping for the next two weeks, it was usually late enough that cooking meat would take too long.

Rotisserie chicken shredded makes a good meat for a chicken alfredo pasta, or on a pizza for BBQ chicken pizza, etc.

And the difference in price with a raw whole chicken (usually less than 3 dollars) was well worth it for the savings in time and avoiding the fast-food stop when the kids were losing their minds in the back seat. We lived about 30 mins from the grocery store, so munching on chicken was a good way to keep the kids (both less than 4yrs old) calm and happy.

robertcorey2• 10 years ago

Please not that McDonald's is only able to offer that type of kcal to dollar ratio because of the massive subsidies the usa has for meat production.

chirau3• 10 years ago

True!

This article ignores an important aspect of time. I earn about $90 an hour. So between cooking and doing dishes, let's say i remove the wait times and stuff where i could do other things, I am still using up about 10 to 15 minutes extra preparing a fresh chicken.

I understand I don't work 24/7, but still, even my downtime matters so even if I cut down that price per hour in half, I'd still rather get a pre-made chicken especially during the week when time is of the essence.

pc862• 10 years ago

You've made an excellent argument for outsourcing your entire meal prep and having food delivered to your house (or paying someone to shop for you) and having someone cook it for you.

The "I make $___ an hour" claim only holds weight if your alternative to whatever activity would be to actually charge money for that time. Presumably you're going to make your own dinner most of the time so your hourly rate at work is largely irrelevant.

WillPostForFood• 10 years ago

I agree the article underemphasized the cost of time, but it didn't ignore it. It is addressed in the last section of the article.

When a cook’s time is included as labor costs in the above calculation, whole chickens become more expensive than rotisserie options.

oliwarner• 10 years ago

You value all your time at $90 an hour and still find time to give us some?! You are extremely generous!

Obviously facetious but hopefully you get my point. Not all time in our lives is billable. You don't get paid for washing your own clothes, cleaning your kitchen, taking your kids to school. It's life. You do that for you. While these are all things you can pay somebody else to do, it's really not until that point you can start comparing time values. If you are, you're probably not in the demographic that buys cheap rotisserie chicken.

Or you're some sort of robot who never sleeps and only works. Again, thanks for putting your zeros and ones aside for a few minutes to talk to us.

strommen• 10 years ago

Cooking a whole chicken is a major pain. If not for rotisserie chickens, I would only buy chicken in the form of pre-butchered packages of breasts, thighs, or legs (and the occasional bag of frozen buffalo wings).

The pre-butchered meat is usually a way better deal. Boneless chicken breasts, which are the most expensive option, are often as cheap as $3.50/lb - about the same as a roto chicken. And it's pure meat, extremely healthy, and only takes 20-30 minutes to cook.

(But when you have a 2- and 4-year-old, sometimes those 20-30 minutes make all the difference. So I eat roto chicken about once a week.)

stdbrouw• 10 years ago

And it's pure meat, extremely healthy, and only takes 20-30 minutes to cook.

It is unfortunately also the part of the chicken that is least flavorful.

maxerickson3• 10 years ago

Larger packages of boneless skinless thighs are about the same price. They cook faster.

I guess they tend to have a bit more fat on them than the breasts. And more fat in them. But not to an absurd level.

justinlardinois• 10 years ago

Opinion. I'm on the white meat side of this debate; dark meat is just mushy and greasy to me, not more flavorful.

ssharp2• 10 years ago

I personally don't find roasting whole chickens to be all that much harder than cooking individual pieces. The entire process takes long because of the cook time, but it's passive time in the oven, not prep work or standing over a stove.

I also love roasting chicken over a bed of vegetables. It's a great winter time dish.

I'm with you on the kids, though. I do a lot of smoking in the summer and will usually bulk cook and freeze chicken, pork, and beef since smoking scales easily in cabinet style smokers!

JoeAltmaier4• 10 years ago

Spatchcock! Cooking time greatly reduced.

barney54• 10 years ago

Actually, here's a great and easy recipe to cook a whole chicken--Salt Roasted Chicken: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/salt-roasted-ch... There are many versions and this is just one. It's is very simple and very good. It helps to have a remote thermometer to makes sure you don't overcook the chicken.

simonh• 10 years ago

I find roasting a chicken incredibly easy. All it takes is an oven, roasting tray and time.

saboot2• 10 years ago

I, personally, find Mark Bittman's recipe to be one of the simplest. It delivers great chicken every time.

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015812-simplest-roast-ch...

It requires a cast iron pan. It requires high heat in the beginning, so don't be alarmed by the smoke.

stevesearer• 10 years ago

I like Thomas Keller's 'Simple Roast Chicken': http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/my-favorite-sim...

douche2• 10 years ago

The easiest way I've found is beer-can grilled chicken

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/beer-can-chicken-recipe.h...

ghshephard• 10 years ago

"Cooking a whole chicken is a major pain." - unless you have a Oven Top pressure cooker. In which case, "Dump in the chicken, throw in random collection of chopped up vegetables, pour in some spices, olive-oil (if you want to crank up the calories/like extra fatty tasting broth, which I do), set for 30 minutes - when done, meat should be able to be stripped off the bone with tongs/fork - 5 minutes to transfer the meat/vegetables into large bowl" - total hands on prep time can be about 10-15 minutes, depending on how many different types of vegetables you want to chop up. $6 2 kilo chicken + vegetables and some olive oil makes 5 solid 450 gram meals. Plus, you can then throw in the leftover meat/bones into the pressure cooker for an hour and get awesome broth.

libria• 10 years ago

The chart shows you can save $1-$2 per chicken that feeds about 3 people? I think it'd be difficult to find 3 people unwilling to chip in 50 cents to turn a raw chicken into a cooked one. And pricing seasoning ingredients by just the percentage they used is disengenious. I've never gotten to the bottom of any of herb bottle before it went stale.

The rotisserie industry is a bargain for consumer and seller. It's easy and automated for stores to produce at scale and a real time saver for the customer. Not to mention I can take it prepackaged to a picnic.

morsch2• 10 years ago

I'm thinking you're throwing away your spices too quickly: http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67

mywittyname• 10 years ago

I've never gotten to the bottom of any of herb bottle before it went stale.

Use more of it or buy the smaller containers.

If you find that you don't use a spice much, consider opting for a spice blend that you find more broadly appealing instead. For example, if you always keep a jar of rosemary for 3 years before using it all because you only use it on pork, replace it (and a few other herbs) with a blend like herbes de provence, which goes great on everything.

wahern2• 10 years ago

  I've never gotten to the bottom of any of herb bottle before it went stale.

Me too until I discovered Litehouse Freeze Dried Herbs. Normally the bottles are $4.99 at my local Californian supermarket, but sometimes they're on sale for $3.99, and the other day they were on sale for $2.50 (I stocked up). I especially like their freeze dried, diced garlic, which is a darn good substitute for freshly chopped garlic.

The freeze dried stuff doesn't last forever, either. But the Litehouse bottles are good size. Even the end of a bottle is more fragrant and tasty than brand-new dried herbs. And it's super convenient picking more up at the grocery store.

At $4.99 it's competitive with bulk freeze dried herbs, which made me wonder if that was a sustainable price. Seeing it for sale at $2.50 I'm even more convinced that it's not profitable and they're having trouble getting traction in the market. I'll be sad if it goes away. I've always avoided herbs in my cooking because fresh herbs are inconvenient; most dried herbs suck; and if they don't suck they don't last long anyhow. This affordable freeze dried stuff is amazing, but probably too good a thing.

honkhonkpants2• 10 years ago

Store-roasted chickens drive me crazy because every chicken in the case is 4 pounds or more and all the roasted chickens started out smaller. I'd like to buy a 3 to 3.5 pound bird small enough to roast in a pan but they use them all and don't sell them.

aristus• 10 years ago

There's a breed called Cornish Hen or poussin, usually 2.5 to 3 pounds. You might have to search at a fancier store, or like I do at a Mexican butcher, but they are easy to cook and delicious.

honkhonkpants2• 10 years ago

Cornish Hen bothers me because it's just marketing. It's just a young chicken! It doesn't even have to be a hen! So as a person who appreciates basic honesty I avoid them. Also we are fortunate to spend the autumn and winter in an area with actual game birds that are easily taken, and delicious.

dekhn4• 10 years ago

They're a bargain unless your free time has no value.

dpim• 10 years ago

Some people like cooking and don't see free time as fungible for work/freelance/learning

dekhn4• 10 years ago

Sure, I like cooking too. However, I have a family, a full time job, my wife has a full time job, and we can't always allocate the time to roast a chicken.

overcast• 10 years ago

At the supermarket Wegmans where I live, an entire fresh rotisserie chicken is $5. It's a total steal if you're a starving college kid, as you can easily make a couple meals out of it. These used to be HUGE chickens, however they've noticeably got smaller, but still easily two meals.

pcmaffey• 10 years ago

I get 5-6 meals out of a $14 organic rotisserie chicken for my wife and I.

2 from the wings and breast. Then we slowcook the carcass into bone broth which becomes the basis of an awesome soup. I've got thai curry chicken soup on the stove right now.

kin• 10 years ago

Relative to whole raw chickens? Sure, rotisserie chickens may not be cheaper but that doesn't mean their value isn't a bargain.

dboreham• 10 years ago

They're a bargain at Costco, assuming you need to buy other stuff there, otherwise the value of time to park and walk to the back of the store might dominate.

xenihn• 10 years ago

I greatly prefer rotisserie chickens from grocery stores to baking my own, just for the convenience. The fact that it's typically cheaper than buying and baking your own is a huge factor as well.

I really want to recommend trying baked cornish hens at home to anyone who hasn't eaten them. I buy a 6-pack at Costco for about $18. A single one by itself is an entire meal for me. If I'm really, really hungry, I'll eat it with a side like pita bread or rice. Fat, water, and seasoning pool under it to make really tasty drippings that you can use for either.

They're super easy to prepare and bake. I just spray it with cooking oil, salt and pepper it, and stick it in the oven at 400F for an hour. The great thing about it is that it's really difficult to overcook it due to the fat from the skin, and the small amount of meat compared to a whole chicken, so you can play around with higher temperatures and times without having to worry about ruining it.

They taste sooo good, especially the crisp skin. It's one of my favorite things to eat.

pc862• 10 years ago

The fact that it's typically cheaper than buying and baking your own is a huge factor as well.

As stated in the article it's only cheaper if your unit of measurement is a whole chicken regardless of size. Per pound they are typically 2x more expensive (or even more).

Cornish hens are my jam, they're great.

pfarnsworth• 10 years ago

Costco rotisserie chicken is probably the best existing deal out there right now. $4.99 for 2-3 days worth of food.

I infrequently make my own rotisserie chicken and it costs me at least $12, including chicken, spices, etc.

quotha• 10 years ago

Wow HN, you are eating way too much rotisserie chicken!

dghughes• 10 years ago

Without including the cost of our time, it came to a total of 52 cents.

I think that's the major point for anyone: time.

For the sake of a few dollars my time is more valuable or at least better spent doing something else.

I think that is also a reason for many thing such as my region where people hire a guys with a snowblowers to clean out their driveways. Pay $200 for four months and you don't break your back it's worth it.

memnips• 10 years ago

BUT what about the psychological value of _feeling_ like you're getting a deal, even if you aren't actually getting one?

E.g. People from this research actually experience more pleasure when they believe a wine is expensive: http://time.com/money/3846874/expensive-price-tag-cheap-wine...

“Expectations truly influence neurobiological responses,” write the authors.

Are Rotisserie Chickens a Bargain?

Related Stories