10 ms·

Are Rotisserie Chickens a Bargain?

147 points by andyraskin 10y ago

bluedino 10y 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.
- SmellTheGlove 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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.
- IanCal 10y 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 10y 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.
    - IanCal 10y ago
      Oh yes. A lovely silky finish to noodles, and always good in soup. Adding a dollop of really thick, jelly-like stock helps a huge number of dishes. And it's made from something you'd otherwise typically just throw away.
- dfrey 10y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2PlqXw03Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2PlqXw03Y
VLM 10y 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 10y 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.
  - nathanvanfleet 10y 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.
    - wavefunction 10y ago
      I've opened that pistachio with force. You're better off leaving it closed! (It seems from my exhaustive studies that pistachios that "won't open" aren't worth opening.)
Pamar 10y 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.
- rz2k 10y 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 10y 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.
    - rz2k 10y ago
      She raised money for them as they were exhausting what they could get from "friends and family" connections, and long before they went public. Probably like a few others she worked with they later went through cycles of completely different management that was more suitable for different stages of growth, and rarely stuck to the long term plans of the founders. If I remember correctly, an early business plan for Blockbuster projected streaming, or at least delivery through people cable boxes, about a decade early than when later management was ridiculing Netflix's streaming business.
SmellTheGlove 10y 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 10y ago
  rotisserie chickens are pumped full of sodium.
  - deegles 10y 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/2015/02/25/new-dietary-guidelines-fat-cholesterol.aspx http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/02/2... http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-th... http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/Study-no-association-dietary-saturated-fats-cardiovascular-disease-risk/ http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/...
    - muxxa 10y ago
      I thought the big risk with salt was strokes, not heart attacks: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782060/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782060/ "Results There were 19 independent cohort samples from 13 studies, with 177 025 participants (follow-up 3.5-19 years) and over 11 000 vascular events. Higher salt intake was associated with greater risk of stroke (pooled relative risk 1.23, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.43; P=0.007) and cardiovascular disease (1.14, 0.99 to 1.32; P=0.07), with no significant evidence of publication bias. ... The associations observed were greater the larger the difference in sodium intake and the longer the follow-up."
strommen 10y 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 10y 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.
  - maxerickson 10y 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.
    - ssharp 10y ago
      Thanks to that extra fat, thighs have the added benefit of not drying out if you dare cook them past 165. A lot of breasts these days are also enormous and require extra prep work to make them reasonable to cook.
  - justinlardinois 10y ago
    Opinion. I'm on the white meat side of this debate; dark meat is just mushy and greasy to me, not more flavorful.
- ssharp 10y 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!
libria 10y 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.
- morsch 10y ago
  I'm thinking you're throwing away your spices too quickly: http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67 http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67
- mywittyname 10y 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.
- wahern 10y 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.
honkhonkpants 10y 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 10y 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.
  - honkhonkpants 10y 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.
    - phonon 10y ago
      Ummm...did you ever look it up? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_game_hen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_game_hen "a young immature chicken (less than five weeks of age), weighing not more than two pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken"
      - phonon 10y ago
        OK, I/wikipedia is wrong! The definition has been updated http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/fsis-content/fsis-questionable-content/oppde/rdad/frpubs/99-017p/default/ct_99-017p http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/fsis-content/fsis-q... https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/9/381.170 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/9/381.170 Current class definitions state that a bird labeled as a Rock Cornish-type chicken must be ``the progeny of a cross between a purebred Cornish and a purebred Rock chicken'' (9 CFR 381.170(a)(1)(ii)), or ``a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken'' (9 CFR 381.170(a)(1)(i)). While this statement was appropriate when these chickens were originally developed over 40 years ago, today it is doubtful that any purebred Cornish or Rock lines exist in commercial chicken production. The names ``Rock Cornish game hen'' and ``Cornish game hen'' are now used to identify a very young, very small, whole chicken that is marketed as an individual serving. Although the names refer to hens, either sex can be used since birds of this class are sexually immature. The names ``Rock Cornish fryer,'' ``Rock Cornish roaster,'' and ``Rock Cornish hen'' are no longer meaningful because these birds cannot be reliably distinguished on the basis of progeny from other existing classes. Therefore, the Agency is proposing to define the Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish game hen class only in terms of age and weight and to delete the class of Rock Cornish fryer, roaster, and hen. Also of interest http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2007-0048F.htm http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2007-0048F.htm Cornish Game Hens Comment: One comment from a trade association stated that the term ``hen'' as used in the ``Rock Cornish game hen'' or ``Cornish game hen'' class may be misleading because the term hen implies that these birds are female while the definition states that the birds may be of either sex. The comment suggested that FSIS change the name of this poultry class to ``Rock Cornish game bird'' or ``Cornish game bird.'' Another comment from a poultry producer said that the proposed ``Cornish hen'' definition is inaccurate because it allows industry to call a bird that is not necessarily Cornish, and not necessarily a hen, a ``Cornish hen.'' The comment suggested that FSIS add a definition for ``poussin'' to describe the next youngest bird than the ``Cornish hen'' if the Agency decides to keep the term Cornish hen. The comment suggested that USDA review the literature produced by the North American Meat Processors Association (NAMP) as it applies to usage of the term ``poussin.'' According to the commenter, because USDA is attempting to have its regulations reflect usage in the poultry industry, it must consider not just the production level, but also the market. Response: FSIS disagrees that the terms ``Rock Cornish game hen'' or ``Cornish game hen'' are misleading to consumers and that the Agency should change the name of the class to ``Rock Cornish game bird'' or ``Cornish game bird.'' The existing terms for this poultry class, which provides for the use of the term ``hen'' for young immature chickens of either sex, has been in place since FSIS established this poultry class definition. The term ``hen'' can be used for immature chickens of either sex because birds of this class are sexually immature. FSIS is not aware of any data to support that consumers are misled with the reference to ``hen'' in these terms. Changing the name of the class is likely to spur confusion. FSIS also disagrees that the proposed ``Cornish hen'' definition is inaccurate because it allows industry to call a bird that is not necessarily Cornish, and not necessarily a hen, a ``Cornish hen.'' The existing standards in FSIS' regulations do specify that a Cornish chicken be the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken. However, FSIS continues to believe that it is doubtful that any purebred Cornish lines currently exist in commercial chicken production today and, therefore, the birds cannot be reliably distinguished on the basis of progeny. FSIS also disagrees that it should add a new poultry class that would define poussin. The poultry classes in 9 CFR 381.170 represent poultry that are typically marketed to consumers and are more broadly used than the standards for poussin in NAMP's Poultry Buyers Guide.
dekhn 10y ago
They're a bargain unless your free time has no value.
- dpim 10y ago
  Some people like cooking and don't see free time as fungible for work/freelance/learning
  - dekhn 10y 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.
    - zeveb 10y ago
      > 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. I'm in the same boat you are, but reading it put like that ('we can't always allocate the time to roast a chicken') kinda puts it in perspective. That's terrible, for you and for me alike. 'Doesn't have time to cook a bird' sounds awful, and is.
      - dekhn 10y ago
        Specifically, I mean: after I come home from work/picking up kids, there isn't really time to cook a chicken. Normally, I plan for this on the weekends by using my free time to cook items that can be reheated. For example, precook rice, some casserole. Veggies can be prepped from raw in ~5 minutes using a microwave. However, by the end of the week, people are tired of leftovers, so the convenience of being able to get a precooked chicken provides real value. Note that rotisserie chicken isn't just a cooked chicken. It's been brined for many hours (it takes time to prep the brine, then dry the chicken after brining), which makes the meat moist, it's been roasted evenly on all sides (hard to do without a rotating axle), and placed into a convenient container. It seems totally reasonable to swap the time to make an item that is pretty hard to reproduce at home (I don't want to manage a rotisserie or do brining on a regular basis).
overcast 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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.
- pc86 10y 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 10y 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 10y ago
Wow HN, you are eating way too much rotisserie chicken!
dghughes 10y 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 10y 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-brain-placebo-effect/ http://time.com/money/3846874/expensive-price-tag-cheap-wine... > “Expectations truly influence neurobiological responses,” write the authors.

147 points by andyraskin 10y 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.

SmellTheGlove 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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.
IanCal 10y 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 10y 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.
  - IanCal 10y ago
    Oh yes. A lovely silky finish to noodles, and always good in soup. Adding a dollop of really thick, jelly-like stock helps a huge number of dishes. And it's made from something you'd otherwise typically just throw away.
dfrey 10y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2PlqXw03Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2PlqXw03Y

VLM 10y 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 10y 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.
- nathanvanfleet 10y 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.
  - wavefunction 10y ago
    I've opened that pistachio with force. You're better off leaving it closed! (It seems from my exhaustive studies that pistachios that "won't open" aren't worth opening.)

Pamar 10y 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.

rz2k 10y 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 10y 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.
  - rz2k 10y ago
    She raised money for them as they were exhausting what they could get from "friends and family" connections, and long before they went public. Probably like a few others she worked with they later went through cycles of completely different management that was more suitable for different stages of growth, and rarely stuck to the long term plans of the founders. If I remember correctly, an early business plan for Blockbuster projected streaming, or at least delivery through people cable boxes, about a decade early than when later management was ridiculing Netflix's streaming business.

SmellTheGlove 10y 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 10y ago
rotisserie chickens are pumped full of sodium.
- deegles 10y 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/2015/02/25/new-dietary-guidelines-fat-cholesterol.aspx http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/02/2... http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-th... http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/Study-no-association-dietary-saturated-fats-cardiovascular-disease-risk/ http://www.eufic.org/page/en/show/latest-science-news/fftid/...
  - muxxa 10y ago
    I thought the big risk with salt was strokes, not heart attacks: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782060/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782060/ "Results There were 19 independent cohort samples from 13 studies, with 177 025 participants (follow-up 3.5-19 years) and over 11 000 vascular events. Higher salt intake was associated with greater risk of stroke (pooled relative risk 1.23, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 1.43; P=0.007) and cardiovascular disease (1.14, 0.99 to 1.32; P=0.07), with no significant evidence of publication bias. ... The associations observed were greater the larger the difference in sodium intake and the longer the follow-up."

strommen 10y 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 10y 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.
- maxerickson 10y 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.
  - ssharp 10y ago
    Thanks to that extra fat, thighs have the added benefit of not drying out if you dare cook them past 165. A lot of breasts these days are also enormous and require extra prep work to make them reasonable to cook.
- justinlardinois 10y ago
  Opinion. I'm on the white meat side of this debate; dark meat is just mushy and greasy to me, not more flavorful.
ssharp 10y 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!

libria 10y 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.

morsch 10y ago
I'm thinking you're throwing away your spices too quickly: http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67 http://www.stilltasty.com/articles/view/67
mywittyname 10y 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.
wahern 10y 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.

honkhonkpants 10y 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 10y 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.
- honkhonkpants 10y 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.
  - phonon 10y ago
    Ummm...did you ever look it up? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_game_hen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_game_hen "a young immature chicken (less than five weeks of age), weighing not more than two pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken"
    - phonon 10y ago
      OK, I/wikipedia is wrong! The definition has been updated http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/fsis-content/fsis-questionable-content/oppde/rdad/frpubs/99-017p/default/ct_99-017p http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/fsis-content/fsis-q... https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/9/381.170 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/9/381.170 Current class definitions state that a bird labeled as a Rock Cornish-type chicken must be ``the progeny of a cross between a purebred Cornish and a purebred Rock chicken'' (9 CFR 381.170(a)(1)(ii)), or ``a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken'' (9 CFR 381.170(a)(1)(i)). While this statement was appropriate when these chickens were originally developed over 40 years ago, today it is doubtful that any purebred Cornish or Rock lines exist in commercial chicken production. The names ``Rock Cornish game hen'' and ``Cornish game hen'' are now used to identify a very young, very small, whole chicken that is marketed as an individual serving. Although the names refer to hens, either sex can be used since birds of this class are sexually immature. The names ``Rock Cornish fryer,'' ``Rock Cornish roaster,'' and ``Rock Cornish hen'' are no longer meaningful because these birds cannot be reliably distinguished on the basis of progeny from other existing classes. Therefore, the Agency is proposing to define the Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish game hen class only in terms of age and weight and to delete the class of Rock Cornish fryer, roaster, and hen. Also of interest http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2007-0048F.htm http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/2007-0048F.htm Cornish Game Hens Comment: One comment from a trade association stated that the term ``hen'' as used in the ``Rock Cornish game hen'' or ``Cornish game hen'' class may be misleading because the term hen implies that these birds are female while the definition states that the birds may be of either sex. The comment suggested that FSIS change the name of this poultry class to ``Rock Cornish game bird'' or ``Cornish game bird.'' Another comment from a poultry producer said that the proposed ``Cornish hen'' definition is inaccurate because it allows industry to call a bird that is not necessarily Cornish, and not necessarily a hen, a ``Cornish hen.'' The comment suggested that FSIS add a definition for ``poussin'' to describe the next youngest bird than the ``Cornish hen'' if the Agency decides to keep the term Cornish hen. The comment suggested that USDA review the literature produced by the North American Meat Processors Association (NAMP) as it applies to usage of the term ``poussin.'' According to the commenter, because USDA is attempting to have its regulations reflect usage in the poultry industry, it must consider not just the production level, but also the market. Response: FSIS disagrees that the terms ``Rock Cornish game hen'' or ``Cornish game hen'' are misleading to consumers and that the Agency should change the name of the class to ``Rock Cornish game bird'' or ``Cornish game bird.'' The existing terms for this poultry class, which provides for the use of the term ``hen'' for young immature chickens of either sex, has been in place since FSIS established this poultry class definition. The term ``hen'' can be used for immature chickens of either sex because birds of this class are sexually immature. FSIS is not aware of any data to support that consumers are misled with the reference to ``hen'' in these terms. Changing the name of the class is likely to spur confusion. FSIS also disagrees that the proposed ``Cornish hen'' definition is inaccurate because it allows industry to call a bird that is not necessarily Cornish, and not necessarily a hen, a ``Cornish hen.'' The existing standards in FSIS' regulations do specify that a Cornish chicken be the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken. However, FSIS continues to believe that it is doubtful that any purebred Cornish lines currently exist in commercial chicken production today and, therefore, the birds cannot be reliably distinguished on the basis of progeny. FSIS also disagrees that it should add a new poultry class that would define poussin. The poultry classes in 9 CFR 381.170 represent poultry that are typically marketed to consumers and are more broadly used than the standards for poussin in NAMP's Poultry Buyers Guide.

dekhn 10y ago

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

dpim 10y ago
Some people like cooking and don't see free time as fungible for work/freelance/learning
- dekhn 10y 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.
  - zeveb 10y ago
    > 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. I'm in the same boat you are, but reading it put like that ('we can't always allocate the time to roast a chicken') kinda puts it in perspective. That's terrible, for you and for me alike. 'Doesn't have time to cook a bird' sounds awful, and is.
    - dekhn 10y ago
      Specifically, I mean: after I come home from work/picking up kids, there isn't really time to cook a chicken. Normally, I plan for this on the weekends by using my free time to cook items that can be reheated. For example, precook rice, some casserole. Veggies can be prepped from raw in ~5 minutes using a microwave. However, by the end of the week, people are tired of leftovers, so the convenience of being able to get a precooked chicken provides real value. Note that rotisserie chicken isn't just a cooked chicken. It's been brined for many hours (it takes time to prep the brine, then dry the chicken after brining), which makes the meat moist, it's been roasted evenly on all sides (hard to do without a rotating axle), and placed into a convenient container. It seems totally reasonable to swap the time to make an item that is pretty hard to reproduce at home (I don't want to manage a rotisserie or do brining on a regular basis).

overcast 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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 10y 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.

pc86 10y 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 10y 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 10y ago

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

dghughes 10y 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 10y 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-brain-placebo-effect/ http://time.com/money/3846874/expensive-price-tag-cheap-wine... > “Expectations truly influence neurobiological responses,” write the authors.