How to Roast a Chicken

In an effort to meet my May goal of coming in under our food budget, I have been keeping a sharp eye out for good sales-especially on meat.

Food Lion had whole chickens on sale for .59 a pound this week! I bought two, now I'm wishing I would have gotten more to stock our freezer. Anyways, I love buying whole chickens, because they are so much cheaper than buying prepared breasts or what have you. Plus, I can cook it all at once, shred it or chop it, and freeze it for convenient use later. For $5, I got 2 chickens. The meat of which will probably last us a good 8-10 meals. Sweet!

Here is how to roast a delicious chicken, every time:

You will need these ingredients: A sacrificial chicken (or two), salt, pepper, oil. Easy enough, right?

Free your bird from its package, and rinse it thoroughly under cool water. Make sure you rinse the inside of the cavity as well....depending on the brand you buy, some innards might be still inside (are whole chickens totally appealing now?). After the chicken has had its bath, pat dry with a paper towel and place breast side up in a large pan. This was the largest pan I had. My chickens were a little crowded, but that's okay :)

Drizzle with olive or vegetable oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Put in your oven @ 350F and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Let the chicken set for 10 minutes before you cut into it. If you plan on freezing all of the meat, make sure the chickens come to room temp before you start digging into it with your hands.