The other day I was at my local grocery store when I noticed a great sell on whole chickens. The sell was .67 cents a pound and with the average sizes 4 to 5 pounds the whole chickens where going for about 3 dollars a chicken. Well I couldn’t resist I started grabbing some chickens. As was picking out the ones I wanted I got into a conversation with another shopper who said they would love to buy some but did not know how to cook whole chicken.

Next thing I know I have a group of shoppers around me as I am going over some different ways of how to cook whole chicken. I think many of the people wanted to take advantage of the deal but they all seemed to have the same fears.

• It takes way to work to cook a whole chicken-yes it does take longer to cook but about 90% of the time is hands off so even though it takes longer to cook a whole chicken it probably less work then most of the meal people make on a daily basis.

• It is way too much food-again this true but this one to things that is what make this such a even better value with just a little planning you could get two even three(depending on your family size) meals out of one chicken. (Chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken salad sandwiches, chicken tacos, chicken noodles soup, and on and on) Not bad for three bucks.

• I don’t like cooking a whole chicken but still would like to get the same value-well it is not very hard to break a whole chicken down into its parts (legs, thighs, wings, breasts) but that is for another article.

Step One: Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. Take the whole chicken out of the fridge and let it sit a room temp for about 15 minutes or so. (When cooking you it helps the cooking process if your food in not cold coming right out of the fridge)

Step Two: Get a roasting pan out. Then it’s time to clean the chicken first take it out of its wrapping, remove any  of the goodies for the cavity (if you have a special way you like to use these then do so if not through them in the bottom of the roasting pan.) rinse the whole chicken in cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Step Three: Take one medium onion, two carrots, and two celery stalks and give them a quick rough chop and through them in the bottom of the roasting pans.

Step Four: Place the whole chicken in the pan on top of the chicken goodies and veggies. This lets air get under the bird and fat drip down. Brush the whole chicken with a little bit of olive oil or melted butter and sprinkle with a little sea salt, cracked black pepper, and a little dried sage. (Make sure to get some seasoning into the cavity.

Step Five: Time to put the whole chicken in the oven as soon as put the bird in turn the temp down to 375 degrees F. and roast until the chicken internal temp taken in the breast is 165 degrees. Depending on the size you are looking about 1 ½ to 2 hours cooking time.

Step Six: Once the whole chicken reaches temp pull it out of the over and allow it to rest for at least ten minutes before cut into the bird. Cutting into the chicken right away will let the all the juice run out before they can settle back in and leave you with a dry chicken.

Step Seven: Serve and enjoy. Don’t forget to use the left over the next night for a quick easy meal.