Almost every day, I eat the same thing for lunch: deli turkey and provolone on whole wheat bread.
I was going to buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store with the intention of eating it for the week – sandwiches and salads and even burritos.
But the only rotisserie chickens I found were labeled “barbeque” (shudder).
At that point, I thought I would just buy a package of boneless/skinless chicken breast and roast it in the oven.
When we got there, though, I thought – hey! whole chickens! I just roasted a turkey recently and it went pretty well. Maybe a chicken would also go pretty well!
And then I thought, no, chicken breasts are easier.
And then I looked at the price. The whole chicken was $0.88 per pound. The chicken breasts were over $3 per pound.
So I grabbed a six-pounder and threw it into the cart.
I came home and rinsed and dried it. I chopped up a few large slices of onion, mixed with sage, rosemary, and a bit of garlic and lemon juice and stuffed it loosely. I put it in a baking dish and left it in for just over 2 hours.
It was AMAZING. I tasted the breast and I let Mr. Thor taste some, too. We are both in agreement that this beats lunch meat any day.
It was much like roasting a turkey, only smaller, easier to handle, and easier to carve. Maybe if I keep roasting the chickens, by next Thanksgiving my turkey game will be greatly improved.
Mrs. Thor 
Awesome! And when you’re done with the meat, you can use the carcass to make chicken soup. My brother does this every week for exactly the reasons you state here. Way healthier than deli meat, much cheaper, and some how more “real” on some level. If I ate meat, this is what I’d be doing.
I know what you mean about it seeming more “real” – maybe it’s because this is probably the earliest in the whole poultry processing process I can realistically get my meat. deli meat has already been through so much by the time it hits my plate.
awesome! next time, try lemon, thyme, and garlic inside the cavity and also chop them up and mixed with some room temp butter and schmear the mixture under the skin…so good!
soon enough, you’ll be cutting up your own whole chickens into parts! if you want to see a good video, check out http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=cutting%20a%20chicken%20ian%20gourmet&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBwQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzW5BFvCmV7k&ei=nJvdTvGPDKGaiALW4eXGCA&usg=AFQjCNGHZuvhLZqL0kosrlISGgxvZ7X3DQ&sig2=NBHSCtJUs7m8O2tVeVApfw
Thanks for the link, Linda! I actually intentionally left out the butter, because, well, collarbones shall be mine. and I peeled off all the skin and threw it away. crazy talk!