How Much Chicken Are You Really Paying For? I Weighed a Purdue Pack to Find Out
I broke down a pack of Purdue whole chicken wings from Kroger to see how much of the listed weight was actually edible meat. The results were surprising and reveal how much you are really paying per pound.
When you buy fresh chicken at the grocery store, it is easy to assume the weight printed on the label is the actual weight of the chicken you are bringing home. Purdue chicken in particular has always felt a bit suspicious to me. Every time I opened a package, there seemed to be a huge liquid filled pad underneath, and I wondered how much I was really paying for. So I finally decided to figure it out once and for all.
The Face Value Price
I picked up a package of Purdue whole chicken wings from my local Kroger. The label claimed an even 2.00 pounds, priced at $4.99 per pound. The total price came out to $9.98.
Before opening anything, I weighed the entire unopened package. The scale showed 2.0936 pounds. That made sense since stores often include a little extra weight from packaging.
Weighing out the liquid
Next, I removed the wings from the tray and weighed the chicken by itself. The result was 1.61 pounds of wings. Out of the original 2.00 pounds listed on the packaging, only about 80% of that weight was actually chicken.
I then weighed the empty tray along with the thick absorbent pad. It came in at 0.48 pounds of waste. The remaining 20% of the listed weight of 2.00 pounds was packaging and liquid! Note: There was a slight difference of a few hundredths of a pound which was likely just liquid drippings left behind.
You might expect a small difference, but one fifth of the total weight not being meat is significantly sus.
Trimming the Wings
I then took things a step further. Whole wings include wing tips which are not typically used when cooking standard wingettes or drummettes. So I trimmed off the wing tips and weighed the usable portion. The final weight came out to 1.43 pounds of trimmed wings.
WOW. That means only 72% of the weight printed on the label was edible chicken (never mind the weight of the bones!). It was also 89% of the weight of the whole wings before trimming. In other words, 11% of the wing weight was just wing tips.
The Real Cost of Chicken
If you pay $9.98 for what ends up being 1.43 pounds of usable chicken wings, the effective price becomes $6.97 per pound. That is almost $2 more per pound than the sticker price, which represents an increase of about 39%.
Most shoppers have a general sense that packaging and trims affect the final yield, but the numbers here are eye opening. The next time you see a deal on chicken, especially whole wings, it helps to understand how much of that listed weight you are actually getting in the form of meat. You might still choose to buy it, but at least you will know the real value behind that price tag.
