Yeah, here it’s about a buck or two cheaper for a raw chicken vs the rotisserie ones. I don’t do a lot of roast chicken, but when I get craving for it, that’s one thing I especially prefer making to buying (unless I can get a bird fresh off the spit.) But if I just need roast chicken to use as an ingredient for something else (like tacos or sandwiches or whatnot), then I prefer the convenience of the supermarket rotisseried chicken.
As for the issue of paying $30-$50 for what is being termed as “essentially” frozen meals, I really don’t see the problem with that. If it tastes like food I’m willing to pay $30-$50 for and the experience is what I’m willing to pay $30-$50 for, then I, personally, don’t care if they’re shopping at Sysco’s or slaughtering chickens right there in the kitchen. Mostly, though, I don’t go out and eat that kind of food (because I can be a cheap SOB about that kind of stuff, even though I love food and eating.)
I’m confused by your math. You talk about home-roasting being up to twice as expensive as store-roasted, because a roaster the size you need runs close to $10, whereas a roasted bird from Sam’s is only $5. But you’re buying 2 of the Sam’s birds to get enough meat for your needs, so you’re spending $10. Not “closer to $10 than $6,” an actual full $10. (Okay, $9.98 for the pedants out there.) How is that twice as expensive?
Just to add an anecdote, sometime within the past year we ate out at a chain restaurant — I’m afraid I’m forgetting which one. My wife had ordered a meal that came with green beans as a vegetable.
Her plate arrived and, oops! — they forgot to remove the plastic pouch the beans were microwaved in.
If we buy one bird (okay for four, slim for five) it has to be a 5-6 pounder, which at $1.80-2.00 runs $10 or so.
Then there’s the time and cost to prep and cook it right, which is fussy, especially if you don’t have time to stabilize the carcass temp before you put it in the oven - you either spend time checking the temp as it gets done or just be prepared to let it overcook somewhat, one of which is a hassle and the other of which is a subpar result. Two hours or so in, you then have a roast bird and a buttload of greasy spatter and a greasy pan full of oil to clean up and dispose of. That’s for one meal, no leftovers. It’s pretty much the same price and twice the mess and hassle if you get a 2-pack of birds for around $10-12 from Sam’s.
Or you can buy two roasted birds, which are usually pretty good and cooked well (neither under or over), for the same $10, and get a hearty meal for 4-5 plus a good pile of leftovers. ($5 if you don’t have to feed as many as even that 5-6 pounder and can skip sandwiches.)
Given the choice of $10 for one meal with two hours of mess and hassle, or $10-12 for a larger meal with leftovers and two hours of mess and hassle, I’ll take RTE roast chicken for $5 or $10, Alex.
rotisserie chicken is always a special case since many stores use them as a loss leader to get people into the store and to get the store smelling good.
Although I like the convenience of eating out, cooking at home allows me to control the quality of what I ingest. When I do go out, I ask around to find local diners and suchlike rather than an Applebees because, IMO, they do a better job of paying attention to the food they serve and can handle my requests for changes better. I’m gluten-sensitive so this feature is important to me.
At least most restaurants these days use frozen foods and not canned. Nothing like ordering a nice meal and being served canned green beans or Campbell’s soup.
I remember eating at a Sambo’s restaurant with my mom and sister in the mid 1970s. My mom ordered the “Homemade Chili” – our table was close enough to the kitchen that we could see some of the food prep going on, and we observed a cook opening a can of Dinty Moore Chili, just before the waitress brought out my mom’s chili. A very loose definition of “Homemade”, indeed.
My expectation of “made from scratch” depends heavily on the restaurant. I don’t really mind if most of the food at a mid-chain is pre-packaged and reheated. Eating there is more about not cooking myself (or socializing) than the food. The problem with Applebee’s is that regardless of whether they are making it from scratch or from Sysco bags, it is so damn consistently awful.
So if it is from a version of Sysco they need to get a better supplier.
Aside from the fact that very few people live in restaurants.
(As in “…make their homes in…” y’know)
I guess anyone who’s okay with being served premade stuff at restaurant prices can have it that way. Me, I’ll stay away from things that are obviously past the dump’s price/time/skill level.
I don’t think using pre-peeled and pre-sliced potatoes is that big of a deal: the final dish is still comprised of actual potatoes.
I think if you’re paying $10 for a bowl of lobster bisque that comes out of a plastic bag and doesn’t necessarily contain any actual lobster but does contain all sorts of wacky additives and preservatives… it starts to get a little iffy.
I worked in local, non-chain restaurant years ago that had a sign in the dining room advertising the pies we served for dessert. At the bottom of the sign, in big letters, it said, “WE BAKE 'EM!”
And this was 100% true. We took them out of the box, defrosted them, and then baked them right there in our own oven
In the late 80s, early 90s, I worked at Bennigan’s, Ruby Tuesday’s and Chili’s as a line cook. Of the three, Chili’s had the most ‘cooking’ going on in the kitchen; the ribs were smoked on site, the chili was made from mixing ingedients, and the fries were made in the kitchen. Bennigan’s and Ruby’s were mostly reheating premade stuff. Ruby’s had a lasagna that came premade in a giant frozen block and we’d cut them into portions and put them in individual casserole dishes to be nuked. The soup came as frozen concentrate and you’d add a gallon of milk, or water (depending on the type of soup) and let it heat up on the steam tables. Roast beef came precooked in a bag.
