A caveat: We don’t eat meat from factory farms. Your actual value may differ.
We have found that the cheapest way to purchase chicken is whole. (Sometime chicken quarters are similarly priced)
As we’ve tightened our budget we’ve opened up to new ideas. So, instead of buying just breasts or thighs we got a whole chicken and to our delight it’s been super easy.
I’ve added a link as an example but basically layer some veg (or not) at the bottom of a slow cooker. Place your whole chicken inside and cook on high for about 4 hours. I’m telling you that’s it’s. If you want some crisp you can broil for 5 minutes at the end.
We usually have this with rice and veg the first night. Then, after the meal we pick off the extra chicken to us for a casserole or burritos. Then you can even boil up what remains to make a broth or chicken soup base. That’s 3 meals!
You can also do this in a pressure cooker. Just put a cup of liquid (water or broth) at the bottom. The vegetables serve as a “rack” the chicken sits on as it cooks. 5-6 minutes per pound (or about 40 minutes for a 3lb chicken).