Around here the cheapest chicken is the 10-pound bags of leg quarters. We pick off the cooked meat (boiled grilled or roasted) use all the bones and gristle to make stock, bury whatever's left with some charcoal for the garden. Nothing wasted.

You'd think the cheapest would be whole chickens since they need less processing, but it ain't so. The market for no-prep chicken breasts means the legs are basically a waste product.