Ate our first home-processed chicken! Delicious pot pies!

[littledog]

Great job! And it was cool to see the breakdown of the costs. We started raising meat ourselves a couple years ago and don't have any plans to turn back either. If you can do it, it's the way to go.
Like you said, it's healthier and you can feel good about the life the chicken had before it became your dinner. And it's a real bonus that your costs came out under what you can buy in the stores! That's not always the case, but I find it worth it to pay a tiny bit more for the quality.

What's your pot pie recipe? Is it all homemade or do you also use some cans (no shame in it! Just wondering)?

I started off with the simplest recipe from "All recipes.com" since I'd never made it before. I used pre-made roll-out dough. Nothing canned, but I did use a leftover bag of frozen supermarket peas. I did vary it, since the website called for uncooked supermarket chicken breasts, and my chicken was pre-cooked in the crockpot, so I just cooked the celery and carrots in butter until tender, then mixed in the cooked chicken and frozen peas right before baking. I made the sauce according to their flour, butter and milk recipe, mixed chicken and veggies together, ladled them into a pie pan over pre-made dough, poured sauce over it, then put a circle of dough over it, and baked it at ? I think 425 for 35-40 minutes.
The next time I make them, the only things I'll do different is try to use my own peas from my garden, and make my own pie dough. I'm not much of a baker, so we'll see how it turns out!

We have a lot in common. I never went the veg route. Love meat too much. My grampa was a butcher. Had his own butchery and sold the meat. I remember watching him kill a pig. He put all kinds of good veggies and food the pig loved in a trough and while the pig ate, he ended it. Pigs last thoughts were happiness. It broke my heart though. He tried to toughen me up back then but I still have it as a hurdle. Even killing a fish makes me feel bad but I do it. Nah, you’ve got my respect. Maybe when times get tough, I can. Pretty sure my wife is willing and able now. The bachelor flock eats her flowers and poop on the porch. Keep it up. These are the skills we were meant to have and pass down. I totally relate with you.

Your grandpa sounds like a good guy who cared about the happiness of his farm animals. That's important, and should be more valued than it is these days.
If you don't like ending an animal's life, like I don't either, start out by getting your meat from someone local, a farmer near to you who treats their animals well and butchers their animals on their property. Once you develop a relationship with someone local, it won't be any more expensive than the crappy, hormone-filled and cruelly-treated meat available at the supermarket.