One chicken, 5 meals for 3 people

[baymule]

I bought a whole chicken on sale for 78 cents a pound, total cost $4.38. I cut the thighs, drumsticks and wings for one meal. I deboned the breast and put it in two bags for the freezer. I cut the back in two peices and boiled them with the breast bone. When they were done, I picked the meat off the bone and froze it in the broth.

Meal #1. I put the thighs, drumsticks and wings in a corning ware cassarole dish, coated them with a packet of Lipton's onion soup dry mix, and baked it.

Meal #2. I had two leftover drumsticks. I deboned them and mixed the meat with 2 cups of cooked quinoa. I poured the juice from baking the chicken over the top and heated it in the microwave.

Meal #3 & 4. Cut up a breast half into chunks. Stir fry with vegetables of your choice, serve over rice or quinoa.

Meal #5. Take broth and meat out of freezer and heat. Add pasta, onion, celery, carrots and season to taste. Makes a good pot of soup.

I know many of you have bigger families than just three people, but maybe this will give somebody an idea how to stretch their hard earned dollars. The meals were served with other vegetables and salads, which made the smaller portions of meat satisfying.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Excellent use of a chicken! That's pretty much how we utilize them. I often buy the breast portions w/bone when they are on sale and debone them and freeze them in meal sized portions then boil the bones into a stock. The remaining meat on the bones winds up in the stock which gets divided into meal sized portions and frozen also for use in soup, chicken and rice, chicken and noodles, chicken and dumplings, etc...

 

[Denim Deb]

When I have a whole chicken like that, I'll roast the whole thing. I'll normally eat 1 leg, and hubby will eat some of the breast. Then, he'll use some of the meat for sandwiches.

I'll also make meals from the leftover meat. Some things that I've made are, chicken w/browned rice. Chicken casserole, chicken pot pie, chicken a la king. Then, once I pretty much have everything off that I can get off easily, I throw the whole carcass in a pot and boil it down. Normally, this includes the wings since we don't normally bother w/eating them. Then, I'll pick the last of the meat off the carcass and made soup.

 

[Marianne]

Yes! Don't they call this Yoga Chicken? You can really streeeeetch it.

Don't forget to save all the bones and make bone broth, for people or critters.

I love whole chickens, you can get so much mileage from them. I was able to buy a case of them from the local meat dept a couple weeks after the sale. I still got the sale price, too.

I make most of the chow for our dogs, so I'm always looking for deals on meat.

 

[k15n1]

I usually make broth with the bones and other left-over bits. I usually get 5 pt or so. After several years of doing this, I can hardly believe that I used to pay 1 $ or more for cans of broth. And when it's available on the shelf, it's easy to find uses for it. I hardly ever put water in my recipes anymore.

 

[moolie]

When I have a whole chicken like that, I'll roast the whole thing. I'll normally eat 1 leg, and hubby will eat some of the breast. Then, he'll use some of the meat for sandwiches.

I'll also make meals from the leftover meat. Some things that I've made are, chicken w/browned rice. Chicken casserole, chicken pot pie, chicken a la king. Then, once I pretty much have everything off that I can get off easily, I throw the whole carcass in a pot and boil it down. Normally, this includes the wings since we don't normally bother w/eating them. Then, I'll pick the last of the meat off the carcass and made soup.

Pretty much ditto Deb

We're a family of four, and our kids are active teens, so we get 3 meals out of a Roast Chicken:

Chicken dinner with rice, potatoes, and veg--we eat the thighs, drumsticks and wings.

Chicken Pot Pie with the leftover breast meat.

Chicken soup, or any other soup that takes chicken broth with the meat off the back and any bits that are left on the bones.

 

[baymule]

Sometimes I bake the whole chicken and serve with veggies for a meal. Then the destruction of the leftovers begins until there is nothing left but the bones, they get boiled (still meat left on them) and soup is made. There must be latex in chicken feed for us to be able to stretch them so far! One of my favorite leftover chicken meals is; fry whole corn tortillas until crispy (keep them flat) Pile chicken meat on tortilla, add chopped onion, sliced jalepenos, top with cheese and put them on a cookie sheet. Pop in a hot oven until cheese is melted. YUMMY!

 

[BarredBuff]

That is so neat

 

[Marianne]

Sometimes I bake the whole chicken and serve with veggies for a meal. Then the destruction of the leftovers begins until there is nothing left but the bones, they get boiled (still meat left on them) and soup is made. There must be latex in chicken feed for us to be able to stretch them so far! One of my favorite leftover chicken meals is; fry whole corn tortillas until crispy (keep them flat) Pile chicken meat on tortilla, add chopped onion, sliced jalepenos, top with cheese and put them on a cookie sheet. Pop in a hot oven until cheese is melted. YUMMY!

Oh wow, that sounds really good!

 

[Denim Deb]

What, latex in the chickens?