With Hubby in grad school, we try to keep a pretty strict budget. Part of my "job" is to stretch our grocery budget as far as possible. Some weeks, I fail miserably at that. Sometimes, I hit the jackpot with frugality. This is one of those jackpot times and I just have to share!!
Chicken is one of our favorite protein sources, but I have to confess that I hate to eat chicken that is still on the bone. I have been somewhat of a chicken snob in that I use a lot of boneless skinless chicken breasts in my cooking. But you can't make broth and it's way more expensive.
Last week, I bought a whole chicken on sale. It was around $5. On Wednesday morning, I plopped the bird in my 6 qt. crockpot with about 4 cups of water, some Lawry's seasoning salt, and a few bay leaves. I cooked it on low for about 8 hours. It made some good broth, and the chicken was fall-off-the-bones tender.
That night for dinner we ate the chicken with sides of homemade macaroni and cheese and steamed broccoli. That's meal #1.
Meal #2 was Thursday. I had leftover spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, and I remember reading recently on The Southern Plate how Christy made Spaghetti Lover's Soup. I decided to try it, using what I had on hand, and adding a cup of shredded chicken and a cup of broth, since I had meatless sauce. (And of course, I omitted the beans and added extra carrots and leftovers peas.) It was scrump-dilly-icious!
Then Hubby had a leftovers lunch of mac n cheese and chicken. (I'll count that as only half a meal.)
For Meal #3, I made Creamed Chicken over biscuits.
With 3.5 meals and plenty of leftovers out of a $5 chicken, I'm pretty darn proud of my frugal chicken. Granted, this is for a family of three. But I know that you could easily stretch a whole chicken into two meals for a family of four.
For more recipes and kitchen tips, please visit Lisa at Blessed with Grace for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. And don't forget to be Blissfully Domestic too!
Good job! And I had to laugh because I also did a 3-meal chicken post :D
ReplyDeleteI'm also a chicken snob--the bone really gets to me. I, too, had to crack up because I almost did the same post!
ReplyDeleteI made Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken--and we were able to stretch it into about 5 meals--plus broth! Amazing how far you can make one measly chicken go. Now--if I could get over eating it on the bone!
--Also, you can make broth out of boneless skinless. Of course it isn't quite like the real stuff but it does work. When you cook your chicken breast, boil it with seasonings and reserve your "chicken water". I've done this many many times.
Sorry for the novel! :)
Great job!
ReplyDeleteoh, I'm a chicken snob too! When I first met my husband and he was taking me around to meet all his family, I promise, EVERY ONE I visited had a meal with chicken ON A BONE. It was a test of my love to eat that thing!! I handle it better now after giving birth to 2 children - but I still prefer BONELESS. Thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteThat is great!! I have been trying to do more with my chicken, too!! Thanks for sharing your frugal ideas.
ReplyDeleteI saw your link on BD, and I'm glad I stopped by. I, too, am a chicken snob and always buy boneless, skinless breast meat. Thanks for the inspiration to use whole chickens.
ReplyDeleteI don't like anything that involves ripping meat off of bones. I liked your ideas for the whole chicken!
ReplyDeleteMy husband has an Orion convection cooker. This is also a great way to cook a whole chicken that falls off the bone.