1 Chicken, 3 meals

[cheap traveler]

I needed somebody who would understand my happiness, and facebook just doesn't understand

I roasted a chicken Sunday night. Cost around $5 ($.99/lb)

We had roasted chicken for dinner that night (me, dd6, dd9, 2 adult friends of mine, and a 2 year old boy).

Then I made chicken stock (first time ever!!) - added nearly a pound of carrots and a whole onion (celery was too expensive).

Used the stock for chicken noodle soup (diced up the cooked carrots, added salt and ww pasta). Had soup with rolls for dinner Monday (with enough leftover for 2 lunches at work).

And there is enough chicken left for quesadillas on Wednesday!!

I am BEYOND thrilled that I got 3 full dinners plus 2 lunches out of a single $5 chicken!! Better believe I'll be doing this again!!

 

[auntmeme7577]

Congratulations! That is an awesome way to stretch $5 !
We do the same with rotisserie chicken, leftovers are made into barbque, skin and bones are made into broth and frozen until needed

 

[damiel]

Yea I get it!
I usually buy a Costco rotisserie chicken for $4.99 (they are bigger chickens than @ the grocery store.) have it for dinner. Then I cut up the chickenn left on the bones and make chicken salad for lunch. I too make chicken noodle soup with the left over bones and meat. Best $4.99 I spend @ Costco.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I knew I should have bought those chickens at Costco today
Good job OP!!

 

[canadianjovigirl]

Wow..............you must have cheaper and bigger roasting chickens then what we get here as they are not nearly that cheap and they only feed us one meal.............

 

[hsmamato2]

Oh I get it.... I love using a chicken this way...in our house,when a chicken is cooked,that always equals chicken broth/stock for the freezer.
I keep a lot of cheapy containers on a basement shelf so I always have some ready-
My personal fave is I cook the entire chicken (or pieces,whatever) in a BIG stockpot with an onion and some spices for an hour or so- then I pull the chicken out of the stockpot and leave broth to cool)
Then I pop the chicken into a hot oven for 1/2 hour or so,then we eat that with sides for dinner...(oh so yummy)
I've found this to be simpler than doing stock after.... and then continue on as OP did! I can't imagine chicken = just one meal.....

 

[chris31997]

We are doing it for dinner tonight, tomorrow, and some lunches

 

[IUTBAM]

Wow..............you must have cheaper and bigger roasting chickens then what we get here as they are not nearly that cheap and they only feed us one meal.............

I hear you, lol. My 18 year old, 6'2", 185 pound son can eat a half a chicken as a snack, lol.

 

[kiki02]

i love this op! but how many lbs of chicken was that?

 

[a1tinkfans]

Im most impressed that you fed 6 people on one chicken and even had a scrap left

Way to go OP.............................

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

I also don't see how you could feed 6 ppl with one Chicken let alone have leftovers. A whole Chicken only has 4 quarters. Unless ppl are just getting a few bites of Chicken I can't see a 5 pound Chicken feeding 6 ppl in the universe I live in.

One 5 pound Chicken will feed 4 ppl ONE TIME in my house.

 

[disney1990]

We feed 3 adults on a Sams Club chicken (3 pounds). Then we pick the chicken - taking the skin, bones, etc and put them in the pressure cooker to make stock. We take the picked chicken and cut it up and put it in a very large pot with carrots, celery, spring onions, kale, spinach, mushrooms (lot and lots of these veggies) and the stock. It makes so much that we eat on it for 3 or 4 days.

 

[iitzant15]

thanks for sharing i am definetly going to try and do something new with the family

 

[java]

We are a family of 6 and I get about 3 meals out a 7 pound chicken. A breast feeds my teenage daughter, her 2 younger brothers and me. Oldest ds eats a leg as does DH. That leaves another breast. If I turn it into pot pie that can last 2 meals alone if add enough veggies.

While I Love that Costco chicken I don't use it often for stock because it's loaded with sodium.

 

[seashoreCM]

Usually when I cook a chicken in a crockpot I delay using the stock so I can refrigerate the latter and scrape off the fat that collects on top and solidifies. I discard that fat. So I use the stock from chicken #1 to go with some future meal or chicken #2, save the stock from chicken #2 to go with chicken #3, etc.

When I get precooked rotisserie chicken, I heat up the whole thing back at home, pour off the juice, heat that up to get the fat to collect at the top, refrigerate, scrape off and discard the fat, and use the juice (gelatin) for the next chicken or another meal.

Other food hints: http://www.cockam.com/food.htm

 

[cheap traveler]

Not really clear in my first post, but only the first meal was 6 people - and 3 of them were children who don't eat a whole lot of meat. The soup and quesadillas are only for 3 (me and 2 DDs.)
Before I let them at it, I cut off one breast and saved it for the quesadillas. There also wasn't a huge amount of chicken in the soup, probably 8 ounces in the whole pot (with roughly a half pound pasta.)

We probably would have eaten more chicken Sunday, but we had a lot of sides (potatoes, broccoli, carrots, rolls).

Now I'm looking for more meals I can do this with. I always do it with my easter ham, but hams are too expensive most of the year Pork loin is a good one too - have some chops, leftovers in a casserole, roast in the crockpot for pulled pork.

Also, I know how lucky I am to only have 2 young girls to feed. Though DD9 is 4'9" she is very thin and doesn't eat a lot at dinner (though you should see her at breakfast ) I hope to get good at this meal-stretching business now, so my budget takes a smaller hit when they are both teenagers and they eat a lot more

 

[Swimnoid]

Chicken is awesome that way! Our grocery will have really good specials on chicken breasts every once in awhile. They sell 2 huge ones in a pack for something like $3. One will easily feed DH and I for dinner with leftovers for sandwiches or salad or whatever.

 

[sunlover13]

Not really clear in my first post, but only the first meal was 6 people - and 3 of them were children who don't eat a whole lot of meat. The soup and quesadillas are only for 3 (me and 2 DDs.)
Before I let them at it, I cut off one breast and saved it for the quesadillas. There also wasn't a huge amount of chicken in the soup, probably 8 ounces in the whole pot (with roughly a half pound pasta.)

We probably would have eaten more chicken Sunday, but we had a lot of sides (potatoes, broccoli, carrots, rolls).

Now I'm looking for more meals I can do this with. I always do it with my easter ham, but hams are too expensive most of the year Pork loin is a good one too - have some chops, leftovers in a casserole, roast in the crockpot for pulled pork.

Also, I know how lucky I am to only have 2 young girls to feed. Though DD9 is 4'9" she is very thin and doesn't eat a lot at dinner (though you should see her at breakfast ) I hope to get good at this meal-stretching business now, so my budget takes a smaller hit when they are both teenagers and they eat a lot more

I do this with our Sam's Club chickens too! We get 3-4 meals out of it.

A couple of others I will do is buy a pork roast when it's on sale for a few bucks and made BBQ pulled pork in the crockpot. We will do pulled pork sandwiches, pulled pork taco's and pulled pork quesadillas.

Same thing with chicken breasts and salsa in the crockpot. Taco's, quesadilla's, chicken salads........

 

[Minnesota!]

We do this, too. Costco chicken will last at least 3 meals for the 4 of us. Chicken, potatoes, veg for one night. Soup for another, and either pot pie, quesadillas, or the like for #3.
We do it with beef roasts, as well. Roast, potatoes, veg. Then beef soup with the potatoes/veggies, too. And then hash with whatever is left of the soup (drain the broth...save in freezer).

 

[Poohforyou]

Wow, your friends, kids and you must have really tiny appetites. I can't imagine stretching a 5lb chicken that far. I usually can get 2 dinners out of a Costco chicken for DH, DD and I and maybe have enough leftover for a lunch sandwich or salad.