How far can you stretch a chicken?

[vintagekitchen]

Growing up my grandmother and my aunts taught me to never waste any bit of food when cooking, and to try to save money and stretch the food budget without sacrificing nutrition or taste, so I kept track this week of just how far I managed to stretch a chicken, and what the final cost was.

Monday I went grocery shopping, and bought a whole fryer, 5.5 pounds. That night I made roast chicken with baby carrots, onions, and new potatoes, green beans, homemade mac and cheese, asparagus, pan gravy, and frozen yeast rolls.

Tuesday we had leftovers.

Wednesday we had chicken and dumpling with broth made from the chicken carcass and some of the leftover meat, and 2 cans store bought broth, leftover potatoes and carrots, green peas, and more frozen yeast rolls.

Thursday we had chicken pot pie with the last of the chicken meat, the leftover vegetables, the leftover gravy, and the thickened broth from the dumplings, with the leftover asparagus a and leftover mac and cheese as sides, and the last of the frozen yeast rolls.

So, I made a whole chicken last 4 meals, each meal feeding 2 hungry adults and 2 growing kids. Everyone ate as much as they wanted, and everyone got full. Total cost for the week, including items used in cooking like margarine and milk, was $26.50. That's about $6.63 a meal, or $1.66 per serving.

Of course, I also made a chocolate cake and a batch of chocolate chip cookies, total cost for desserts, $6.73, or about $1.68 per day, or $0.42 per serving.

So desserts and all, I spent $33.23 to feed 2 adults and 2 children dinner for 4 days. That's about 8.31 per dinner, or about $2.08 per serving for all you can eat with dessert. I don't know of any restaurant that can beat it.

Anyone else frugal in the kitchen?

 

[turquoisedude]

Frugal?

I've been told I could give Ebeneezer Scrooge a lecture on how to save money that would make him blush... LOL

Seriously, though, I make every effort to stretch what I have and not waste anything food-wise. I plan ahead whenever I can so that I can make something like a roast and use it for several meals. Most leftovers are sent with Hubby to work for lunch, but I'll often turn leftover vegetables into soups (using the cooking water from these veggies, no less!).

 

[kb0nes]

Is it a rubber one? Sorry, someone had to say it

 

[perc-o-prince]

Pretty frugal here as well. This is why I cook a 22# turkey for T-giving for 4 people along with a large Corningware of stuffing. After we've had leftovers a couple of times it all gets portioned out and frozen. Take the time to cook and clean once. I always take one side of the breast and freeze it whole with the skin on in case we need something quick but nice looking for company.

Leftover pieces of meat (pork, beef, chicken) get put in a jar in the freezer for sauce. Bulk meat on sale gets cut/portioned and frozen. I got a boneless pork loin for $1.49/lb last month! That's 3 roasts and half-a-dozen chops!

Tip for those who use a vac seal unit- if something you want to freeze is squishy or juicy, freeze it first then vac seal it. I put the roasts in the bag then freeze them, then vac them. Things like sausage patties get frozen on a cookie sheet then put in the bag and sealed.

Chuck

 

[jetcone]

Good tips Chuck

I tend towards making soups for the week. So a $6.00 chicken & $5.00 of veggies can be turned into 4 lunches and 4 dinners. But the French in me comes out at times and for a change I like to go market and see whats fresh and then make something from that. 

I picked this tip up last year from the paper, the cheapest protein you can buy right now are chicken thighs and drumsticks. It just so happens those are my favorite parts. This week $4.50 of chicken fed two adults two dinners and me two lunches with one more lunch to go.

 

Now if I could just be as frugal with the wine, that's where it all falls down.

 

 

[bajaespuma]

Words of Fung Wah Wisdom

I do use a food vac gizmo all of the time and that is a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">great</span> tip (I'm ashamed, ASHAMED I tell you, that I didn't think of it). I'm always worried that some of the liquid that seems to rise up to where the bag is heat-sealed is going to prevent a good seal. The food vac system is actually worth its cost; it saves a lot of expensive meat and other items from freezer burn and, almost as important, saves a lot of space in a freezer that is never big enough.

 

For those of you who are cheap like me, Pork, for any who eat it, is still by far the best buy in animal protein on the shelves. That is, until the Chinese own all of it.

 

[paulc]

In the 80's my mum had a friend who worked for Heinz. He told her that at that time that the got 2000 cans of soup from one chicken....now that's making food stretch!!

Sainsbury's in the UK is running a big ad campaign at the moment getting people to buy a roast for Sunday and giving suggestions what to do with the leftovers the rest of the week. This is nothing new to me, my Mum did this all the time when I was a child and is something I do to this day.

Meat was always a treat as I was growing up, now many people see it as a necessity for every meal. I'm a frugal food shopper but we eat well, in fact my hubby says he prefers my cooking towards the end of the month as my cooking is more creative when funds are low.

Vintagekitchen, I have chicken leftovers in the freezer and will certainly try some of your meals.

 

[yogitunes]

Kevin, you are right up my alley these past two weeks.....thanks for sharing

I started making chicken soup as my grandmother used to.....she always had broth on the stove simmering in case of company dropping by...

normally I would make the broth and seperate the bones from the chicken and add it back to the broth with veggies and noodles.....granted its a one pot meal, but after re-heating several times, everything gets overcooked and mushy....

so as my Grandmother would do it......cook the chicken in water with spices and two packets of onion soup mix, also adding salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, garlic, and dill......once the chicken is cooked, it is removed to a plate......then the veggies are put in the broth to cook, and monitored just until they are soft....not al at one time, first would be the onions, green pepper and celery, their pulled out and next would be carrots, parsnips, and turnips, then these are removed, last would be potatos, cut into large equal cubes, and again removed when done......you will have to keep adding water as it will evaporate.....but 2-5 leg packs of chicken would yield a huge pot of broth.....

in another pot she would cook Pennsylvania Dutch fine noodles, drain and a little bit of butter as to reduce sticking.....

the idea is nothing was ever over cooked, stored in the fridge, all you had to do was assemble a bowl of veggies, some noodles, add some chicken, and hot broth poured over top, and seasoned to taste...

you can also cook biscuits or rolls to have with dinner, or slice up dough and drop in the broth for dumplings.....for 5 of us, we get about 5 days of dinner, but cost can be close to 30.00 for everything....

like you nothing goes to waste, the veggie peelings either go to the animals, or spread around the base of flowers and bushes for fertilizing......same goes for coffee grounds and tea bags....

now if your interested, I do similar stuff with about 5 lbs of ground beef....a different meal every night, with nothing going to waste....

 

[perc-o-prince]

Now if I could just be as frugal with the wine

Trader Joes! Their Charles Shaw shiraz, Nouveau and white zin all get high marks from me. As does the (when they have it) Charles Shaw chardonnay from Austrailia. The pinio grigio is pretty good too. And at $2.99/bottle.... They also have a red with a white label and a pig on the label- forget what it is but that's good too at only $3.99.

Chuck

 

[iheartmaytag]

Charles Shaw

"Two Buck Chuck"
Good Mutt wine, but can't get it in Kansas. Though we are about to emerge from the 19th century, we are still a Carrie Nation State.

My Grandmother was a frugal woman, had to be with 17 children. That woman threw away nothing, and could put a meal together with just a potato, flour and a couple of eggs. She always saved her broth, even canning what she didn't immediately use. Grandma was more of a canner, as they didn't have electricity when she was raising her family.

http://wineforyourtwenties.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-story-of-2or-rather-3-buck-chuck.html

 

[tolivac]

Pork-If you want some NON Chinese influenced pork--HUNT YOUR own----Lots of wild pigs out this way.Seen them on a few occasions driving to work-they come out and feed at night.Those wild porkers get BIG&DANGEROUS-the meat is VERY good to those who have taken one and butchered it.Since there are pig farms here-some may escape the farm and become wild.When they grow out in the wild-the pig eats WHAT IT WANTS and no chemicals injected into them.Have know folks who have taken them here and at some point would like to try a pig hunt.The wild hogs can get bigger than those that are farmed-about 700Lbs is fairly common here.