I really have to say, that if you have space in your freezer and the budget to cover it, and the time to prepare it – if you see whole chicken at a fantastic price – don’t just buy one!  The most recent time I have purchased whole chicken, I ended up going back and buying another 4 chickens and then broke/cut them down into meal portions and froze them – including the bones for stock when I’m ready.

A couple of days before, I had seen a post on Facebook for Mexican chicken and this was the start of my inspiration.  From there, I thought about what else I could get out of a budget chicken – here’s what I came up with – 1 chicken – 4 meals – to feed the 3 of us!

1. Chicken with Tortilla
2. Spiced Chicken with rice – see lower part of page
3. Chicken noodle soup
4. Chicken and Vege Country Bake (Cheep Chicken Country Bake)

Now, if any of those ideas above don’t float your boat – you could swap the Chicken with Tortilla for Chicken Schnitzel, if you do, then you will miss out on the Spiced Chicken with Rice dish as this is technically leftovers from the Chicken with Tortilla dish.

Firstly, I love my pressure cooker!  I use it all the time – I have an electric one (also have a stovetop one which I have since retired).  If you don’t have one – buy one!!

To create these dishes, there was a bit of preparation to do, and a few other ingredients to buy.  So, for your shopping list, you will need (if you don’t already have):-

• 1 whole large raw chicken
• half a bunch of celery
• 4 carrots
• 3 onions
• 2 large tomatoes
• 250g Philadelphia cream cheese
• powdered burrito mix (we used Old El Paso)
• tin of corn kernels
• tin of black beans (in the Mexican section at the supermarket)
• 1 small chili (to taste)
• a packet of tortillas (or make your own – they are only flour, water and effort!)
• angel hair noodles/pasta
• extra vegetables for soup

For the recipes – you will need to follow the links above – happy cooking!