This little beauty is all about how to get 4 meals for 3 people out of one chicken!
So, the other day I picked up a whole uncooked chicken at the supermarket for $3.50/kg. I picked a fairly large one, I had a few things in mind with what to do with it…
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!
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!
Ham, Pea and Vegetable Soup
This would have to be one of the easiest and heartwarming soups to make. Cheap too – and have either as lunch or dinner on a cold winter’s day.
This is made in 2 steps in the pressure cooker.
Ingredients:
- smoked ham hock (from butcher, supermarket or deli – use ham or bacon bones if not available – go whatever is cheapest)
- 2 sticks celery
- 2 brown onions
- 1 cup dried green peas
- 1 cup dried bortolli beans or dried soup mix
- 1 large carrot
- 4 cups chicken stock
Step 1:
In the pressure cooker, place ham hock, the heads of the celery sticks and 1 cup of stock, 1 cup of water. Run for a soup cycle.
Step 2:
Remove the ham hock from the cooker – remove all meat from the bone/s. Remove the celery from the stock in the cooker. Add back the chopped up meat, bones (yes, put them back in), chopped celery, onion, carrot, dried peas and beans, and the remainder of the stock. Run for another soup cycle.
Remove bones.
Store in fridge.
Notes:
if the soup is too runny, add more beans and put on for another cycle. If soup is too thick, add more water.
Chicken Stock
Once you have mastered how easy it is to make your own stock, you will never buy it again in a packet, powder or by any other means. If you need beef or fish stock, substitute the chicken. For fish stock use fish bones, fish heads, prawn shells, prawn heads, crab shells (do not use oyster shells or the gut of fish).
Stock is one of those staple things that are easy, cheap, and useful – something you won’t throw out, and something that you make out of things you were going to throw out!
While a raw carcass is the ideal place to start, I have also successfully used the carcass from a barbecue chicken (obviously not if its been chewed on though).
Ingredients:
- chicken bones (use carcasses, necks, or really cheap cuts)
- 3 sticks celery (use the head, keep the stalks for something else)
- 2 carrots
- 1 brown onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- salt
Super easy to make – if you are using a saucepan, just toss it all into the saucepan, add water to cover the ingredients. Turn the heat to medium/low, put the lid on and let it cook.
Refrigerate/freeze.
What would I use this for?
- ham, pea and vegetable soup
- chicken and vegetable soup
- chicken noodle soup
- risotto
- rice