We were sat chatting away about the way that everyone is struggling with the pennies, and how expensive food shopping was getting, and I told Madison that we used to make a chicken last at least three meals when we were younger...So we decided to experiment and see how long we could make chicken last....
Meal One.....Chicken Pies ...adding leeks and bacon....
we made a Tarragon sauce , We placed the filling in individual pie dishes, and topped with puff pastry lids....the little ones had great fun cutting out the little hearts and helping mummy and nanny cook....The girls shared a pie and decided that mummy and nanny were very good "cookers", they ate every bit and so did we, it was delish........
Meal Two..Chicken Soup with Dumplings.....
The bones, trimmings, vegetables and herbs were cooked together, strained, blended with a very small amount of cream added, some chicken , dumplings and a few bacon lardons saved from meal one garnished the soup, along with bread for dipping, it made a filling meal....Madison who was not looking forward to the soup as she is not keen on chicken soup declared it amazing!
Meal four..... Chicken and Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto....
The butternut squash was roasted to bring out the sweetness and then combined with the chicken to make our fourth meal....
I love making risottos...something about the slow stirring in of the stock relaxes me...there was so much that I still have two portions sitting in the freezer for a lunch sometime....
So there it is..our four meals from one chicken. I love my meat and feel any mouthful without a bit of meat in it is a waste...and I am being totally honest by saying that it did not in any way, in any of the meals cross my mind that there was not enough chicken in any of the meals.It made me realise that I usually put far too much meat on the plates .
It did take time, planning and lots of prep as everything was homemade , but its the way to go to to save pennies...I now need to use this approach on other joints of meat, reducing portions and planning meals ...so at any given time I will have the basis of many different meals in the freezer. See you all soon x
Brilliant. There are only 2 of us at home now and I know we waste too much. I will definitely be pinching some of your ideas. 2 portions of each to eat and 2 to freeze. Thanks for the tips, x
ReplyDeletemakes sense to be a bit more thrifty...more pennies for vintage finds x thank you for dropping by x x
DeleteYum! Can I come and stay..........? I'll wash up!
ReplyDeleteWhen we used to live in Sidmouth my son went to Manstone school. In the 1989 the school celebrated 50yrs and the children heard how the school was specially built for the evacuees. The children did a project on the war etc. Whilst walking home we discussed what he did at school, and I said meat had to last all week, so he set me a challenge and I did six meals out of one large chicken (there was five of us) just to prove to my son that meat meals had to last. I remember it was roast, cold chicken and chips, curry, chicken salad,
pie, and very thin veg and chicken soup. I don't think my son challenge me after that and he always eat what he was given after that too. Think that was just in case I did it again which I have but not so he noticed!
Julie xxxxxxx
thats really interesting about manstone school...you did well with your chicken! i must admit it was very satisfying making it stretch so far x
DeleteYou need a few more blackbirds in all those pies !
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the package
Sue x
i will be blogging about my little blackbird x
DeleteWell done! If we all planned and did more homemade we would have better meals and more pennies in our pocket. I try hard but with lack of time fail sometimes, and even end up binning food that is pasted it's best.
ReplyDeleteRosezeeta.
i know rosezeeta...heres me making out how frugal i am and yesterday coz i was in a rush, flustered and upset i used practically a whole chicken on four people.....plus i burnt the carrots.....i am far from bloomin perfect! x x
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