welcome to my blog!!!!

Thank you for dropping by....i will be blogging about my life in Devon by the sea-side, decorating my 1926 home, vintage treasure hunting from auctions, charity shops , recycling centres and the good old british car booty!! One mans rubbish is another mans treasure! baking, sewing, painting and probably the weather!!!! enjoy!
claireljinks@hotmail.com


Thursday 21 March 2013

Pinching The Pennies.........

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....

We bought a chicken from the local supermarket, I am afraid we didn't even use a free range one, just a basic medium sized one, it even cost less than £3.00! I was very skeptical that we could even get beyond two meals as there were three adults and two little girls...First  I roasted it off.... I then set about stripping every ounce of flesh ...putting all the trimmings into a pot....


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........




The left over puff pastry was rolled out, cheese was added.......And we had yummy cheese straws for lunch the next day.....





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 Three....was a very simple chicken and sweetcorn pasta bake...with a cheesy topping served with peas , and there was plenty for seconds!

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

8 comments:

  1. 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. makes sense to be a bit more thrifty...more pennies for vintage finds x thank you for dropping by x x

      Delete
  2. Yum! Can I come and stay..........? I'll wash up!

    When 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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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

      Delete
  3. You need a few more blackbirds in all those pies !
    Glad you liked the package
    Sue x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i will be blogging about my little blackbird x

      Delete
  4. Well 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.
    Rosezeeta.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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

      Delete

i love hearing from other bloggers and try to answer every comment x