1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26 Bucks, No Mayo

I just found this via Lifehacker. I like what I see @ this blog, thought you guys would appreciate it too.
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http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/02/1-chicken-17-healthy-meals-26-bucks-no.html

The stretchability of a whole chicken is a frequently discussed topic among food and frugality bloggers. It’s commonly accepted that a single fowl will feed a family of 11 for weeks, years - even millennia. Even after 20 months of keeping CHG, I’m constantly gobsmacked by how moms and dads can create dinner after dinner from the same bird.

Here’s the thing: sometimes, those dinners aren’t the healthiest meals in the world. There tend to be a lot of quesadillas and casseroles whenever these type of posts pop up, not to mention chicken salads drenched with full-fat mayo. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this whatsoever (except the mayo - blech), but I wanted to see if I could put a healthier spin on it.

In a sentence: I wanted to find out if it was possible to create a gaggle of inexpensive, lower-fat meals with the leftovers from one big ol’ chicken.

Here were my rules:

* The budget – for EVERYTHING - was $25.
* I had to use as much food already in my pantry as possible. (Which accounted for a lot, and saved me mad dough in the long run.)
* Each meal had to feed at least two people (The Boyfriend and me).
* Bonus points for leftovers.
* The chicken had to be used up within a few days, so it wouldn’t go bad.
* The meals had to have reasonable variety, preferably from a range of cuisines. It couldn’t be Chicken with Spaghetti on Day 1, then Chicken with Penne on Day 2.
* The meals had to have very little added fat, since the leftover chicken would provide most of it.

More @ the blog...link above.

were mouth-watering and most came from familiar sources. This blogger could have taken a page from my Mother's playbook. She could feed our family of 5 for a week on one chicken!!

I'm used to packaged chickens coming with a little bag of neck, gizzard, stomach and liver - I think it's actually required in California.

That was one big chicken! I try to stay in the 4-5 pound range, and even then one chicken can feed 2 people for several meals. Here's how I process chickens (I usually buy two at a time on sale and freeze them in sections for later use):
-remove the wings, cut off the wing tips (the last joint) and put those in a separate bag for stock. I then cut the wings into 2 pieces each and add them to my collection of wing parts: when I get a baggie full it's time to make wings
-remove and disjoint the legs and thighs and freeze them
-remove backbone and add it to the stock bag
-cut remaining carcass in half and freeze each breast separately. One of today's chicken breasts is more than enough for two people
-the neck, gizzard and stomach go into the stock bag. The liver is added to an already started bag of frozen livers to be used when I've accumulated enough for a meal.

That one's a keeper for me!

:hi:

She's quite a talented writer, cute blog. Thanks for posting it :hi:

Just start with a big perdue! Haven't bought one of those in years!

:sarcasm:

Don't want to turn down such a gift! Thanks!

ps, shared with my daughters, one of whom has just become engaged!

We don't get Purdue chickens here and while our local birds are really tasty and reasonably priced I rarely see one the size of what I grew up eating as a kid on the east coast. When I can snag one at Trader Joes or the "upscale" market they are really pricey.

they are never feeding teenagers, and it wasn't a $25 budget if they use $50 worth of stuff they already presumably spent money on.