Making chicken last.

astep70uk

Another way to make chicken go further is to make homemade chicken spread for sandwiches (my son takes these in his packed lunch).

In a food processor blitz chicken pickings from carcass with some really soft butter and seasoning (or maybe a bit of sage?)

This makes a tasty spread - better than those little jars you buy which are made up of eyes, ears and a***holes!! (my husbands phrase, not mine :eek: )

filigree_2

clareski wrote: »

Can I put some cooked chicken in Chicken Tonight sauces and then freeze them?

I would just freeze the chicken, there's no point freezing long life sauce. When you're ready to eat it, defrost the chicken and heat it through in the sauce.

Back to the OP - two chicken legs for one person's lunch? I'd serve that up for dinner for the three of us!

I cook for two adults and a teenager who eats even more than we do. I get a big chicken wherever possible, usually when they're on offer I stuff it with (special offer) sausage meat to bulk it out cheaply. Halfway through the cooking time I cut off the legs and put them in a casserole with a tin of tomatoes etc which makes one main meal. The wings, some breast and sausage make that evening's meal. Some more breast and the rest of the sausage go in the freezer with some gravy to keep them moist. Then I pick every scrap off the chicken - if there's lots I use it for something like a curry, if there's only a little bit I use it for soup. I make stock out of the bones and use that for gravy the next time I cook chicken.

princesstippytoes

filigree wrote: »

Back to the OP - two chicken legs for one person's lunch? I'd serve that up for dinner for the three of us!

I cook for two adults and a teenager who eats even more than we do. I get a big chicken wherever possible, usually when they're on offer I stuff it with (special offer) sausage meat to bulk it out cheaply. Halfway through the cooking time I cut off the legs and put them in a casserole with a tin of tomatoes etc which makes one main meal. The wings, some breast and sausage make that evening's meal. Some more breast and the rest of the sausage go in the freezer with some gravy to keep them moist. Then I pick every scrap off the chicken - if there's lots I use it for something like a curry, if there's only a little bit I use it for soup. I make stock out of the bones and use that for gravy the next time I cook chicken.

Really??

My hubby would have a fit if I tried to stretch 2 chicken legs that far. When I cook using chicken breasts we get one each so I don't see why it's much different with a roast.

I cooked a large chicken last night for the 4 of us. hubby and I had 3/4 breast each. The girls had the rest of the breast meat and one thigh each and that left 2 drumsticks and the pickings for lunch for him today.

I do fatten the meals out with veg and trimmings but if I like to give a decent portion of protein in a meal too.

Pink.

Hi Princess,

My family sounds like yours. I just can't seem to make a chicken rubber! I buy a large chicken.....make a roast meal from it, then if I'm lucky there may be enough left for one or two sandwich lunches the next day. I do always save the bones for stock so I suppose the soup is a second meal.

There are five of us (two average weight adults, two slim but constantly starving teenagers and a seven year old beanpole with empty legs) so I don't think we over eat.

Pink

thriftlady_2

This is from another thread about making chicken last. Thought it might be useful;) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2375807&postcount=6

HariboJunkie

Thanks for that Thriftlady. I want that Meat book very bad.

I'm like Pink and I can't make it stretch very far either.:o

jennybb

It's a really good book, Haribo Junkie. I really like HFW's foodwriting and recipes. He has one for making chicken croquettes with leftover chicken - they are delicious.

HariboJunkie

jennybb wrote: »

It's a really good book, Haribo Junkie. I really like HFW's foodwriting and recipes. He has one for making chicken croquettes with leftover chicken - they are delicious.

thanks jenny. I love his Family Cookbook so I need to drop hints about the meat one now.

Ches

These days the there is just 2 of us so I just buy 2 breasts as OH won't eat the brown meat even in curries etc. When we were a family of 5 (3 kids and hubby) I used to roast the chicken for Sunday and use rest of thigh/breast on Monday either cold or in various dishes as you all do. Then on the 3rd day I used to boil the whole of the rest of the carcase including whatever meat was left on the bones and the stuffing etc. When slightly cooled I strained it through into a clean saucepan and then picked through all the bones taking all the meat off even the little tiny bits. I overlooked nothing edible lol. BTW its easier to strip all the meat while it warm than trying to cut it off when cold. I also added the stuffing from the carcase. I then added carrots/root veg etc and put back on heat to cook. I added potatoes and dumplings when root veg was nearly cooked. The gravy sometimes needed some colour ie oxos' at this point but the dumplings and potato thickened it up enough. This made a huge pan of stew that would last for about 2 days and freezes OK. I still do this with the Christmas turkey carcase and my kids still come home for to eat the day I am serving it for dinner.

jennybb

Haribo Junkie - stop it, that's one I haven't got (yet)!