"Self-sufficiency does not mean 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food that is organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings... and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully." John Seymour ~ Self Sufficiency 2003

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Frugal food 2

When you buy a chicken, do you buy one "just big enough" for that meal?

I don't.  I always look for the biggest one I can find - round about 1.8 - 2 kgs in size.

No, RMan and I aren't greedy.  I try and save on cooking by doing this.

 How?

 Well, first I cook a roast chicken - naturally :)  We scoff 1/3 - 1/2 right there and then together with creamed spinach and roast potatoes.
Roast chicken - straight out of the Rosie
Then, as RMan "doesn't" eat leftovers, and I'm certainly not wasting food, I disguise the leftovers.

Firstly, using home grown veggies, there is the proverbial chicken soup - removing all the flesh from the bones, the carcass and some of the left over flesh gets added to the soup pot with the prepared veggies and any left over gravy / potatoes.  This then simmers away until the veggies are soft.  Removing the largest most obvious bones, the soup pot is plonked on the table with some freshly baked homemade bread.  
Homemade chicken soup with homegrown veggies
Let the slurping begin... :)

 Next in line is chicken à la king.  The left over chicken soup gets blitzed and thickened for the sauce.  I didn't take a pic of that because - well, it's a bland looking meal.

 Finally, the last of the flesh gets added to the top of a pasta base, together with homemade tomato puree...

Chicken filled pizza -
RMan's half is the bigger one in front :)
... and bacon, avo, chicken and cheese for RMan's half (I make big pizza's) and left over creamed spinach, grated carrot, chicken and cheese go on my half.

I have also used left over roast chicken for chicken pies, chicken salads (in summer), toasted chicken sarnies, chicken pasta...

But, if I can make one (large) chicken stretch to 4 meals...

I'm happy with that :)
Posted by Dani at 12:01:00
Labels: , ,

18 comments:

  1. Dawn24 June 2015 at 13:21

    Chicken is an economical food to buy over the past couple of years there has been a lot of TV programs showing people how to use the chicken and not waste dont know if the same over there, a lot of people just use it for a roast then throw the rest out, criminal if they brought back rationing it would stop a lot of waste :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani24 June 2015 at 16:44

      Dawn - With all the scare stories about chicken and salmonella, I buy chicken from a reputable source so I know it's OK. But, there is no reason why ANY leftovers should ever be thrown away, especially when most people have google and can search for what to do with their "excess" :)

      I agree - rationing would certainly give people a wake up...

      Delete
  2. kymber24 June 2015 at 13:43

    Dani - we do the same as you, and stretch a whole chicken into several meals and save all of the bones/carcass in a bucket in the freezer to make stock from later on. i try to make meals that include meat stretch...for example, from one lobster we'll have a claw each, save the knuckles, eat all of the meat from the ribs, save all of the legs and tail. that's one full meal. then for the next day, i'll make a lobster salad with the biggest claw (on fresh greens and herbs from the garden). and lastly on the third day we'll have lobster rolls or lobster toast. that's 6 meals from a one and a half pound lobster!!! i also save the lobster shells for making fish stock. it just makes sense to get everything we can out of our food! sending much love!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani24 June 2015 at 16:46

      Way to go, kymber!!! You and Jam are my kind of people :)

      Delete
    2. Harry Flashman26 June 2015 at 11:46

      God bless frugal women. It's nice if a woman is beautiful but it's essential that she be good at conserving the household funds. If she is both no one is going to complain.

      Delete
    3. Dani26 June 2015 at 14:15

      Which is why we hear no complaints form Jam ;)

      Delete
  3. African Bliss24 June 2015 at 14:14

    Haha this post made me laugh as we often go through the same dilemma as what to do with the chicken. Because you know once you cook that chicken you committed to not wasting any of it. Well we not and so you try to come up with new ways of using the bird and not following the same menu every time you buy one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani24 June 2015 at 16:47

      AB - Exactly - variety is the spice of life :) And then there are the doggies who can enjoy the "soft" (not sharp) bones (like the breast bone and all the gristle) too ;)

      Delete
  4. johnnyb24 June 2015 at 15:19

    Carol makes chicken go a long way. it is amazing how many different things can be made from it. We buy frozen chicken tenders. She usually starts off with white sauce chicken enchiladas for the first meal. Chicken salad for another. And then maybe just plain old chicken sandwiches.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani24 June 2015 at 16:48

      John - I'm not sure what a "frozen tenders" are, but it sounds like you have the right idea. Spread what you make over as many meals as possible ;)

      Delete
  5. DFW24 June 2015 at 16:52

    99% of all our night time meals, we make enough to have a repeat for lunch the next day. Sometimes we even have enough for a 3rd or 4th meal disguising in new recipe like you. Saves us about $80 each week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani24 June 2015 at 17:02

      Dallas - A woman after my own heart :) I have no idea what ZAR it saves us, apart from NOT having to throw away perfectly good food ;) And, given RMan's aversion, I have to be pretty creative - and he never guesses... ;)

      Delete
  6. Mum24 June 2015 at 19:40

    Same here we can make a chicken last most of the week.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Leigh25 June 2015 at 11:46

    Disguising the leftovers, yay! :) Although I doubt Dan would go for chicken pizza, LOL. I think chicken is one of the best meal stretchers there is. Your photos look scrumptious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani25 June 2015 at 13:56

      Leigh - Chicken pizza a creamed spinach - d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s :)

      Delete
  8. Harry Flashman26 June 2015 at 11:44

    Especially when the wife is away, I live off left overs. I am the only one here. So I make ribs in the crock pot, or buy a rotisserie chicken in town, and then I eat that until it's gone. I don't care anything about variety. Sometimes I do get tired of something, like stew, but the dogs can eat that so it isn't wasted. Once in awhile a cheese will get mold on it so I cut that up and the dogs eat that. I wonder how they can eat things that would make me sick and never are bothered by it.

    My sister in law and her husband won't eat left overs. So my sister in law saves things like corned beef, steaks, roast beef, etc and gives them to my wife in freezer bags when she visits. At first I didn't like that, because it was like taking scraps from the rich man's table. But my wife said that her sister would just throw them away if we didn't take them, and being Scots Irish I was so appalled I told her to take them. I am glad I did now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani26 June 2015 at 14:14

      Harry - It's not that RMan is "spoilt" - I think that is just how he was raised as a young'un by his parents. Seriously, he has no problem eating the leftovers in a different guise - and does know they are left overs lol

      I, too, would probably feel "offended" if someone else gave me their left overs. But, I agree, if I knew she was going to throw them away, I would hate that too.

      Btw, Harry, I have heard that cheese (mushrooms and chocolates) is poisonous to dogs...??

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to comment - it makes my day and removes the "loneliness' of sitting at my screen blogging supposedly to myself ;) I try and reply as quickly as possible so please forgive me if sometimes my response is delayed.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)