Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Chicken Challenge

Last week I gave myself a challenge:

To take one of our home grown, organically fed 6# chickens and make as many meals out of it as I possibly could.

Over the phone, I proudly told my friend Rapunzel what I had done, and how many meals I had made.  Her first reaction (thinking she would praise me...because she's my bestest friend in the whole wide world) was, "Six pounds?  That's the size of a turkey!"

So, since she was not impressed (only because she buys 2# chickens from the grocer), maybe my vast blogger viewing audience will be in awe and give me a cyber pat on the back.  This is what I made:

Chicken pot pie--enough for TWO meals, or two 9x13 size pans.  
Chicken Quesadillas--one meal.
Chicken noodle soup--one full evening meal with enough left over for lunch the next day (served with sandwiches).
Sour Cream Enchiladas--one evening meal plus lunch for Jouster the next day.

Six pounds of  uncooked chicken gave me a total of eight cups of cooked meat, which resulted in a total of FIVE meals for our family of nine--SIX if you count the left over soup for lunch.   The bonus of my challenge is that I have one of those chicken pot pie meals waiting in the freezer.  Gotta love that.  I was feeling like a Proverbs 31 woman.  

Anyone else up for a challenge?  Leave me a comment and tell me how frugal you can be with a chicken...any size...using any recipes.  I'd love to hear what you can do.

Blessings,

11 comments:

  1. Dan gets a free Honeysuckle White turkey each year from his work. There is no size restriction, so I get the biggest I can. Then I buy another turkey also the biggest I can of a cheaper brand. I cook those 2 turkeys (at different times of the year, of course) and with each one we enjoy a turkey dinner first, then I take the leftovers and bag them in meal-sized portions. I'll save the breasts as meals for themselves (esp. the Honeysucke ones - they are sooooo good) and put the white turkey meat pieces an dark meat pieces seperately in sandwich bags. I package and label according to how juicy it was so I know if its a part that should go in soup or if I can serve it relatively un-messed with again.
    Then I seperate the juices and freeze it as well, in ice-cube portions so I can pop as much "juice" as I need to in the next pot of soup or whatever. I think I counted the last 25 lb. turkey I made that I got 17 lbs of meat/juices off it or something like that... Thats a LOT of meals for us!

    One of my favorite meals I like to make is the "Chicken" Uncle Bens wild rice casserole with bread cube topping. I got that from Brenda, and I *think* when I got it from her she said *This is a "Queen" recipe." I like her/your French Dip Sandwich recipe too. :D Yummy!

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  2. Frogmamma,

    You are way more organized than I am! Your family is blessed to have you.

    Yes, the French Dip recipe is great isn't it? Almost everyone we serve it to asks for the recipe.

    Blessings,
    Michelle

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  3. Ahhh, thanks Michelle - The last turkey I made was soooo dry (it had been in the freezer for almost a year) so I HAD to label it as such! Its a lot of work up front, but its a time saver for the long run. Thanks to your post, I'm making the UB casserole for dinner tonight - YUMMMMM!!!!

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  4. Wow...you rock! I don't ever get enough time in the house to just barely get one meal made for the family, let alone 5!

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  5. Totally impressed here. So....did you kill and pluck it yourself too??? If you did I am sending you a gift. You are awesome either way!

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  6. No Julie...I did not kill and pluck it. We did that the first year we raised them. Now we take them to the butcher. I prefer the butcher to do the dirty work.

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  7. You go girl! Love the new banner picture. your family is GORGEOUS!

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  8. You are such a good mother/wife & I will agree with you on the Proverbs 31 woman! There's only 2 other people that I know that could have made that many meals out of 6# of chicken & that would me your mom and Carol.
    Debra L

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  9. And what is the French Dip recipe as I love French Dip Sandwiches
    Debra L

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  10. I like your cozy little nook! (red colors actually stimulate the appetite, so it's not surprising you feel hungry!)

    Allison

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  11. 6# Chicken, wow. I tend to only get 2 meals out of one slightly larger! Usually, I roast it and we have a meal with that and then I make stock and use the small amount of leftover meat for soup. I am inspired. I'm really working on bulk meals and freezing them this year. I love having meals in the freezer! :-)

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