Feed Your Family For A Week Using A Whole Chicken

When we decided to make a change in our diets by eating more organic and free range meat I knew I needed to find a way to make the most out of the meat that we cooked. One of the ways I have found to do that is to cook a whole chicken every few weeks and make chicken broth out of the bones. This has been an easy way for me to get the most out of the meat we buy and the broth is very healthy for you and easy to make. The Nourishing Gourmet has a great post about the health benefits. You can read about it here.

Here is what I do to make the most out of our whole chicken.

Step One

One night I roast it in our dutch oven. I season the chicken with a poultry season from Penzys, garlic salt and sea salt. I am generous with my seasonings. Then I place the chicken breast side down in my dutch oven covered for about 30min per pound. The chicken comes out very juicy if you cook it breast side down. I love this meal because it usually only takes me five minutes to get it ready. Often I will throw some vegetables in with it so it is a one pot meal.

Step Two

I make chicken broth with the leftover carcass. This is also very easy. All I do is take the carcass and put it in our large stock pot. I add cold water to cover the carcass and then add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. The apple cider vinegar helps pull the gelatin out of the bones which makes it so healthy and one of the only ways we get this wonderful nutrient in our diets today. 

You let the carcass sit with the cold water and apple cider vinegar for a half and hour to an hour.

Then you bring that to a boil and then skim fat off the top

Then you add two onions, three carrots, and two celery stocks, as well as some herbs. I take  a bay leaf, fresh parsley, and tried thyme (fresh would be better but I usually don't have it)  in some cheese cloth and tie it with some bakers twine.

Then you let that simmer on low for 12 hours. Strain and then add to storage containers. 

I usually make soup that week with the broth and maybe left over chicken or I put some in the freezer. I always like to have some  on hand and I store them in some glass two cup storage containers from Crate and Barrel.

Step Three

Make meals with the leftover chicken and broth. Like I said before I usually make soup almost every week in the winter with the broth. And I usually get another meal with the leftover chicken. I realize if you have a larger family you may not have any leftovers but you could still get a couple more meals out of the broth.

Here are some meal ideas and recipes.

Sausage, Potato, and Squash Soup (This is our absolute favorite soup and I make it several time every month. Adam told me this is his favorite soup and loves it every time I make it. I use this recipe to season the sausage).

Chicken and Curry over Brown Rice (I also add some vegetables to this recipe, peas etc)

Chicken Divan

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Quesadias

Chicken Noodle Soup

White Chicken Chili or Tortilla soup (Basically any soup that calls for chicken and chicken broth)

This has been a very easy and frugal way for us to buy more expensive organic or free range meat without breaking our budget. We usually get eight meals out of this for both Adam and I. Not bad.