Buy a Chicken -- Save Some Money!....

Well... Kind of...

I know that so many of us (myself DEFINITELY included!!) are trying to shop and live on a tighter budget.  I just wanted to share one way that I do that when I'm grocery shopping.

But a whole chicken, a roaster.  Seriously.  I spend about $10-$15 on a 8-10 lb roaster chicken (or turkey, whichever is cheaper..) it seems expensive, right?  BUT I easily get 4-5 meals out of that one chicken (or turkey)..

Or, like I had yesterday, I bought the young turkey breasts.  They were about $5 each, so I bought two of them.  Yesterday, I roasted them both under the oven.  That was what we had for dinner last night.

Then, after we ate, I stuck everything that was left over (meat, bones, everything) into the crockpot, and covered it with water.  I had it on high for about 4 hours or so (keep in mind, that my family has our "family dinner at about 3 because my husband works overnight so our dinner is really a late lunch, your timing might be different) and then put it on low before I went to bed, and left it overnight.  This morning, when I woke up, i drained the liquid and separated the meat from the bones.  The liquid, which is a great smelling, beautiful broth at this point, went right back into the crock pot (this actually worked out perfectly today as it is a nasty, rainy day... a perfect for some soup day).  Added about half of the meat (you may add less than I did.  my husband likes his soups to be really thick.. I'll write a little more about that in a minute actually..), four carrots, two celery sticks, two potatoes and an onion.  I seasoned it with small amounts of salt and pepper, about half a tsp. of curry powder, and half a tsp. of thyme.  Then (because, as I said previously, my husband really likes a thick soup, so this next step is optional for you), I went to a sauce pan, and melted about 3 tbsp. butter, then added about two tbsp. of flour, once it was blended, I added a ladle of the broth, mixed it really well and added it to the crock pot to thicken up the broth.  I put it on low for about 6-7 hours, and by the time my husband wakes up, we'll have an awesome turkey soup (with PLENTY of leftovers that will make up for at least one additional meal.

After adding the chicken to the soup, I had PLENTY left over, this will make up one, maybe two turkey pot pies.  I will probably make one, and save the leftovers for another meal.  I will post an awesome chicken/turkey pot pie recipe that my family absolutely LOVES a little later today.

Now, $10 dollars worth of chicken breast will get our family one meal.. two tops.  Between yesterday's dinner, the soup that will get two meals, a turkey pot pie, and either another meal (maybe a stirfry, or sandwiches) that's FIVE meals that I am getting out of that one $10 investment.  Which comes to $2 a meal!!!!

Not only that, if time is more of a factor than (or an equal factor to) money, keep this in mind.  I put the roasters in the oven yesterday morning and left them there until afternoon without worrying about them.  I precut my veggies, so setting the soup in the crockpot was a fairly quick process.  And tonight, I will premake my pie and stick them in the fridge, so this will save me time tomorrow when I just have to put them in the oven.  Today, I just have to focus on spending time with my daughter, as I know that dinner is, essentially, already done!  Tomorrow I will just have to stick it in the oven!