The Home Stretch: One Whole Chicken

There is little that seems as wonderful as a whole roasted chicken coming out of the oven all crispy and brown.  But if it's one of the only 'big' meats you might have on hand in your freezer and need to stretch it to cover more than one?  Well that part might give you pause.

Whole Chickens are generally one of the most affordable meats we can buy, usually costing less than all but the leg quarters.  In choosing a chicken to roast, I try to find the largest one available.  Broiler fryers will be smaller birds but may weigh up to 3 pounds or more.  A proper roasting hen though a little higher per pound is an excellent buy and will net you far more meat than a broiler fryer.   For the sake of this post, I'm supposing you have found a whole broiler fryer but by all means look at the roasting hens, too, if they are available.



So here's how my former frugal ways came into play with roasted chicken:  Meal one, slices of breast meat for the older folks and teens and the legs provided meat for the littlest children.  I'd pick the meat from the bone and save those leg bones back with the carcass and thighs and wings.  I'd serve our chicken dinner with any sides we chose.  In the South cornbread dressing is a wonderful side dish and since it's cheap and filling that often went on the table the night we served the whole roast chicken.  Gravy, Mashed potatoes, a green vegetable, a fruit salad.  The meat might have been the star and got the top billing but it was the other foods that filled out the plate and filled the tummy, too.

Then I carefully set aside both thighs and wings and the carcass of  the chicken.  Leftover meal 1 and 2 were usually a casserole.  The Spaghetti a la diable I mention so often calls for but 1/2 cup of  cooked chicken combined with tomatoes and mushrooms and pasta and topped with cheese.  I'd double all the ingredients but the meat and make a big 9 x 13 pan of this and that usually netted us a supper with salad and  Garlic Toast.  Chicken Tetrazzini is another meal stretcher (still in the pasta chicken combination), and let us not forget the lovely chicken pot pie.  Here's something I do love to eat, finding it a very comforting meal overall.   For our long ago super frugal days, I often made a top and bottom crust and filled with good earthy root vegetables (potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery if we had it.  I'd save the green beans or green peas for a side dish, serve with cranberry sauce as a complement to the  pot pie and make ambrosia (oranges, coconut, maraschino cherries) for a dessert fruit course.  Both thighs made up these two meals.   Yes, they were lighter on protein but they were filling and delicious and my family never missed the additional meat.

For the third and final meal I'd boil the carcass and wings and pick over the bones, carefully gathering every little bit of meat remaining. I was always surprised at how much meat that netted!  Not a whole chicken's worth by any means but usually a good 1 cup of leftover bits.  The resulting meat and protein rich broth was served up as chicken noodle soup or chicken and rice (Mulligatawny).   Now I'd add chicken chili to my recipe file to use up those leftovers...and let us not forget chicken and dumplings.  I always added a bag of frozen mixed vegetables to this dish to add further nutrient value and make it more filling.  I'd make old fashioned fluffy dumplings (John's favorite) or I'd cut flour tortilla into thin strips and add slowly to the pot.  They made incredibly good old fashioned dumplings much like what Granny used to make.  Or I could freeze broth for a future meal and use the bits of chicken and leftover cooked rice to make a big pan of fried rice which my family still asks for these days!

Nowadays a whole chicken does make more than three meals for John and I.  We seldom eat more than a breast between the two of us, so there's always far more chicken to share between the two of us.  I've a chicken in the oven right now that I plan to serve for our Easter dinner.  I've also planned how I'll use the remaining chicken.

First meal: Chicken, Stuffing, Peas, Cranberry sauce.   Meal two will be a single recipe of the Spaghetti a la Diable, (leg meat only) which usually nets us two casseroles these days.  We've plenty of fruit on hand so a Chicken Waldorf Salad will make a third dish for us (a breast half).  I'll serve that on a salad plate with lettuce and biscuits as a simple luncheon dish.  The two thighs will be turned into a chicken enchiladas with a salsa verde.  I'll add black beans to this meat and expect to have enough for 8-10 enchiladas which will net us two meals (one for this week, one for the freezer).  Then I'll boil the carcass and wings, pick over the bones.  I want to make either chicken turnovers or a chicken pot pie.  I'll put this in the freezer for another future meal.   So from our one roasted chicken today I'll have 7 or 8 meals and will be left with at least 1 quart of lovely protein rich chicken stock and some little bits of meat that we might make into soup. 

And all of this bounty, for family or a couple, comes from a single roast chicken!  It really does make a whole chicken a wonderful budget stretcher meal.