Chances are if you’re an adult – and especially if you have kids – there’s been times you had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your budget. As the mom of four and someone who spent decades as a stay-at-home mom, I’ve learned a thing or ten. A friend asked me to post in our cooking group and I thought I might as well offer a little insight into menu planning.
BORING!
But necessary.
One of the few things we can fudge in the budget is our grocery bill. It’s a fact. I’m sure most adults have included Ramen in their dietary intake after Christmas, or when rent is due. It doesn’t have to be that extreme if you know what you’re doing.
That said, one of the easiest and ways to stretch a food budget is our old nemesis, chicken. It’s boring. We’ve cooked it every single way possible. But I’m sharing below a tried-and-true family favorite that my picky kidlets beg me to make. I actually limit how often I make it so we won’t get completely sick of it.
Many moons ago, I learned about a concept called rubber chicken. I hate that term. It sounds disgusting. Rubber chicken is what you get at bad banquets. So, I’ll call this concept of budgeting and planning cheap meals Cuisine au Pauvre. “Poor Cuisine” sounds yummier in French. 🙂
Start with a whole chicken – how big will depend on your family size. If you’re like me, you go big or go home. What I mean by this is if I’m going to slave in the kitchen, I often cook extra and plan for leftovers, often if I’m making one soup, I make two since I have to tend the stove anyway. Or in the case of roasting chickens, I like to plan the leftovers and occasionally cook them two at a time, so I can really make it work for me.
You may wonder why I said my kids beg me to roast chicken – if you knew my kids you’d know it’s one of very few that all my kids love and will happily eat. They’re picky boogers. Pardon my pun 😀 The secret to juicy chicken is to cook with a quartered lemon and herbs shoved inside the chicken cavity. It makes a HUGE difference.
So, back to the budget. A whole chicken, depending on where you live, can be anything from $6-20. I generally find them for around $7 around Chicagoland. With some very slick tricks, and depending on the size of your family, you can get two or three meals from that one chicken. By adding side dishes and planning what to do with the leftovers, you can stretch that bad boy pretty darn far. Since you’re already cooking one, why not do two and watch the magic?
After you’ve violated the innards with salt, pepper, lemon wedges, rosemary, sage, or whatever herbs you like in your chicken, sprinkle some herbs de province or poultry seasoning over the top, add a few pats of butter or drizzle some olive oil, and surround it with some veggies. I used carrots and brussels sprouts (only my son and I ate the sprouts – sigh). Carrots work best if you cut them thin so they cook all the way through. But also boil or roast some potatoes, stretch that meal out as much as you can. You’ll feel like a king or queen with this delicious spread.
Cook that bad boy in 375-degree F oven for an hour then bump up the oven temperature to 425 degrees F and roast until the thickest part of the chicken thigh measures between 175 – 180 degrees F.
After you’ve let it rest, carve Chicken Little and show no mercy. But don’t toss the carcass in the trash. I usually put mine in a gallon baggie and freeze it until I have two or three then make a huge pot of broth.
Oooh homemade broth, so fancy…NOT. Seriously, it’s the best thing for you and less wasteful. But even better, it’s EASY. Take the lemon out of the carcass and toss what’s left of the carcass in a big ol’ pot and cover with water. All those veggies you thought you’d eat and are almost ready for the landfill? Chop them into chunks (nothing fancy) and add them to the pot. Carrots, celery, onion, zucchini – whatever you’ve got in the drawer, go for it. Add salt, pepper, bay leaf, sage, rosemary, whatever you like and set that thing to simmer all day on the stove. If you’re nervous, I’m sure you can find a tutorial online, I know that’s how I got the guts to try it. Seriously, go for it.
You can freeze the stock for later, or just go to town and make a few different kinds of soups. Soup is the ultimate Cuisine au Poivre food. It stretches everything so far, is healthy, and delicious. Add some bread, or even a grilled cheese, and you’re golden.
So that’s two meals so far. It doesn’t take much chicken to make awesome tacos. Just a breast diced or shredded will feed my family, especially if I pair it with Mexican Rice and frijoles. Toss in some cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, avocado, cheddar…whatever you like on yours. Or make them into quesadillas.
Next there’s lunch – you can toss the chicken into a pasta salad, or I like to make a huge green salad and add whatever I’ve got and package it into containers. Each night after dinner I add the leftovers to one of the salads and that’s lunch later in the week. It means I don’t get sick of eating the same thing and I’m eating healthy food.
Voila! All this from one or two $7 chickens and some well-chosen veggies. It makes eating on a budget a treat instead of a hassle.
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Donna Faye Writes 