1 chicken, 4 meals

Good quality meat is generally expensive to buy. With a little old school approach the whole bird can be used, several meals can be made, and you can significantly reduce the cost of each meal. First I roast the chicken. I usually use the oven for this, but recently discovered the convenience of doing it in a crop pot. Just put in the chicken, season, and set on low.





Obviously, the first meal is roast chicken. Here I've saved a portion of the meat for later.





Once I separate all the meat I return the bones and skin to a very large pot (as big as you want). Add onions, carrots, celery, and seasonings. Bring to a boil an simmer 3-4 hours.





Now you have you own stock. I chill it in the fridge and then you can just lift the solidified fat off the top.





Meal #2, chicken pot pie... Not too shabby :). I'm contemplating posting recipes on separate posts.





Meal #3 chicken soup... A lot of it! This is where making that homemade stock pays off. I make a huge pot of chicken soup, maybe 1-2 gallons worth. I freeze small portions for later. I'm just learning to can, some day I would like to can both portions of the soup and the stock for later since this is too much soup to use right away.





Maybe we will call this meal #3.5? I still had some meat left over so yay for chicken sandwiches!





...and then there was dirty rice :). Don't wrinkle your nose; I swear it's good! Made with gizzards and chicken livers (and some homemade chicken stock), it's not a standard most of us are used to, but is perfectly yummy.

So that's it, not too hard. Not sure, but I may add recipes later.

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Location:5th St NE,Rochester,United States