Saving with Whole Chickens

We all want to speed up the time we spend in the kitchen, and sometimes that means we cut corners by buying premade meals and boxed meals. Although this can speed up your time in the kitchen, it usually means not that great flavors, added preservatives, and sometimes even more work then a good home cooked meal! So how do you have the best of both worlds? Whole Roasted Chickens! Now I am not saying that this is going to be as quick as a box of Mac'n'Cheese the first time you do this, but trust me it gets to be a quick and easy process that will promise to help make your cooking faster all week long! Plus added bonus, this is a very cost effective fix for quick meals!

I will buy whole roasting chickens whenever they go on sale...this way I usually pay $0.69-$0.89 a pound compared to $2.50+ per pound of boneless skinless chicken breast. I simply toss the chickens in the freezer until I need to restock my chicken stockpile. When it is time to restock I take the whole chickens (I like to do 2 chickens at a time to save future time!) and place them in a sink full of cold water. I usually can defrost them fully in about 3 hours that way. You can take them out the day before and place them in the fridge to defrost also.

Once defrosted, I place in my roasting pan on a bed of carrots, onions, celery, pepper, or whatever left over veggies I have left over at the end of the week. You do not need the veggies though, I simply like to do this on Sundays so I usually have veggies that need to be used up and figure why not add them in! I also put salt, pepper, and our favorite grill seasoning on the chickens (Chef Mates, found at HyVee). I sprinkle them inside the cavity of the chicken and on top of the chicken. Then I put the lid on (or foil) and place in the oven for roasting. Depending on the size and your days plans you can roast them low and slow or as high as 350 for 45 mins or so. There are usually tips right on the packaging for best cooking times and temps.

After the chickens have finished cooking I remove them from the oven and let cool to room temperature before taking on the breaking down task. This is usually when I go shopping for the next weeks worth of groceries...got use every minute productively! Once they are cooled its time to dive in and break them down. I find my hands work the best...simply pull the skin back and start pulling the meat out.

After you have all the meat pulled off you can toss the bones or use them for stock...that recipe will be posted later! I like to shred the chicken, but you can also cut it into cubes. I break it down and usually can get 3 different uses out of one chicken. Depending on how my freezer looks, I will either start making meals right away with it or I will package it up into containers and freeze the meat on its own. It's always nice to have chicken on hand for last minute meals, quick made potluck/party meals, and for sandwiches/wraps.



Here are some uses that our family loves:

Freezer Meals:

Chicken Enchilada Lasgna

Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Various Chicken Burritos

Chicken Noodle Soup

Potluck/Party Meals:

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Chicken Tacos

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Sandwiches/Wraps:

Ceaser Chicken Salad

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Ranch Chicken Sandwiches

Crescent Braids:

Chicken Ranch BLT

Chicken Enchilada

Chicken Pot Pie

Don't worry, I will be adding all of these recipes as I keep the posts coming!