How To Stretch A Chicken

Ok, well, I'm not literally stretching a chicken.  But I am sharing how I can stretch 1 1/2 lbs of chicken into 6 meals for a family of 4.  One key for us to afford local & organic meat was learning how to eat less meat & make it stretch.  Leftovers get eaten & no longer wasted by going in the trash can. 

The chicken I buy from the farmer's market comes frozen in 1 1/2 lb packages.  When I'm ready to cook it, I cook it ALL and make a couple meals to freeze.  Here's my favorite way to stretch 1 1/2 lbs of chicken:

To Make 2 Pans of Chicken Enchiladas & 1 Batch of Chicken Noodle Soup
Boil all the chicken until cooked through.  This usually takes about 30 minutes.  Now take 2/3 of the chicken and shred to be used in the chicken enchiladas. 

Chop the rest of the chicken up some and put back in the boiling water.  Add 16 oz Reams noodles & one can cream of chicken soup.  Add some salt, pepper & parsley.  Cook according to Reams package.  Once finished, put chicken noodle soup in freezer bag & freeze.  This will be a perfect meal for when no one has time to cook.  Simply put soup in refrigerator the night before to thaw some.  Then put in a pan and heat up on the stove.  This meal feeds my family two nights in a row.  So there's two nights I don't have to cook & two meals from my 1 1/2 lbs of chicken.

Now, back to the shredded chicken for enchiladas.  Mix with two 8 oz packages of cream cheese & two cans chopped green chiles.  Mix well & spoon into flour tortillas.  This will make two casserole dishes of chicken enchiladas.  I get about 11 enchiladas per casserole dish.  {Make sure one dish will freeze well.  I use the aluminum pans from the store.}  Cover both pans with shredded pepper jack cheese & top with fresh cilantro.  Freeze the aluminum pan & re-heat at 350 when you're ready to serve.  Cook the other pan at 350 until cheese is melted and bubbly and enjoy for dinner.  One pan of enchiladas feeds my family two nights in a row.  So again, when no one feels like cooking, pop the frozen enchiladas in the oven & you've got two nights worth of meals. 

Soooo, 1 1/2 lbs local, free range chicken yields:
1 batch chicken noodle soup = 2 dinners
2 batches chicken enchiladas = 4 dinners

And that's how a 1 income, self employed family affords organic!  And cooking at home is always cheaper than eating out.

Note: I serve steamed broccoli with chicken noodle soup and black beans or refried beans with chicken enchiladas.  And I like to use my frozen meals within one month of freezing, to ensure they taste great.