As grocery prices continue to creep up I think all savvy household managers are looking for ways to stretch their grocery budget. Especially if they have, oh, a teenage male in the house!

In most grocery budgets meat and dairy take up a big chunk of the available funds. Many frugal living articles and books give the advice to use less meat, saying that meat should be a flavoring, or almost a garnish, rather than the bulk of the meal.

So how do you make up the difference in volume? That teenage boy I mentioned (or even my two voracious sprouts-I swear those kids could eat their weight in a day!) isn’t going to be happy with a tiny plate of food.

The answer is easy, if currently unpopular. Starches.

Photo by Larry Miller

Yes, I know, carbohydrates and starches are supposed to be evil. And yes, if you are diabetic, have Celiac or some other type of intolerance you should be extremely careful. But overall carbohydrates are food–just that. You are the one who gets to make choices about what types and how much you consume!In times of financial strain grains and potatoes have always been used as a stretching agent. They are less expensive to purchase, typically easy to grow, and can be stored for long periods easily.The Great Depression gives us many examples of stretching meals using starches.

It was common to extend your meatloaf (or hamloaf), meatballs or “Salisbury Steak” by adding breadcrumbs, rice, or oats.

photo by Kim F

A bowl of soup was made more filling with rice, dumplings or wheat berries inside, or bread, biscuits or cornbread on the plate next to it.   You could even add cornmeal to scrambled eggs.

Photo by Lynn Gardener

Casseroles–where the bulk of the dish was a starch such as noodles, rice or potatoes and the meat, cheese and/or vegetables act as flavoring–also were extremely popular in this time period.

Another way to use starches to stretch you meals is just to increasing the serving size available of rice, potatoes, noodles, breads or biscuits at mealtime.  This helps folks feel full when less meat and vegetables appear on the plate.  It’s also a great trick to use when you have an unexpected extra mouth or two to feed at dinnertime!

Photo by Rik Panginaban

Leftover starches can also be transformed into desserts–things like bread pudding and rice pudding were created as ways to use up day old starches!

I know here at the Frugal Upstate household we always have a starch with every meal.  Unlike our Great Depression era grandmothers, I do try to switch it up a bit from the standard white flour noodles & breads or potatoes by including their healthier whole grain cousins. Don’t get me wrong-I still go through plenty of white flour.  But I’ve also been branching out–for variety’s sake–into items like quinoa, wheat berries, and barley.  Sure-they may cost a little more than their over-processed cousins, but they still cost less than meat!

Have you started using starches to stretch your meals?  What are your favorite tricks?

I really enjoy baking my own bread.  Home baked bread tastes better than that fluffy white airy stuff from the store, makes the house smell fabulous while it’s cooking, gives you complete control over the ingredients (hey-I can pronounce everything in it!) and, let’s face it, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction knowing I made it!

I know a lot of folks are intimidated by the idea of baking their own bread, so I thought I’d give you a little peek into the process I use.  Most weeks I bake 2 loaves of bread at the beginning of the week.  Now don’t go thinking I’m perfect or anything, there are plenty of weeks in there that life gets busy and I wind up buying the cheapo nothing-burger sandwich white at the grocery store.  But whenever I do that Buddy always comments about how much better he likes MY bread.

But on to the process.  To start with, I do use a bread machine.  However I don’t like those weird little square loaves with a big hole in the bottom that it makes, so I basically use my bread machine as a bread mixer, kneader & first riser.

I use the basic white recipe from my Betty Crocker bread machine cookbook.  The only changes I make are 1) I use olive oil instead of butter and 2) I occasionally use up to half whole wheat flour instead of all white–and in those cases I either add a TBS or so of vital wheat gluten or more powdered milk

To start with I measure out my ingredients.  To make my life easier about every other week I just use baggies and measure out four sets of the dry ingredients (minus the yeast) and stick a note inside that lists out the wet ingredients and yeast that need to be added.

If I’m not that organized then I measure the wet ingredients for that week right into the bread hopper and a second set into a spare measuring cup, and then I   measure out the dry ingredients into the hopper and the second set into a bowl (minus the yeast).

The wet (water & oil for this recipe) always go in first.

And then the dry (flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk & yeast) go in.  I snap the hopper into the machine and set it to the “dough” setting, which takes 1 hr 20 minutes.  After about 5 minutes I like to pop open the lid and check how it looks.

Can you see how wet this dough looks?  It should be forming a ball, but instead it’s a gooey mess.  Yes-I followed the directions exactly.  It isn’t me messing up, it’s the weather!  You see believe it or not, flour actually absorbs moisture from the air, so when you have a lot of damp weather there can be more moisture than you imagine in the flour.

From the White Lily Flour Website:  “Flour will absorb moisture from the air under humid conditions and the amount of flour required during the kneading stage might vary.”

The solution? Follow the recipe, then check on it.  If it looks too wet, add more flour (about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup depending) and then restart your dough cycle.

Now THAT looks like bread dough is supposed to look!

While I’m waiting for the dough to go through it’s mixing, kneading and first rise (which happens in the bread machine) I go ahead and oil both of the bread pans.

Yes.  Oil.  I haven’t bought non stick spray in years-I was tired of paying for it, tired of throwing the cans away to be lost in a landfill somewhere.  I just used a pastry brush and a small bowl of oil for years, but then I found the cool bottle/basting brush combo you see above at the dollar store a year or so back.

When the bread machine “beeps” I take the dough out, form it into a loaf shape and plop it in the bread pan.  I then place it in the oven to rise for about 40 minutes.  My kitchen is very cold in the winter (gorgeous old houses have quirks-including very cruddy insulation) so usually I will turn the oven on to “warm” and as soon as it gives me that “preheat” beep, I turn it off.  The residual heat is gentle enough to let the dough rise without cooking it.

Meanwhile, I just take the bread hopper (it doesn’t matter if there is a bit of the dough stuck inside-it will incorporate) and pour in the premeasured  wet ingredients and then the premeasured (or bagged) dry ingredients.  I grab the yeast out of the fridge and add that in, the hit go on the dough cycle again.

When the bread is done rising I like to take a serrated knife and cut a slit in the top.  Yeah, just like that “split top” bread you buy in the store.  I do this because as the bread cooks it gets hard on the outside first-and usually as the outside hardens and the inside continues to rise in the heat it splits SOMEWHERE-and I’d rather it split where I tell it to on the top than at the side.

Then the oven gets turned on to bake.  Meanwhile, the second loaf of bread typically has to start rising while the first loaf is in the oven-so I can’t use the oven for rising!  Instead I put the bread next to the vent where the heat comes out of my oven and then tent a dishcloth over it.  Works like a charm!

Then when the first loaf comes out of the oven I can pop the second one in.

Mmmm.  Gorgeous, tasty hot out of the oven homemade bread.

While I’m at it and I’m already measuring and making bread, I like to take a few minutes and measure out all the ingredients for my pizza crust recipe as well.  That way on Friday afternoon I just have to add the water & oil and dump it all in!

So there you have it-that’s how I manage my bread making.  What about you? Do you ever bake your own bread?  Do you have any great tips to share?

For years I have wanted to try picking & cooking dandelion greens.  Despite the fact that I grew up in the country, and our yard was constantly full of cheerful yellow blooms, I had never eaten them.  I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to get around to trying them–I guess the mixed reports I read online had me scared.  While some folks enjoy them and look forward to them as a delicacy-others cite their bitter nature and general dislike.

What if I cooked them and hated them?  Actually, so what? So I wasted some weeds in my backyard.  Honestly-there was no reason NOT to try them.  So, intrepid explorer that I am I headed out into my backyard to pick.

Dandelions are everywhere! Oh-and in that tire? The our horseradish.

Now I am sure most of you out there know what a dandelion, and dandelion greens, look like.  If you do not, make sure you follow the first rule of foraging and POSITIVELY IDENTIFY YOUR PLANT!!  I don’t believe that there are a lot of dandelion look a likes out there, but I’m not an expert.  I found Wildman Steve Brill’s website and his plant guide (he has a whole page on dandelions) to be very helpful.

There are two other important things you must consider when foraging.

One-chemical contamination.  Have the plants been sprayed with any kind of weed killer or fertilizer?  Are they in a run off area from a farm that uses those items?  Are the plants on the verge of a heavily traveled road where they have been exposed repeatedly over time to exhaust fumes etc?

Two-continuation of the species. While I hardly think anyone is in danger of obliterating all the dandelions in their yard (those suckers will grow back from just a tiny peice of root left behind) all foragers should keep in mind that they should harvest lightly-never more than half of what is present, if not less.  That way you don’t destroy any ecosystems and there will be plants there to harvest again next time.  (note: Garlic Mustard is an exception to this, but I’ll cover that in a different post)

Prime Dandelion

So now I was ready to forage.  After reading a series of difference sources on dandelions I decided to pick mostly greens from plants that had not flowered.  Although the greens are edible through all stages of the plants life, greens in the early spring before the plant has flowered and in the fall when the weather cools are supposed to be the least bitter.  For this first go round I wanted to have them as palatable as possible.

A Mess 'O Greens.

It took a good half hour to fill my largest mixing bowl.  Although there were some places where the greens stood out in a nice rosette that I could just lop off in one big go, many of them were lower and all mixed in with the other plants in my lawn.  I found that using scissors to cut the leaves at the base  and then pick them up, sort of one by one, worked best for me.  I cleaned as I went.  By that I mean that I picked out any grass or other leaves so that my bowl held only the dandelion greens.  I figured this would save me time later.

I rinsed them well in a couple of changes of water to make sure all the dirt & bugs were off (tip-it’s better to put items in a big bowl of water and then lift them out, leaving the dirt & sediment behind rather than trying to rinse or spray it off).

Again from my reading I had learned that boiling the dandelion greens first in salted water for 5 minutes would reduce the bitterness.  So I loaded up my pot, brought to a boil & set the timer for 5 minutes.

When I poured the water out it was a sort of yellow green! Stuff had definitely been removed from the greens.  As many greens do, the volume had reduced in cooking.  My biggest mixing bowl full of greens had reduced down to a lump in the middle of a dinner plate.  Note to self-next time pick twice as many.

They do cook down, don't they?

I tried a little taste at this point.  While they weren’t bitter as in sour, there was a definite aftertaste.  Although I could eat them, you know, if that was all there was, they wouldn’t be in my  list of favorites at this point.

mmm. Bacon.

To finish cooking the greens I chopped up a piece of raw bacon & cooked it in my frying pan until it was crispy and I had a nice little pool of bacon grease.  I added a tad bit of olive oil to that and then tossed in a bit of chopped onion and garlic.  Once the onion was translucent and the garlic fragrant I added the boiled greens (I had squeezed some of the extra water out) and cooked through until warm.

Don't those look good?

Again, time for a taste test.  The bacon, garlic and onion cut quite a bit of the “bitterness” out.  But I could still taste it a little bit.  I had Yankee Bill try some-he took one taste and said “vinegar!”

Yes vinegar is known to cut that bitterness.  I didn’t want a harsh, pickled flavor so I pulled out my mild rice wine vinegar and tried sprinkling just a bit over some of the greens.

Just a dash of vinegar. . .

Perfect!  Yankee Bill agreed.  Each of the kids tried a bit with and without vinegar and agreed-the rice wine vinegar took the bite out of it and made them delicious.

So delicious in fact that I came back in the kitchen a few minutes later to see Princess polishing off the last of the greens.  There were none left for dinner.  Yankee Bill was disappointed-”I even gloated to my mom that I was going to have delicious dandelion greens for dinner tonight!”

I had to promise everyone that I’d go out the next day and pick twice as many so that we could have them with dinner.

All in all? Dandelion greens were a total success.  They were free, tasty and nutritious.  I will be picking them frequently-we’ll see if the ones after they flower are still palatable (I’ll try to remember to give an update).  I haven’t decided yet if I will try to harvest extra to cook & freeze, or if I should just let it be one of those items that is a seasonal treat and enjoyed even more for that fact.

It’s also gotten me excited to try even more local foraged food.  Nature is an amazing thing!

Have you eaten dandelion greens?  What is your favorite way to prepare them? I’d love to know!

So I know some of you love your baby carrots, but I am here to tell you-there is another, more frugal way!

First of all, do you realize that baby carrots aren’t REALLY baby carrots?  They are simply big carrots (that have been bred to be a bit sweeter and orange all the way through) which have  been chopped into 3 pieces and then sent through a special machine to basically sand them down into those cute little nubs.

And for the privilege of the change is shape you pay extra!  A recent price comparison (as in I made poor Yankee Bill stop at the store on the way home last night to check for me) “Baby Carrots” ran $1.89 per pound, while regular carrots were $1.29.

You can stop the baby carrot habit quickly and easily just by following these simple steps to make your own carrot sticks (or “stix” if you are cool).

1.  Buy or grow some standard carrots.

2.  Peel said carrots.

3.  Cut the carrot carefully (they can roll) in half lengthwise.  Then lay it, flat side down, on your cutting board & proceed to cut into sticks.

4.  That’s it!  Enjoy your carrot sticks!

Honestly people, this takes about 3 minutes from start to finish.  I probably peel and cut carrots a couple of days a week for the kiddos.  If you really want to think ahead, you could peel and cut a whole bunch then store them in a container for easy snacking throughout the week.

My kids love them in their lunches with a little container of dressing to dip them in.

There you go!  You just saved $.60 cents a pound and all it took was a couple of minutes of work.

. . .your bread doesn’t rise.  Yes, adding the yeast is necessary to make the bread rise, and forgetting is a bad, bad thing.

*Sigh*

What to do?  Sometimes life is full of more accidents than successes-and sometimes you are just happy to salvage things.

On Monday I did my regular routine to bake two loaves of bread.  I always measure out all the ingredients for both loaves at once-then throw the first one in the bread machine to get it going while the second set (divided in two bowls by wet & dry) waits on the counter.   It was a pretty warm humid day, so I didn’t measure the yeast out for the second batch. (Note: I’m not sure this actually makes any difference, but I figured I’d err on the safe side. Hah!)

You guessed it, when I chucked everything into the bread machine for the second batch I totally forgot to add the yeast-a fact I didn’t realize until the yeas-tless bread dough had been attempting to rise for 40 minutes in the oven with no success.

I hate throwing away food, so I really wanted to salvage the dough.  I didn’t think I could add the yeast in at the end and re-knead it. . . so I decided to experiment.

I had pulled out some frozen leftover ham (Easter Honey Ham to be specific) that I was going to create SOMETHING out of for dinner.  These are the perils of not making a menu plan-I had no idea what we were going to eat.

I rolled out the failed bread dough on my cookie sheet, sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese and pepper and baked it for about 12 minutes at 350.

Ok, that doesn’t look too bad.  I decided to go with a pizza type format, and yet not a pizza~sort of a riff on a ham and cheese sandwich.  I like my ham sandwiches with mustard-but I thought that spreading the entire crust with mustard would be too much, so I mixed a heaping spoon (probably about a 1/4 c) of mayo with my Dijon mustard and then spread it on the “crust”.  I sprinkled a little bit of Thyme on top of that-just because it seemed like it would go.

Usually I make my ham sandwiches with plain old American cheese.  I dug around in the fridge to see if I had some slices I could throw on, but wouldn’t you know-I was out.  I did have a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, so I tossed a bit of that on there.  Then continuing with the sandwich theme I sliced up several plum tomatoes and laid them on.

Lastly I chopped up the ham and sprinkled it over the top along with another round of fresh black pepper.

Baked it at 400 for about 20 minutes and viola:

Honestly? I think it came out looking and smelling gorgeous!

Taste-wise?

Well, it was ok.  Yes-just OK.

This was not a culinary triumph.

The taste combination was good-I enjoyed it, as did Yankee Bill and the Kiddos.  But the “crust” was just too dense and chewy on the top and then a bit crunchy on the bottom.  The mayo/mustard combo gave a nice flavor, but it soaked into the dough and added to that gummy texture.  It was edible, but it wasn’t something we’d want to replicate on purpose.

But it enabled me to salvage something  I would otherwise have thrown away~while it may not have been a culinary triumph, to me it was a frugal triumph!

The moral of this story?  There are two.  #1-A mistake isn’t the end of the world-instead of tossing it into the trash, take a minute and think about what else you can use your “mistake” for.  #2- Remember, sometimes the best you can hope for is “ok” and “edible”.

Photo by Mr. T in DC

Frugal Upstate,

I love your blog – have gotten so many great ideas. Now a question – I love to make homemade pizza, and I agree with your comments that you can make it relatively healthy and inexpensive compared to delivery pizza.  And everyone in my household loves pizza.  My question — is buying a bread machine worth it for making pizza dough (and other homemade bread)? I’ve never owned a bread machine but have always been curious. Now that I have a spacious kitchen, I actually have room to store one. Any suggestions?  Is a bread machine a good frugal investment in the long term for homemade pizza dough and other stuff?

I generally make my pizza dough with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but do the rising, etc. in my oven on the bread-proof cycle. It’s a little more work than I would like for quick pizza meals, but it is good!

Thanks!

Alice

Alice,

Several people have written or commented lately asking me about the brand of my bread-maker, whether I recommend one etc~so your email is quite timely!

To start with I use a West Bend bread-maker.  It is an older model that we’ve had for quite some time. About 2 years ago it managed to vibrate itself off the counter while kneading bread, breaking the cover off and cracking the casing-I now have to prop up one corner of the machine with a potholder each time I use it. And the lid falls off when I open it up.  But hey-it still works.

Would I recommend one for you? Hmm, yes and no.

No, I would not recommend that you run right out and buy a new breadmachine.  Although the price has come down quite a bit on these units (a cursory Google search showed prices from $200 to $44) it’s still a chunk of change.

Yes, I do think one could be useful for you-especially if you,like me, plan on using it as merely a bread mixing, kneading & intial rising device.  My recommendation to you is to take a little jaunt to your local thrift store-something like a Goodwill or Salvation Army.  Those places usually have 2 or 3 breadmachines, older styles, just sitting on the shelves.

Pick out a nice unit with the larger pan size (2lbs).  Test it out*-plug it in and run the dough cycle for a few minutes to see if the little blade inside rotates around like it is supposed to. You don’t need to worry too much about the heating element etc-with the dough cycle it is only used to slightly warm the pan and aid with rising.

Head home with your bargain priced item and enjoy your breadmaking.  If you find that  you really love it and can’t live without it, then consider asking for a nicer model next year at Christmas

Jenn

Do you have a question for Frugal Upstate? I’d love to hear from you!  Use my contact form to drop me a line and I’ll answer as soon as I can!

*Most thrift stores operate with an “as is” policy on all appliances and electronics. Because of this they usually have several outlets that are left available for patrons to test items.

Photo by NCReedplayer

Halloween might be over, but it is not forgotten at the Frugal Upstate household. Despite the fact that we get over 200 trick or treaters a year, we still somehow wound up with leftover candy and the perennial question: “What do we do with leftover Halloween Candy?!”

I asked my friends on Twitter and we came up with 12 great ideas for using up leftover Halloween candy:

1. Save it for your holiday gingerbread houses (via VisitFingerLake)

2. Freeze it for later.

3. Add a cup at a time to rice crispy squares (via Jeremy Wright). If it’s chocolate or easily meltable let the mix cool a bit first

4. Chop and roll candy apples into crushed candy.

5.  Chop and use as icecream topping or as a decorative/tasty topping for an iced cake.

6.  Toss into homemade trail mix.

7. Chop and mix into brownies. Peppermint Patties or any chocolates/candy bars are especially good.

8. Make Molten Candy Cookies. Just take chocolate chip cookie or sugar cookie dough and wrap a ball around a mini chocolate bar.

9.  Make Leftover Candy Cake.

10. Make Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies (via Feels Like Home)

11. Donate the extra candy to a rehab center (via MommyBlogExpert) a nursing home (via backhomeagain) or a shelter (via luciagia)

12. Sell it to your dentist (via KingdomFirstMom and jodirotondo). Really! There is a program called “Halloween Candy Buy Back” that many dentists participate in.

So what do you do with your leftover candy. . . besides eat it!

Welcome to November!  I can’t believe how far into the fall we are already. My oh my-the holiday chaos is ready to start soon.

I’m feel quite in a recipe rut.  Honestly.  I feel as though I cook many of the same dishes over, and over, and over. . . so I am going to add another goal into my weekly menu goals.  As it is I try to work in a vegetarian recipe and a seafood recipe each week. On top of that I want to add in at least one NEW recipe each week.

NOTE:  Do you have a tried & true recipe you think my family would like? Feel free to send it to me!  You can use my contact form. . . if I try  the recipe I’ll publish it (or link to it if you have a blog and have published it) along with full credit and a review of what the Frugal Upstate family thought! So send me those recipes . . .

Monday:  Kid’s Choice.

Our kids only have a half day of school today due to parent teacher conferences.  When the kiddos get home from school I’m going to let them pick what they want to have for dinner, then they can help me make it.  If we don’t have the ingredients on hand then they will have to head to the store with me to go shopping. We’ll use it as an exercise on how much things cost and how to cook. Should be fun!

Tuesday:  Manicotti, Beets & Tossed Salad

Last time I went shopping at Aldi’s they actually had Manicotti shells. It has been a really long time since I’ve made manicotti-so I went ahead and bought them.  I will use a stuffing made with a combination of Mozzarella and cottage cheese (I know it’s heresy to use it in place of ricotta, but it’s what I have on hand).  The beets are still out in the garden.

Wednesday:  Broiled Mahi Mahi, Sauteed Chard & Rice

Mahi Mahi (forzen & prepackaged) was pretty cheap at Aldi’s last week. It is such a nice mild white fish that I couldn’t resist picking up two packages.  I’m serving it with just plain rice and some more chard from the garden.  I can’t believe that stuff hasn’t succumbed to the frost yet!  This is my seafood meal for the week.

Thursday: Split Pea Soup & Homemade Bread

We are still calling this “Shrek Swamp Slime Soup” at the Frugal Upstate house to help get Buddy, who “hates peas”, to eat it.  Funny-he loves the taste as long as we don’t actually call it “Split Pea Soup”. This will be my vegetarian meal for the week.

Friday:  Homemade Calzones & Roasted Broccoli

Using the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe of course.

Saturday: Leftovers or Breakfast for Dinner

Gotta use up all those bits and pieces!  If somehow we don’t have enough leftovers to make a meal out of then I’ll whip up some scrambled eggs, bacon & toast.

Sunday:  Shepard’s pie & Beets

Well-actually it will more correctly be “cottage pie” or maybe “woodland pie”. . . I’ll be using a mix of ground beef/turkey and ground venison for the meat.  I’ll add more beets from the garden as a side dish.

For more great menu plan ideas head on over to Menu Plan Monday at The Organizing Junkie.

Photo by Amayzun

School is officially back in session today which means I am back to packing lunches for the kiddos.

With the return of that chore I am reinstating the daily “Lunchbox Report” in my sidebar.  You can find it about 2/3 of the way down on the right.

The lunchbox report is where I will post~in theory regularly~what I’ve packed in the kids lunchboxes.  When I start packing Yankee Bill’s lunch I’ll post that as well! Hopefully this will help everyone get some new and different ideas.

As an added benefit to me, posting the lunches makes me aware of any unintentional lunchbox ruts!

I’ll be doing more posting about lunch ideas soon, but in the meantime here is some other reading on lunchbox related topics:

Lunchbox Planning

Making a Lunch

Keeping Stuff Hot for Lunch

A note on portion sizes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amayzun/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Today is the final installment in my 3 part series on quick meals.  I’ve been showing everyone how having frozen precooked meats on hand can really speed up dinner preparation and save you from the dreaded “drive thru trap”.  Previously I wrote about ways to use Ground Beef and Meatballs. . . today I tackle chicken.

When precooking and freezing chicken my biggest money saving tip is this: DO NOT BUY BONELESS SKINLESS BREASTS!!

I know, we’ve all been pre-programmed to just grab that quick and easy bag of flash frozen chicken. Or even worse, the chicken tenders-same thing, just cut smaller for a higher price.  Resist!

You will be cooking and then either shredding or cutting up the chicken before freezing it in meal sized portions-so buy whatever is cheapest and save yourself some cash. Please.

There are several ways you can cook the actual chicken.  If it’s a small amount and I’m going to be around, I’ll throw it in a roasting pan and bake it in the oven.  If I want to be hands off and not obligated to be right there all the time I’ll toss it in the crockpot and let it cook.  You can even let it cook while you sleep!

Once you’ve got the chicken all packaged up in the freezer you can take advantage of the bones & skin by tossing them all back into the crockpot with some water (and a TBS of vinegar to leach calcium out of the bones) to make your own broth.  Cook for 4-6 hrs, strain, stick it in the fridge to have the fat float to the top, skim and package in 1 cup portions for future use!

Just be careful that you don’t drop the pot like I fairly famously did the time I was bulk cooking 20 pounds of chicken thighs!

If you are a visual person, you can check out the Bulk Chicken Cooking Tutorial at Kims Kitchen.

Now, on to my 10 simple ways to use precooked chicken!

Chicken

Chicken & Gravy: Use dry packet of gravy mix (or make your own) and serve over rice, biscuits or bread.

Mustard Chicken: Mix either sour cream or plain yogurt (1/3 C) with a dollup of dijon mustard and some beef bullion powder/onion soup mix. Warm (do not boil) and add chicken. Serve with rice.

Chicken soup: Broth, veggies, chicken, rice or noodles.

Chicken Tacos/Burritos: Add the spice mix (packet or homemade) and serve either on burrito wraps or in taco shells with all the regular accompaniments.

Stirfry: Mix with a bag of frozen stirfry veggies and some soy sauce, serve with rice.

Curry: Mix with leftover/frozen veggies and instant curry cubes (I have a curry making tutorial). Serve with rice.

Chicken Cacciatore: Add to spaghetti sauce and simmer. Serve over noodles

Chicken Stuffing Casserole: Make stuffing (box or homemade) layer chicken on top and pour gravy over (packet or homemade).

Chicken Divan: Mix cream of soup, 2tsp lemon juice, 1 C mayo & chicken. Layer over spinach or broccoli, sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 till hot.

Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese: Add to favorite Mac ‘n Cheese

And there you have it! I am sure if you sit and think you can add even more to the list!

After learning all these great ways to use precooked ground meat, meatballs & chicken to make quick and easy dinners won’t you just feel terribly guilty if you run through the drive thru instead?

Photo by stevendepolo