Rubber Chicken-Stretching One Chicken Four Days! Vlog!
November 12, 2008 by Jenn @ Frugal Upstate
Filed under Recipes, vlog
A couple of weeks ago in my menu plan did a “Rubber Chicken” Challenge, where I purchased a single whole chicken and used it for my menu most of the week. I promised to make a vlog of the process-so here it is:
I started out by roasting the chicken the first night, and then using the remaining meat in various chicken dishes. Although I chose Chicken Stuffing Casserole, Chicken Soup and Chicken Curry-there are tons of other recipes where shredded chicken can be used. I give a bunch of quick and easy examples in the chicken section of “Avoid the Take-Out and Drive Thru Trap” and all of you readers gave fabulous ideas in the Frugal Food Series: Chicken.
What size (or how many) chicken you start with and how far you can stretch it obviously depends on the size and appetites of your family. Although we are a family of four, Buddy and Princess are still pretty young and don’t eat as much as 2 teenage boys would!
The key to the entire exercise is to think of the chicken meat as more of a flavoring-a component of the main dish. By doing that you can stretch it much farther while still providing a healthy, filling meal for your family.
PS-how many of you noticed the loaves of homemade bread on the counter behind me?
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I love this post! So very useful, informative, and inspiring.
Thank you!
Great VLog!
I can’t wait to make grandma’s stuffing. I’m going to hold off until Thanksgiving, but I can hardly wait!
I love doing this with turkey after Thanksgiving when it’s been marked down.
Mmmm…now I’m craving homemade bread…lol.
I honestly can not fathom how you or anyone else is able to make four meals for four with one chicken. There are only three of us, and one five pound chicken is pretty much gone save the wings and thighs on the first night. Do you practice strict portion control? How much chicken went into each additional dish (after the initial meal). This just seems completly unrealistic to me. Perhaps with two little ones with tiny appetites, I don’t know..
Lucy should read the narrative again – I can vouch for the validity, I lived it and ate it…Yummy!
YB
I can vouch for the fact that the children have BIG appetites!
Comment to Lucy:As Americans we are used to eating huge protien (meat) portions, far in excess of the recommended daily allowances. A nutritional serving size of protien at a meal is about 3 oz. If meat (protien) is mixed with other foods as in the video, the meat ’stretches’ because the meal is still filling, but the portions are more in keeping with the recommended daily allowances. We as a nation are overweight because we eat too much of good foods as well as our snack foods. Check out the USFDA Food Pyramid to learn more about recommended food servings. It is very enlightening.
NOw I’m craving that stuffing casserole. Nom nom nom…
thanks for the tip about putting vinegar in the stock to get all the calcium out. I’m a vinegar junkie but never heard that before. Awesome! Also, I agree with those that say we as Americans tend to eat too much protein in our meals. My hubby was always fed crazy amounts of food when he was younger and now I give him an amount of protein thats about as big as my hand(as big as his palm) and if he happens to eat that along with his sides and goes to get another plate, he’ll feel full right after the second bit of the second plate. He still hasn’t figured out that I do this, but he ended up losing 40 pounds just from us finally eating right. Also, the “second plate” is then packed up for him to take for lunch the next day
)
I agree that the key to portion control is not letting anyone realize that you’re doing it. that’s why things like stews, soups, and casseroles are so great — you decide the mix of veggies, meat, fats, and starches per portion.
Of course, if you have a pair of growing teen boys in sports, your mileage for a chicken may be different, but the process is still the same.