Using a Whole Organic Chicken for 3 Meals- Part 2

In my last post about using a whole organic chicken for 3 meals I made Roasted Chicken with gravy, chicken tacos and chicken soup. This time I am going to make 3 totally different meals using one chicken that cost around $12.00 (So about $4.00 per meal) but with other inexpensive, from scratch ingredients to make the cost over all quite doable.

Here are the meals I am going to make:

1. Sticky Chicken :

Mix together in saucepan:

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 3/4 c. water
• 1/3 c. lemon juice
• 1/4 c. soy sauce

Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 3 minutes. Mixture should be very thick. Brush on the chicken; bake for about 1 hour and 15 min (for a 5 lb bird).

Serve with homemade fried rice and veggies.

(We will have lots of meat leftover from this for dinner #2)


2. Chicken and Dumplings:

Boil the chicken carcass from the previous nights dinner to make your stock. I also add in whatever veggie scraps I have accumulated over the week. Boil hard for about 20 mins then reduce to a simmer. I like to cook this all day long...it makes for a really rich stock.
Then let it cool and strain it. I like to make mine the day before so I can stick it in the fridge overnight, this makes it easier to take the fat off the top.

Bring your stock back up to a boil and add some of your chicken from the night before along with any other veggies you want or none..whatever you prefer. Then make the dumplings and add into the boiling stock.

I've never made these but here's a dumpling recipe I tried and it worked great.

• 1 1/2 C. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter

Drop those in and let them cook! I may make some mashed potatoes and green beans to go with this as well.

3. Chicken salad stuffed pitas for my hubby's lunch.


I hope my posts in this series have been helpful to see the bigger picture when buying an expensive ingredient like Organic Chicken, yet still being able to make a frugal menu from it. I understand there are some families have more children or eat more meat in one meal, you can adapt your menu to that as well. Maybe you can only make 2 meals from it? That's still cost-effective and smart planning . What if you can't buy organic? Then you buy a grocery store chicken and make do with the resources you have. Its all about being a good steward and trying to do the best for our families with what God blesses us with. The idea is to stretch what you have, use better ingredients (if not organic, then at least from scratch so you know what is going in your food!), and taking the time to plan ahead so that you can bless your family with healthy things to eat instead of fast food or other fast processed foods.

Have a blessed day in the Lord!