Thrifty Thursday

Today's thrifty post is about making everything go the extra mile. Here is an idea that I have been using for some time. At the store, the larger cuts of meat like whole chickens, beef roasts, and turkeys are less expensive per lb due to bones, convenience etc... What I do is buy those cuts of meat and make them go two to three days in our two person home. Now I realize if you have a larger family, this might not work.

I'll use the chicken as an example. A chicken at our house can survive about 3 days. First I make a whole chicken in the crock pot by doing the following:

-- Clean chicken thoroughly

-- Put in bottom of crock pot with a few potatoes, lemon juice, spices to your taste and about a cup of low sodium chicken stock.

-- Cook on high for about 5 hours

-- When chicken is done it is amazing...serve is up beside the nice tender potatoes and a vegetable and you have round # 1

The next day in our house we always have left over chicken. I usually just get as much as I can out of the crock pot and put it into a storage container.

The next day I make chicken and dumplings and this is how

--- Store bought cresent rolls

--- left over chicken

--- One can of cream of chicken soup

--- 1 cup of low sodium chicken stock

--- Vegetables if you choose (peas, corn, carrots, etc...)

I take a 9 X 13 baking dish and lightly spray with olive oil spray so nothing sticks

Next I take the cresents and unroll them. In each cresent I put a generous portion of the leftover chicken and roll them up into dumplings

I place these in the bottom of the baking pan. I then cover with stock, soup, and vegetables.

I bake this in the oven for about 1/2 an hour at 350 degrees or until the cresents are nice and brown as everything else will be heated and your chicken is fully cooked.

I serve this besides some mashed potatoes or rice and of course your veggies are in the dumplings if you used them, if not serve up with some veggies.

These two days of meals are the following:

Whole chicken: as low as $2.00-4.00 when they are on sale

Produce: about $2.00 for everything

Stock: about $2.00 (you can use broth also if it is cheaper)

Soup: $1.00

Cresents: $2.00

At most this is about $11.00 for two days of dinner. More likely it is less as I rounded up for every item.

I use these tips for things like Turkey also and make Turkey salads, open face sandwiches, etc... with leftovers

With Roasts, I cut up the extra roast and create a vegetable stew. Two days of dinner for the price of one dinner! :)

I hope that you find ways to make leftovers into whole new experiences!

Also, if you haven't already done so, make sure and print your free coupon for a two piece grilled chicken dinner at KFC that Oprah made available. You do have to install a coupon printer application so be aware of that and use your security measures to make sure all is safe. Mine did not find any problems with it. Here is the link.

Free KFC from Oprah!