Rubber Chicken

A whole chicken, roasted, can provide so many portions!

I buy whole chicken when it goes on sale for $.99/lb. or under.  That is my buying price.  Of course, I prefer to purchase it at under $.99/lb. whenever I can, but I will not buy it for more than $.99/lb.  I usually buy 2 or 3 chickens when on sale and freeze them and usually, they go on sale before I use the last frozen chicken.

Since we are a family of 2 (daughter and I) one chicken can serve us for more meals than if we were a larger family.  Especially these days, when daughter and I are living by ourselves.  So, the first thing we do is cut up the roast chicken and freeze half of it for future meals.

The remaining half a roast chicken will provide each of us with at least a week's worth of dinners.  Roast chicken with potatoes or pasta or rice and vegetables; sliced roast chicken breast in a sandwich, sliced up in a stir-fry with vegetables and served over rice; strips of meat pulled off the bones and sauted with sliced onions and spices, or cubed and mixed up with sauce and made into pot pies,or chicken fried rice, and finally, the remaining carcass boiled to make a broth, which, with the addition of vegetables and rice or pasta, can be made into several servings of soup.

Last week, daughter bought an already roasted chicken, on sale for $5.00.  This was more costly than buying a chicken and roasting it herself, but for her, it was a more convenient option (I chose to buy a chicken and roast it for myself).

Daughter froze some of her roast chicken and had the rest for meals throughout the week.  Yesterday, I pulled off the rest of the meat from the bones and sauted it with onions for dinner (made enough for our dinner plus there's enough to make into fried rice for our lunch, today).

And then, I made soup from the carcass.  I added some potatoes, carrots and frozen vegetables including some bell pepper cores that I had frozen specifically for soup making (I always freeze the trimmings and cores and other bits and pieces of vegetables to add to soups) and made enough soup for 6-9 servings.  I kept some in the fridge for her to have during this week and froze 2 containers of soup (each with 2-3 servings) for future meals.  She can thaw and reheat them and add some rice or pasta to them and they'll make a quick lunch or dinner for her.

In the meantime, I've a partly eaten roast chicken in the fridge at home, waiting to be made into some soup for myself.  Guess I'll be doing that, when I get home, tonight.

Do you have a price above which you will not buy some items?  Do you roast chicken or buy already roasted chicken?  If so, what do you make with the leftover chicken?  How do you make it stretch (thus the term, "rubber chicken") to get maximum value for your money?