Blog.EmealsForYou

In Why Meal Planning - The First Step we discussed putting a little money aside to fund those sale items that you can stock up on and use latter. So, let’s begin there with chicken. I see tons of requests from harried housewives complaining about the high cost of feeding their families and then in the same breath they are asking for some recipes for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I guess their thinking is that they bought them on sale, you know in the freezer section, Tyson breasts on sale, $3 off. Well how about we do the math; divide the sale price by the total weight, i.e. $9.99 divided by 3 lbs equals $3.33 per pound. Wow! Actually not picking on Tyson, they all do it, they usually put 2.5 lbs in a bag; just to make the math harder. If you must buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts I strongly suggest you wait until they go on sale. Usually once a month or so you will find fresh chicken breasts at around $1.39 per pound or less. Buy them and put them on a cookie sheet in your freezer for about an hour. Once they firm up you can put them in a large baggie in the freezer and they won’t stick together. Now you have the convenience of just using what you need and the cost savings of doing this small task yourself; I am sure Tyson will survive without the $5 profit you denied them.

But seriously folks; there is a lot more to chicken then skinless, boneless breasts. Watch for sales on leg quarters; thighs and legs together. A quick sharp knife stroke and you have chicken drumsticks and thighs that can be boned and stir-fried or BBQ’d. Still want those chicken breast? Buy them on sale with the skin on and remove the skin and bones yourself. I know, gross; you will get over this just as you got over changing diapers. Lastly, buy the whole chicken, learn to cut it up and save a bundle.

As a final point I want to take you back to your grandmother’s or maybe for some of you, great-grandmother’s day. Back then nothing was waisted; you cut up the chicken and anything you didn’t use became soup. Save the tops off the celery stalks, the end pieces off the onions you use and some pieces of carrots in a baggie in the freezer. Now when you buy that whole chicken put anything that is left over, the back and icky stuff, into a large pot with a little oil. Brown the bones and skin and add the frozen veggies, , stir until they begin to color. Now add some water to cover them, maybe some salt and a little pepper, and cook for 25 minutes or so. don’t worry if you put in too much water, just cook it longer to concentrate it until you like the taste of it. Remove the bones and skin and add some noodles and you have a great lunch or broth for cooking. If you really are adventuresome, pick the meat off the bones to add back to the soup or for a chicken salad sandwich.

The bottom line you need to get a little more resourceful to stretch your budget. I am betting that once you get the hang of this it will become second nature and you will take pride in your new-found cooking skills.