I regularly blow my grocery budget. The combination of my love of cooking and our family's consumption of produce presents a challenge for a family closely watching its dollars!
I do my share of couponing, but we don't eat a lot of processed food, so there aren't many coupons that make a big difference in our bill. What we really need is a cow, especially if it could automatically produce pasteurized whole and skim milk! Farmers market starts soon, and that will help the cost of produce. But in the meantime...
I asked my friend Lindsey what some of her tricks are to feeding her family so healthily on a budget, and the first thing she mentioned was cooking a whole chicken. Did you know that the best part of a cooked chicken is all the fat and juices that cook off? Apparently the marrow is extremely nutritious, and you should save all that junk to make a fantastically good-for-you broth. Who knew?
So there you have it. My goal for the month of April is to cook a whole chicken, creatively use all the chicken meat and make some of that crazy good broth. What is your best trick for cooking healthily and CHEAPLY?
4 comments:
I hear you!! I am constantly debating health vs budget. One of my favorite whole food blogs is kitchen stewardship. She has great ideas.
Ooooh. Did you see my post on this like, probably, six months ago? I do this ALL THE TIME. it's the best. In fact, on occasion I designate a week "chicken week" and every meal for five days originates from that one chicken. I always have a huge thing of stock in my freezer. Another really great budget watcher is making your own whole wheat/whole grain bread. I used Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. You'll love it.
If you figure out how to cook on a budget please let me know, I am awful with this and am trying to get better!
This will be long but ... here's how I do the chicken. I stock up on whole chickens when they are on sale at Whole Foods. When you are ready to cook the chicken take it out of the package and save all the 'inner stuff' to make chicken stock. I rub the chicken with coconut oil, salt and pepper, oregano, rosemary - really whatever you like- and put in a dish to roast. Roast the chicken on 450 degrees for about an hour... until you cut it and the juice is clear. Let it rest for about 20 minutes. Cut all the chicken off and your ready to eat! Save ALL 'yucky' parts of the chicken, the bones, and juice that is on the bottom of the pan. Add all the left over chicken stuff to the ‘inners’ and put in a crockpot. Pour 1 TBSP of apple cider vinegar over the bones. (it helps draw the minerals and marrow out). Let it sit for 30-60 minutes with apple cider vinegar. Then cover with water and add an onion, a few carrots, and some celery. Cook in the crock pot all day. Once finished strain it and ta-da... you have wonderful, nutritious chicken stock!! If I'm not planning on using it in the next few days then I will freeze it.
Here are a few of our favorite meals:
When roasting the chicken also roast vegetables. I cut up my favorite veggies and toss with coconut oil, a little garlic, salt, and pepper. We like sweet potatoes, peppers, onions, and broccoli. Bake at 450 for 40-45 minutes. I put it in the oven with the chicken.
We like to use the chicken to make chicken salad- chicken, add mayo, garlic, dill, salt, and/or almonds, grapes, and celery.
We will make chicken enchiladas or quesadillas, chicken casseroles, pasta with chicken, chicken-n-dumplins, etc...
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