The following is a guest post from Rachael at Kitchen Courses:
The Super Ingredient: How To Create Three Meals From One $5 Ingredient
As a home cook, I’m always looking for ways to stretch an ingredient as well as a buck every once in a while. I want to eat amazing and delicious meals, but I don’t want to have to pay a ton of money to get them to my table. Most recently, I’ve stumbled into this idea of rolling ingredients over from one night to the next. It all started with this one ingredient: the whole roast chicken.
This one little chicken can come pretty cheap at the grocery store and can feed a family of four for dinner. A good deal, but nothing truly amazing, right?
I challenged myself to figure out how many meals or meal components I could come up with using just this one ingredient. As it turns out, with some thoughtful planning, that five dollars is a real bargain that can morph into at least three meals this week. Here is how I made that $5 investment pay for itself:
- Use one: Dinner tonight. Cut the breasts away from the bird and serve with rice pilaf and roasted broccoli. Take it a step further and use the pan drippings to create a homemade gravy.
- Use two: Make the most of the meat. Pick the bird and pull all the remaining meat off the bone. Either store in an airtight container for use later in the week or in plastic bag in the freezer for even longer storage. When you’re ready to use the meat, mix it in to a homemade enchilada dish, add as a topping for homemade pizza, or mix into homemade pot pie filling.
- Use three: Create more stock at home than you could ever buy for that price! Place the entire carcass, bones, skin, and everything else into a pot filled with water and a few vegetables, like celery, onion, carrots, and a few fresh herbs. Simmer for four hours, then strain and divide among sealable plastic containers, or zip top bags. You can also do this without worrying about the stove by throwing everything into your crock pot and turning it on low for eight hours.
This stock is liquid gold, and is the best value you’ll be getting from this as you can make at least two batches of stock from one set of bones. When you’re ready to use the stock, add it to soups, risottos, or sauces. Stock can keep up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge or in the freezer for up to six months.
The great thing about these $5 chickens is really how much money you’re saving along the way. When you use one ingredient three times, it essentially ends up paying for itself and then some!
The best part about this method is that it doesn’t have to only be applied to chickens, but can be done with just about any type of meat that you find yourself eating. By rolling an ingredient over multiple times, you can practically make money in your own kitchen. Start rolling over your ingredients and you can see yourself saving even more money on your weekly meals!
Rachael is the blogger behind KitchenCourses.com and is the author of How to Cook For Yourself and Kick Start Your Kitchen. She writes about her passion for food, eating well while saving money, and inspires people to get familiar with their kitchens and cook for themselves.
Do you have a Thrifty idea? Did you save a ton of money this week? Do you have a Thrifty deal you want to share? If so, please leave a comment or link up below!
(And the best part is that Katrina assures me that is OK!)
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