So, I'm no so muchly with the chow/cookery blogging, but this is an experiment that just happens to involve food, so I though I'd have at it and record how it goes. The deal is... (Imagine I'm saying this in movie preview voice over if you will)
ONE chicken. Five Meals. $25.
He was a chicken with a mission. The mission was Dinner.
He was a chicken with a mission. The mission was Dinner.
The idea is not my own, it comes from the awesome (and funny) Kristen of
Cheap Healthy Good. The rules are: $25 for EVERYTHING. Five meals for at least two people. Use up what you already have. No repeats. Healthy. Which should be simple as I'm stealing Kristen's delicious-looking menu WHOLESALE. Left to my own devices we'd be eating dry sammiches. For 5 nights.
Cheap Healthy Good. The rules are: $25 for EVERYTHING. Five meals for at least two people. Use up what you already have. No repeats. Healthy. Which should be simple as I'm stealing Kristen's delicious-looking menu WHOLESALE. Left to my own devices we'd be eating dry sammiches. For 5 nights.
Now, you might be wondering why I would bother doing this; our food budget, while not Lobster-stuffed-with-Tacos extravagant usually stretches to more than 25 clams. A fact that I am completely, bone-deep grateful for.
Our real problem is waste, we throw away a scandalous amount of food. What happens is we shop for dinner the night of, don't keep an eyeball on what we have and drop $30 every time we even go PAST the supermarket. It really bothers me and all that it would take to fix it is a bit more thought and planning.
So yesterday afternoon I went and scored me a chicken. A big one. Then roasted it like this.
It was DELICIOUS. Really yum. And there was lemony gravy and taters, practically deep fried in chickeny goodness. Yum? Yup. Healthy? Ah... moving swiftly on.
Tonight should even things out though, I made a salad. No wait, I can do better than that... I made a baby spinach leaf and thinly shaved carrot salad with chunks of lemon chicken dressed in a sweet/sharp ginger vinaigrette. It was OK, just for me though as my sweetie is out with the chaps from work, celebrating the big green P.
Now I don't expect to be doing this chicken thing more than once, I LOVE roasted burd and I have no wish to overkill it and wind up hating it. What I'm hoping for a bit of a kick in the pants in how I think about food, and waste and planning. So wish me luck?
Hey, as an aside, what set me off on this 1 burd, many dinners tangent was a post by Chris over at ManMade. Chris Is a fellow Curblier and ManMade is good stuff, kind of like a Boy's Own Guide To Being More Awesome. Most of it is applicable to those of us with ovaries too. You should have a peek.
NOW! Here's a completely unrelated picture of my kid in a cravat! That I put him in and made him wear ALL DAY. Because he is too little to run away from home yet.
Hi Erin -love Marvin, by the way :) Maybe this is in your book/plan, but just wanted to share - after I roast a chicken in our magic pan (enamel over cast iron - the best thing ever created for moist burd), I put the carcus and skin back in the pot, fill it with water and bake for 45 - 60 minutes; it makes a mighty lovely and effortless broth. I usually grate some fresh ginger in it, too, and crush some garlic into it after the broth is strained (done nicely through one of those splatter screens meant for frying pans). I use it for soup or chow mein and often just freeze (in one container or in several little ones like condiments come in and then use as a sort of boullion) the broth for another time if I'm feeling like we might get chickened out. If it's a realllly big burd, I'll do a second round of baking the bones with water and add to the first brothing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Holly! I am SO making stock next time! The whole week went great in fact, we're totally not sick of chicken, and I'm actually looking forward to doing it again.
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The brutal story was just that, how sad for the poor girl.
ReplyDeleteI try to stretch out chicken as well, I prefer to buy free range so need to get as much value out of it as possible.
I roast it in my turbo oven, it makes a lovely moist burd. After a delicious meal I strip the carcass, sometimes I get enough meat off for a meal for 4 of us, last time it was only enough to make a couple of sandwiches for my lunch at work. Just doing that saved me $10 alone, the cafe near work is overpriced. I boil the carcass up to make a simple stock or toss it in the freezer if I don't have time. Going to save up 3 or 4 and make the stock in the turbo oven to save on washing and to get all the flavoursome baked on bits.
Thank you for beingg you
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