16 pounds of chicken...32 meals

This is all about catching sales and stretching the grocery budget to get as many meals as we can out of it.  So please stay with me and follow my blog!!!!

Last night I pulled some chicken breast from the freezer to let it thaw in the fridge.  This was 16lbs of chicken breast with bone that I bought on sale for .99 per pound.  BTW...I know this is a Christmas tray but I needed a large tray and that was the first thing that I found.  :)

 After cooking all of the chicken, I pulled the meat from the bone and shredded it.  I wish that I had weighed it at this point but I forgot. 

 The first meals that I planned on preparing was some Chicken/Broccoli Casseroles.  Casseroles are very versatile and I usually just use what I have on hand and don't really buy anything special.  Here is what I used...2 cups white rice (cooked and drained), 2 cans of cream of celery soup, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, bag of frozen broccoli, cheese, and shredded chicken breast.

 I cooked and drained the rice, dumped in the bag of frozen broccoli, and I didn't measure the chicken, I just grabbed 2 big handfuls and dumped it all in a big bowl. 

 I poured in the cans of soup and stirred it up really well. 

 I had a few of these disposable pans so I sprayed them with canola oil. 

 I thought that I would only have enough for 2 but when I saw that I was going to have extra mixture I grabbed a disposable loaf pan.  I ended up with 3 casseroles and sprinkled them with cheese. 

 I covered them with some Freeze-tite plastic freezer wrap and then a layer of foil.  I wrote what it was and popped them in the freezer.  Now when I get ready to serve these all that I have to do is put them in the oven at about 350 and let them bake until hot and the cheese is melted.  Everything is already cooked so it just needs to be heated.  So that was 3 of my 32 meals. 

 Next up...canning some Spicy Chicken Veggie Soup.  I don't have an exact recipe for this soup, I just basically dump in whatever that I have on hand.  I got out some ingredients and snapped a photo but I changed some of it as I started dumping it in.  Here's what I used...3 quarts of chicken broth (that I canned from my last session of cooking chicken), onions and jalapeno's that I had frozen, potatoes (cubed), 2 cans of kidney beans, 3 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of corn, chili powder, crushed red pepper, minced garlic to taste, and lots of chicken.  Again, I did not measure the chicken or anything else really.  I just dump it in and do a few taste tests.  Andrew usually eats these for his lunch or dinner and he likes it "chunky".  I didn't end up using the peas or the tomato juice in the photo so they went back in the pantry. 

 Then I loaded it all in the canner!  I ended up with 15 pints of Spicy Chicken Veggie Soup!  That takes my total up to 18 meals! 

 As I was finishing up the canning and trying to decide on what I was going to do with the rest of the shredded chicken, Andrew came in the kitchen and asked if I could make him some shredded BBQ Chicken to make some sandwiches for lunch.  So I mixed up the remaining chicken with some BBQ sauce and I had these tiny little portion bags so I put 2oz. of chicken in each bag with a little bit of BBQ Sauce.  This ended up making 14 little bags for 14 sandwiches!!!  This takes my total to 32 meals. 

I know that most of the meals are not complete family meals but everyone here is on a different schedule so sometimes "individual" meals work well for us.  

Oh and after I finished all of that up....I baked a cake!  Nothing special just a Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and a few sprinkles.  :)  I bought the cake mix a few weeks ago for $1each.  I saw in the sale paper today that they now have them on sale for .89 each.  So the next time that I go shopping I will pick up several more for the pantry. 

 After all of that, I took a nap!!!!  I was tired but well pleased with today's meals. 

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