Meals for Deals

This week on Menu Stretching Monday we are featuring Roasted Chicken. I believe this is one of our cheapest meals that we make. I will buy a Rotisserie chicken from Walmart for $4.99 and I can usually stretch it for 3 meals. You can really save some money if you roast your own chicken. Walmart sells raw whole chickens 2 in a pack for about the same price. Or you can buy them seperatly too.
Here are some of my favorite ways to use roasted chicken.

Meal 1 Roasted chicken

Roast a chicken or buy a rotisserie chicken. Serve chicken with a baked potato and some vegetables.

Meal 2 Chicken noodle soup

put the remaining chicken (the whole carcass) in a large pot and cover it with water just to the top of the chicken- adding a sprig of rosemary (optional), some carrots, an onion, celery- or whatever you have on hand. Cook it until the meat practically falls off the bone. Strain meat, bones and veggies. Place chicken on plate and throw out the rest. Save about 4 -5 cups of broth for future use. Place 2 cups of wide egg noodles into remaining broth with 2 cups chicken. Add vegetables of your choice I usually use onion, celery, carrots. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also add thyme and any other seasonings you enjoy. Sometimes I throw in half a cup of uncooked rice.

Meal 3 Chicken potpie

In a medium mixing bowl, mix remaining chicken with 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 can cream of potato soup, 1 bag mixed vegetables and salt and pepper to taste. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Cover with pie crust, or make your own crust out of Bisquick. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. Or until crust is brown.