As the year moves on into autumn and winter im more determined to look at the money i am spending on food and questioning every purchase and when i went shopping this week i bought a whole chicken which was £2.59 and weighed 1.38kg. This chicken is the perfect size for two people and my aim is to make 4 different meals from it which will also serve 2 people, 8 plates of food (and a couple more in places) 32p approx per person per plate!!!

First step was to cook the chicken and as always i cooked mine in the slow cooker (i will link how i do this below). Once it was cooked i let it cool and stripped it from the carcass divided it into 4 portions and planned my meals.

https://julesthelazycook.co.uk/2017/09/13/slow-cooker-chicken/

Meal 1 – Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

Chicken portioned from the whole chicken cook previously

2 x carrots

1 x vegetable stock pot or cube

1 x nest of dried noodles

1 x leek

Finely chop leek and fry off in pan on high heat, dice carrots and add them, add vegetable stock, cover with water to approx 25mm over contents you may need to add more water depending on how thick/thin you like your soups, bring to the boil then reduce to simmer

After approx 10mins of cooking add the cooked chicken and dried noodles the stock will cook them, once the noodles separate cut them into smaller lengths with a pair of scissors. The key is to get the carrots partly cooked so try and keep the dice small and they will cook quicker – cook for a further 5 to 10mins check seasoning and your done! This recipe made 3 big portions.

Meal 2 – Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta

Use cooked chicken

Cooked pasta

2 x tablespoons of light pesto

dollop of cream cheese (any you like) i used primula

reserve some pasta water to help make the sauce

add any vegetables you like – i used the ones that were lurking in the bottom of my fridge

This is a really easy one but makes a fantastic quick filling meal – here is what i did, softened half a red onion, added some mushrooms cooked for approx 3 more mins added the cooked chicken and some tomatoes, add a splash of pasta water stops the chicken burning and ensures it heats through properly. I then added the cooked pasta, 2 tablespoons of pesto and a dollop of cream cheese together with a small amount of pasta water this will help the pesto and cream cheese create a silky smooth sauce. Once cooked this actually made 3 big portions, i weigh out my dry pasta and as a rule of thumb pasta cooked is double the weight of dry pasta.

Meal 3 – Spicentice Chinese Chicken Curry

This is one of my favourites and its so easy to make and now we are using cooked chicken its going to make the cooking even easier – the key for this meal is to reduce the sauce the get a thick ish covering over the chicken and vegetables. Video below of how i cooked it without using flour.

This meal can also be made in the slow cooker but i would only use this method if you are making 4 portions – its linked her if you want to give it a try.

https://julesthelazycook.co.uk/2018/04/06/spicentice-chinese-chicken-curry-slowcooker/

Spice Kit is from https://www.spicentice.com/ use discount code Jules 20 for 20% off any order #ad

Meal 4 – Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pie

Ohhhh yes this is the real deal and totally worth every calorie, syn or points whichever diet you are following.

You can easily reduce the amount of pastry you need by using a smaller pie dish or indiviual casserole dishes or even just pop a pastry heart on top, when i plated up the pie served 3 portions.

I used Tesco light puff pastry from the chilled section it worked just as well as other branded products and a fraction of the cost, leftover pastry was placed in the freezer for another day.

I hope you have enjoyed this feature and in the future i will be making more money saving videos even i have found this a useful exercise and questioning why am i buying food i dont need when i have cupboards and freezers full of food!

Linked here are a couple of extra videos that also fit in with this topic

https://julesthelazycook.co.uk/2019/10/04/clearing-down-my-freezer-saving-money-food-planning/

https://julesthelazycook.co.uk/2019/10/11/my-30-tesco-food-shopping-target/