This weekend I stopped by Costco to get some more chicken for dinners this month. Most people buy the already pre-packaged chicken breasts for such a thing, but I buy the whole chickens because they're cheaper and give me more meat for much buck (and free chicken broth!). I could have just purchased one of the pre-cooked chickens for less than $5, but I went ahead and opted to get the package of 2 uncooked whole chickens for $0.99/lb.
I took one chicken, cut it up, divided it into bags (Cut up chickens give me 3 family meals but one individual meal. 2 breasts equal 2 family dinners, legs and thighs equal one baked chicken dinner, and the wings equal 1 serving of hot wings) This post isn't about that cut up chicken, but I will go on a wee little rabbit trail and show you this video if you're interested in cutting up your own chicekns (it's super easy!)...
I took one chicken, cut it up, divided it into bags (Cut up chickens give me 3 family meals but one individual meal. 2 breasts equal 2 family dinners, legs and thighs equal one baked chicken dinner, and the wings equal 1 serving of hot wings) This post isn't about that cut up chicken, but I will go on a wee little rabbit trail and show you this video if you're interested in cutting up your own chicekns (it's super easy!)...
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time to talk about what I did with the other whole chicken. I plopped it into my handy dandy slow cooker, garnished it with salt and pepper, closed the lid and cooked it on high for about 3 1/2 hours. After it was done I turned the slow cooker off, removed the lid, and let it sit to cool for a couple of hours. (This is something I do while I go about my business of house chores. I typically only have to do this one day a month.)
When the chicken was cool enough to touch, I used my hands to shred it. I measured out 2 cups and divided into bags for larger meals, and had 2 1 cup bags of chicken for lighter meals. I had 6 cups total of cooked, shredded chicken meat. There are so many meal choices for this, but here are my favorites (click image for the recipe):
When the chicken was cool enough to touch, I used my hands to shred it. I measured out 2 cups and divided into bags for larger meals, and had 2 1 cup bags of chicken for lighter meals. I had 6 cups total of cooked, shredded chicken meat. There are so many meal choices for this, but here are my favorites (click image for the recipe):
If you are grossed out by the raw chicken (I was at first) you can still by whole, cooked chickens for about $5 from Walmart, Costco, etc. How it is cooked and flavored at the store may limit your menu somewhat, but it may also give you some exciting new dishes. Either way, it's much cheaper and better than just buying frozen chicken breasts!