Saving a Little Money - One Penny at a Time

Roasted Chicken

Both of my grandmothers lived through the Great Depression.  I remember them saying that if you could get a chicken for dinner at least once a month, you could have some very decent dinners out of that chicken over a couple of weeks.

I bought a roasting chicken earlier this week.  It was $15.69.  That's a lot of money for a bird, but I intend to stretch this out for meals for quite some time.

The original roast chicken was dinner last night.  The boys are home for the weekend, so we had enough for 5 servings. 

Now, the fun begins. 

Tonight, I am making chicken neck soup.

Ugh, you are thinking to yourself.  What the heck is chicken neck soup?

You know that funky paper package that comes inside of the chicken?  That's the neck and the giblets.  I've never been able to convince myself to eat the giblets, even when times were really, really tough.  However, the neck makes a very amazing soup.  Don't throw it out!  Yesterday, when I pulled it out of the bird, I put it back in the fridge for today's dinner.

Chicken Neck Soup

(also works well with turkey necks)

Put the chicken neck in a large soup pot.
Add 6 - 8 cups of water.
Simmer for at least 8 hours, covered.

As you have time, add the following:
2 potatoes, cleaned and diced.
1/2 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tomato, sliced, or 1 can stewed tomatoes, cut up smaller  (I run a knife crosswise through the can 2 or 3 times to make the pieces smaller.)

Do you have any other soup type veggies in your fridge?  Now is the time to add them... Green beans, corn, actually, any leftover veggies in your fridge will taste fantastic when added to the soup.

Let simmer until all of the veggies are soft.

About an hour before serving, add 1 can of V-8 juice.  (Don't ask why, it's a tradition passed down from my Mom, and I have always done it.)
If you have any dehydrated potato flakes, or any mashed potatoes, add a spoonful here to thicken your soup.

15 minutes before serving, add a handful of pasta, if desired.

Turn off the heat.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the bones from the soup before serving.

This soup makes enough for at least 6 more servings.

So far, we've had 11 servings out of one bird.  For a chicken that cost us almost $16, I've managed to get it down to $1.45 per serving. 

I still have chicken left on the bird, so I'm not finished yet.  There's still more to come...