One of my favorite ways to save money is to find ways to cut back on the grocery bill. Since food quickly disappears in our house it is nice to save money on buying it. I recently have bought a lot of rotisserie chickens when I do the shopping. I can pick one up for only $5 and they make a great easy meal. Even after eating the rotisserie chicken we still have plenty leftover. I decided to get creative this week and see how far I can stretch the rotisserie chicken.
I managed to get 4 meals from the rotisserie chicken. I spent a total of $22.07 to get the rotisserie chicken and everything I needed for the 4 meals. If you are trying to stretch your grocery bill check out how to get these 4 easy to make meals from a rotisserie chicken for only $22.
The first night we had a swim meet that ran really late. It was the perfect night for a rotisserie chicken because I didn't feel like coming home and cooking at 9 o'clock at night. I picked up the chicken earlier in the day and then reheated it for dinner. I made fresh green beans and rice to go along with the rotisserie chicken. Because I have the green beans and rice I don't make really big portions of the chicken for my family. I just use a little bit of the breasts to go with the green beans and rice. It gives us plenty of chicken leftover to use for the other meals. Total spent on the first meal $7.58.
The second night I removed the rest of the breast meat from the rotisserie chicken to serve with the fettuccine alfredo that I made. Again I didn't use a ton of the meat on the pasta. I just mixed in the meat with the pasta sauce. I served a side salad with the pasta. I spent $3.37 to buy the pasta, alfredo sauce and bagged salad.
The third night I removed most of the thigh and leg meat and chopped it up. I made cheese and chicken tortillas with the meat. They are a really quick and easy meal when you are in a hurry. I just put the cheese and chicken in the tortilla, fold it in half and cook it for a few minutes in a George Foreman. We had a swim meet again this day so I went super easy on the sides. We had the leftovers from the bagged salad the night before and a bag of tortilla chips and queso sauce. Total for the queso sauce, chips, flour tortillas, and cheese was $6.16. Not bad for a meal in a hurry.
Early the next day I removed all the rest of the meat from the chicken, there really wasn't too much left, and set it aside. I used the carcass of the chicken to make some chicken broth. Once the chicken broth cooled I skimmed the fat off the top and used the chicken broth and leftover chicken meat to make homemade chicken noodle soup. I spend $4.96 on carrots, celery, noodles, and onions to make the soup. I also made some homemade bread to go with the soup. The soup made such a large portion that I ended up freezing some of it. I used the recipe here to make the chicken noodle soup. I skipped the part where you put the whole chicken in the soup. I just added the leftover chicken that I had.
I was able to make 4 meals to feed my family for right around $22. If you are trying to stretch your grocery money this is a great way to do it. Plus you have the convenience of some easy meals. Want some more money saving ideas? You can see some of my favorite rotisserie chicken meals here. Also, make sure you check out my 5 meaty meals for under $35.
Sherry Legan says
What a great post. Lots of great ideas to share. I wana make that chicken soup it looked delicious! I hope you'll come over to the new Fabulous Party. We are celebrating Spring and Easter. Your post is perfect to share! The party is over here:
http://ourholidayjourney.blogspot.com/2017/02/fabulous-welcome-spring-link-party.html
Enjoy your week!
Melissa says
You should put a disclaimer on posts like these indicating it feeds a family of 3. One rotisserie chicken won't feed a family of 6 for 4 dinners, but I do typically get 2 dinners out of 1.
Julie says
You are right, 1 chicken may not work for larger families. You can always pick up a second chicken if you want to stretch it to 4 meals. 🙂
Ann Laing says
How many servings are you preparing each night?
Julie says
I prepared 3 servings each night. I know some families are larger than ours.
maureen says
Great ideas but with my two teenage sons the roaster is gone in one meal even with sides
Julie says
Yes, teenagers sure can eat you out of house and home! 🙂
Kristie says
Wow! Thanks so much for the ideas! This will be next weeks menu plan for sure. Both kids are in basketball and I feel like I'm never home to come anymore. Also love Holly's idea about putting the bird in the crockpot for later. Genius!
Jen says
My grocery stores rotisserie chicken is so small I can't imagine this working. But these are great ideas for chicken and to stretch it.
Julie says
Some readers have suggested that the Costco rotisserie chickens are larger, so if you have a membership you may want to give them a try to see if you can stretch it a little further.
Rebekah at The Tex-Mex Mom says
Love these ideas! We have a Costco membership and I always get a rotisserie chicken when I go - so yummy! I always forget to make soup from the carcass though, that's a really good point.
Julie says
I am so excited to try the Costco rotisserie chickens! A couple people have mentioned that they are bigger. I have found that the broth from the carcass has way more flavor than just using a store bought broth. Plus, it saves some money.
Becca says
First time visitor & new subscriber...glad i found ur site from MoneySavingMom...love the $5 deli chicken meals...such a great money saver, plus looks like u gotta extra meal (lunch maybe) with the Chicken Noodle Soup leftovers...Great blog!!! Keep up the low-cost meal ideas...they are gonna come in handy, i'm tired of using my same ole' low-cost suppers ;)LOL
Julie says
Thank you! I am so glad you found my site! You are right, there was so much chicken noodle soup we actually ate it for lunch the next day and froze some for later. 🙂
Sarah | The Teacher's Wife says
Good reminder of how awesome those chickens are!! So many options if you are determined! Have a great weekend! --Sarah 🙂
Liz Lara says
These are great ideas for rotisserie chicken. Personally, I love the rotisserie chickens from Costco. For $5.00, you get a much larger chicken, and shopping for a family of 7 (with 5 adult children), unfortunately, I need to buy 3 to 4 chickens to achieve these same goals that you mentioned. However, even $20.00 for 4 chickens, still yields me plentiful savings vs. dining out.
Julie says
I haven't tried the chickens from Costco before. I will have to try one next time we are there. Thanks for the suggestion!
kathy says
I just love all of your wonderful ideas for using a chicken. I am going to try and see if I can copy it and be as successful with my family. Thanks for the tips.
Julie says
You're welcome!
Mrs. Daisy @ Dirt Road Daisy says
I love this type of cooking! We received two hams and two turkeys for Christmas and Thanksgiving that are still in the freezer. We are planning to smoke them and my goal is to stretch each turkey for a week's worth of meals!
Holly says
Such great ideas. When I had a slow cooker & we brought a deli chicken home, I would pop it into the slow cooker on "warm"...it would keep the deli chicken warm for us until we were ready to eat it, without drying it out or needing to reheat it! I need a new slow cooker!