With my MN chicken I made 17 meals and three sandwiches.

[Kendodd]

It can be done!
Large chicken, don't know the weight but it took 2 hours 5 minutes to cook.
We had -
Roast dinner for five.
Chicken fajitas for four.
Chicken and bacon pie for five.
Risotto for three.
And three chicken salad sandwiches.

Two adults, the secondary school kids. Maybe we just don't eat much so our portions are small.

@boobot1 but that means you're eating a breast, a wing and a leg each plus whatever else there is! At one meal

@ElfDragon

I think saying ‘allows’ is putting in a control aspect that simply has not been there from any of the OPs posts.

OP has stated that she (? - apologies if not!) prefers meals that way, with (from what has been described) plenty of veg, and other accompaniments to a meal.

Cue lots of posters falling over themselves to say how mean she is, how ridiculous, how controlling etc.

I don’t think she is (from the little stated here). I have, before now, made a surprising amount from a full roast chicken when I was determined to use up every bit (and when I had the time!). Meat isn’t the main focus of any meal I make, but is a part of what makes up the whole meal. I don’t think meat should ever be the full focus of a meal, but I appreciate others have different views.

I honestly find it astonishing that 5 people would eat 1kg of chicken breast for one meal, with, presumably, other food as well - I cannot conceive of eating that much, as I imagine the food in proportion to how I serve meals (with about 20-25% meat contribution) and the amounts are just simply enormous if scaled up using 1kg chicken. That doesn’t make me right and another poster wrong. It means I eat more veg/other stuff alongside my meal, I assume. Or that other people really do eat many multiples of what I eat.

It’s not just the OP’s portion size though - it’s the thread about not wasting chicken, while binning the other stuff that bulks out that chicken.

I eat very little meat so it makes no odds to me but food waste is horrible.

@ElfDragon

I think 200g of chicken per person in a meal is a lot.

Taking the (very) rough guide of:

25% protein
25%carb
50% veg,

that means the whole meal would have 400g veggies in it, alongside whatever carb as well - that’s a LOT of (eg) carrots per person! I honestly can’t conceive of eating that amount (talking about the whole meal) in just one meal. Or the proportions of the meal are not (in my opinion) right.

It probably would be a lot of carrots, but probably not that much if it was 150g carrots, 150g of broccoli and 100g of babycorn. That wouldn’t be miles off our portion sizes, but as I said, we don’t each much meat anyway.

We had a medium chicken on Sunday. It did 2 adult main meals plus leftovers for a couple of sandwiches. It said it should feed 3-4 adults so I think that is a slightly large but still normal portion (why waste the joy of a freshly roasted chicken?).

I also made stock which has made some soup and will do a Risotto.

I enjoy veg a lot, we did 3 different types of veg plus roasties and homemade gravy. I think your family just don't eat large portions. If we did fajitas, I would do a 125g portion of chicken each plus veg to make 2 fajitas each (fills a normal sized wrap).

It probably would be a lot of carrots, but probably not that much if it was 150g carrots, 150g of broccoli and 100g of babycorn. That wouldn’t be miles off our portion sizes, but as I said, we don’t each much meat anyway.

That sounds like a lot per person in a single meal to me. Maybe I really don’t eat as much as I thought.

@ElfDragon

It probably would be a lot of carrots, but probably not that much if it was 150g carrots, 150g of broccoli and 100g of babycorn. That wouldn’t be miles off our portion sizes, but as I said, we don’t each much meat anyway.

That sounds like a lot per person in a single meal to me. Maybe I really don’t eat as much as I thought.

It translates to about three tablespoons of carrots, four broccoli florets and four large babycorn spears. It’s really not that much.

@ElfDragon

It probably would be a lot of carrots, but probably not that much if it was 150g carrots, 150g of broccoli and 100g of babycorn. That wouldn’t be miles off our portion sizes, but as I said, we don’t each much meat anyway.

That sounds like a lot per person in a single meal to me. Maybe I really don’t eat as much as I thought.

Sorry, just to add, I think that’s why people find getting your 5-a-day is difficult, because people think it’s huge amounts to be considered a portion.

There is hardly any meat on a chicken wing, and not a whole lot on a leg. Perhaps the free range chickens I get are much smaller than what other posters are talking about. A small roast chicken would give us enough for a roast dinner for 5, plus scraps of skin and the bits flesh that we don’t eat for the dog.

150g broccoli is roughly half the broccoli crown I have in my fridge. I wouldn’t do that amount per person (plus other veg, plus protein, plus carb), as we simply would eat that much. Likewise 150g carrots per person would mean half the bag of carrots (per meal) that I have - the bag usually lasts a week, and I would make 3 main meals (trying to average out) as described before (so with enough leftovers to freeze for a second meal), plus a couple of lunches where I might have carrot sticks - nowhere near 150g per person per meal.

We all eat well enough, the dc are growing and healthy, and we don’t go hungry at all. But we don’t eat the same size meals a described here.

@Livingonadream

Did ye aye ?

😂

@ssd

What about the partridge on a pear tree?

Imagine how many people you could feed with that partridge? Plus pears? Gluttony. Maybe you could have some of the wood from the tree with the crispy skin.

Do you live in Lilliput? You could certainly feed a lot of people with while chicken there.

For us, its about one meal, two sandwiches and a big old feast for the birds.

I can’t get over 1 chicken breast for fajitas to serve 4.

I am dieting, and losing weight, with Noom. I'm on a 1200 calorie diet. I think most of us overeat by nature. We've lost all sight of what a portion of food looks like, I mean the portions that we actually need to be healthy, not the portions our brains and eyes tell us we need!

I could very easily put a portion of chicken on my plate that is double what I need. Its takes a lot of recalibration to realise what a portion of food for a fairly sedentary adult looks like.

I don't think OPs portions sound crazy and I'm willing to bet she and her family have healthy BMIs!!

@ElfDragon

150g broccoli is roughly half the broccoli crown I have in my fridge. I wouldn’t do that amount per person (plus other veg, plus protein, plus carb), as we simply would eat that much. Likewise 150g carrots per person would mean half the bag of carrots (per meal) that I have - the bag usually lasts a week, and I would make 3 main meals (trying to average out) as described before (so with enough leftovers to freeze for a second meal), plus a couple of lunches where I might have carrot sticks - nowhere near 150g per person per meal.

We all eat well enough, the dc are growing and healthy, and we don’t go hungry at all. But we don’t eat the same size meals a described here.

I’d say about half a bag of carrots for a meal is about right though. We grow a lot of our own veg so it’s hard to gauge what that translates to but about a carrot and a half per person per meal isn’t totally off the wall.

I am like you OP

I also turn the feet into a meal though (they get lovely and jellied with crunchy knuckles) and top it off we have chicken- quesadillas, where we make cheese quesadillas and briefly place them in the tray we normally use for roasting, so they get that “chicken aura”

We also turn the ribs into tiny Chinese spare ribs, which is the basis for another meal

1 chicken normally lasts us at least 10 days (you amateur )

I don't think the op's meals are crazy either.
just chicken meals they ain't.
merely chicken flavoured.

Tell me more.

A carrot and half per person per meal doesn’t sound off the wall, no. But a carrot and a half, plus half a broccoli crown, plus same amount of another veg does (to me, per meal, in addition to substantial protein and carbs). I just couldn’t eat that volume of food.

We have no problem at all in hitting our five-a-day, and I eat more veg/fruit than many people I know (and dd2 says the same - dd1 can’t report easily as has a learning disability and ds likely to dodge the question as he has yet to find his vegetable mojo 😂), but we don’t eat the volume at each meal that others seem to.

This thread is really weird
If you get that many meals out of a single chicken, then you're clearly not eating much chicken in each meal. Also, I'm laughing at the fact that people who eat one fajita exist! I use a box of chicken breasts, which is about 650g, for two adults and three young children. We have avocado, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, sweetcorn, along with the pepper and onion it's cooked with. We all eat what we fancy and there's usually very little left. When we have a roast chicken, it's large and we all eat, and there's usually a little leftover for a couple of sandwiches.

*I think 200g of chicken per person in a meal is a lot.

Taking the (very) rough guide of:

25% protein
25%carb
50% veg,

that means the whole meal would have 400g veggies in it*

This is completely wrong because 200g chicken is not the same as 200g protein. It's about 55g protein, a perfectly normal amount, and you'd be eating 110g veg, also a normal amount, or maybe a bit low.

You are better off though looking at ratios of three macros ie protein / carb / fat rather than two macros and a food group.

But was it organic.

@ElfDragon

A carrot and half per person per meal doesn’t sound off the wall, no. But a carrot and a half, plus half a broccoli crown, plus same amount of another veg does (to me, per meal, in addition to substantial protein and carbs). I just couldn’t eat that volume of food.

We have no problem at all in hitting our five-a-day, and I eat more veg/fruit than many people I know (and dd2 says the same - dd1 can’t report easily as has a learning disability and ds likely to dodge the question as he has yet to find his vegetable mojo 😂), but we don’t eat the volume at each meal that others seem to.

That’s just three standard portions of veg though. It’s hard for me to judge how much plus meat that would be because we don’t eat it very often but I’d say three portions of veg, plus half that in carb plus a bit of fat is about right.

@redcandlelight

I don't think the op's meals are crazy either. just chicken meals they ain't. merely chicken flavoured.

Using meat as "flavouring" or as an enhancement rather then main event is not a bad idea tbh. Lots of cultures use meat in this way. We will probably find ourselves needing to use meat in this way too at some point in the future, as current consumption levels arent sustainable

@GalesThisMorning

I am dieting, and losing weight, with Noom. I'm on a 1200 calorie diet. I think most of us overeat by nature. We've lost all sight of what a portion of food looks like, I mean the portions that we actually need to be healthy, not the portions our brains and eyes tell us we need!

I could very easily put a portion of chicken on my plate that is double what I need. Its takes a lot of recalibration to realise what a portion of food for a fairly sedentary adult looks like.

I don't think OPs portions sound crazy and I'm willing to bet she and her family have healthy BMIs!!

As do my family and I. DH is actually underweight, I hover around 10st and am just under 5’8”, my BMI sits around 21ish. I still think OP’s stretching of the chicken is daft and as a PP says, the meals aren’t ‘chicken meals’, chicken features as a minor ingredient or garnish but it isn’t a main player in those quantities.