The Mumsnet Chicken

[FastApprochingForty]

I'll start by saying I'm not a good cook but have been trying. Inspired by the (often satirical) comments, and the fact many of you may have had one as a Sunday roast, how many meals can you get out of a roast chicken, (depending on size of bird and family)?

I've managed to get 3 dinners and 2 lunches for two adults (we've no kids) out a 1.5kg roast chicken:
Dinner 1 & 2: breast meat with salad, hummus and flatbread.
Dinner 3: legs with rice & Asian veg.
Lunch 1 & 2: strip remaining meat off carcass and boil remains for stock and turn into chicken & veg soup. (Not sure I'm doing the stock part long enough, as still end up adding a chicken stock-cube).

Am interested to hear of others meal plans from a single chicken.

Since this is AIBU, mine is that I normally bin the stuff that's left in the bottom of the cooking tray. Should I be doing anything with it, and is there anything to use it for apart from making gravy? I never see any congealed white bits of fat, just all looks like brown jelly when cold, so have never attempted to make gravy as not sure how the fat gets separated out.

Thanks

You should be eating for a month on a whole chicken! Good god, OP. The waste.

Honestly we get one decent dinner out of it cos DH flocks to a roast chicken like flies on shit and can eat and impressive amount

I then boil the carcass and get about 27 days of soup (so it feels). I chuck everything from the pan in to boiling the carcass for stock inc any leftover gravy then I don’t strip the meat until after it’s boiled as I get more meat that way

Congealed jelly makes the stock amazing. You won't need a stock cube if you use it.

Two of us, we generally get one decent meal and then some left over for sandwiches/salad the next day, I can’t be arsed making soup.

You don't need much chicken in a risotto.

Sounds like you need the jelly etc in your stock. Homemade chicken stock is delicious but does need all the goopy bits to work.

See I just serve the chicken for me and ds sunday lunch and then strip the rest of for a curry. I bulk out with chickpeas and loads of veg so I will usually get 5-6 portions out of it

We often use the leftovers in a chicken pie the next day. Other than that we tend to use it for wraps, or with salad at lunch.

I live with hungry teens but after a roast, my choices for the rest of the chicken

Strip meat and

• add to a quesadilla
• add to a curry
• add to a casserole (boil bones for stock)
• add to a pie filling
• add to a stir fry

Otherwise I eat a second roast on Monday for lunch (if there's any roasties left)

That jelly is like a stock pot, scoop it up and put in the fridge then let it melt into the water when you're boiling the carcass.

I run mine through an old muslin at the end and get a deliciously gelatinous clear stock.

I generally have the roast, use some for sandwich fillers with mayo, sweetcorn and onion or make a pasta salad. I make stock and use it for soup or sometimes just stock for other dishes. Bone broth is full of nutrients and good to drink if you are fasting.

Another dish that is popular with leftovers in my house is African chicken peanut stew, google it for the recipe. It works really well with shredded leftover chicken.

I've thought about halving the chicken and using half for peri chicken and the second half for a roast another day.

The cats also get a good bit of meat!

I don't know why so many people rubbish the MN chicken on here. There's loads of people who are either on a low income or just don't want to see good food go to waste. A whole chicken always ends up as really good value for the number of meals I get from it.

I've always used the jelly for gravy before it congeals, I have known some people to save the chicken fat for frying but that's a step too far for me.

We usually get two meals from a large roast chicken for two adults and a toddler. Usually roast meat in gravy made from the juices then chicken pesto pasta with the leftovers
Bits of meat/skin that we don't eat go on the dogs dinner and I often boil up the carcass to make stock that the dogs also get on their dinner for a few days

A whole chicken always ends up as really good value for the number of meals I get from it.

I’m not really rubbishing it. I don’t waste meat and tend to get three meals out of a good-sized chicken.

Just one! OH, me and the dog are greedy fuckers! Sometimes there might be some left for a sandwich but not very often!

2 meals.

Large chicken, feeds my family of 5 (the little ones don’t eat much) and either a sandwich for me and DH the next day, or a chicken pesto pasta for just the kids.

Thanks all, some great ideas here, and now I realise where I've been going wrong with the stock for the soup. Will add the gloopy jelly stuff in next time. A quick resolution to AIBU for binning it!

I use the juices that run-off (the jelly bits), after getting rid of the fat, in a risotto to add flavour

There are only two of us. It goes:

Roast dinner
Chicken and ham pie - does two meals
Curry
Soup, endless bloody soup.

We have roast for 4.
Then sandwiches for 2
Then stir fry /pasta for 4
And stock - which goes into risotto at some point but we add mushrooms etc to that

Obviously the stir fry / pasta has other things in it to make it a meal too

We're a family of 4, 2 adults 2 teens, and honestly at best we get a roast dinner and maybe enough leftovers to do light lunch size portions for 2 out of a 1.5kg chicken. I guess we could make broth/stock as well if we so desired (but we don't).

@Svalberg

I use the juices that run-off (the jelly bits), after getting rid of the fat, in a risotto to add flavour

That’s what I save mine for. I stick it in the freezer until I’m making

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/oven-baked-leek-bacon-risotto

I don't know why so many people rubbish the MN chicken on here.

People don’t rubbish it because it’s poor value or think you can’t do a lot with it. But it’s been hailed on here before as some sort of mysterious beast that can feed a family of 5 for 4 days, whereas in reality you get a lot less than that out of it

@Runningoutofnamestochange bookmarked!

4 of us so a 1.5kg chicken does a roast and generous chicken on flatbread/fajita/stir fry/enchilada/chicken pie/pasta bake and if I can be bothered a soup.

1. Roast chicken dinner on Friday (6 people)
2. Loads of meat left for a chicken and bacon lasagne (6 people)
3. A few slices for 3 of my kids to have a sandwich
4. Stock with a good bit of meat in it for a chicken and veg soup (6 people).

It's actually mad how many meals it covers. I always laughed at the mythical Mumsnet chicken.

Great tip of adding the juices to risotto, would never of thought of that.

Have just googled how to separate the fat and an old Mumsnet thread on the topic came up. Am well prepared now.