AIBU to start to believe in the magical Mumsnet chicken?

[HootOwl]

Maybe it is actually real?! 🐔😆

I roasted an (admittedly huge) chicken and also this was all only to feed me and two small children so not huge portions but from one chicken we had:

Roast dinner
Chicken fricassee
Chicken risotto
Chicken pasta bake
Paprika chicken
Chicken soup
Crispy chicken skin (snack)

Will make the effort to roast a whole one more often! I swear it only had two breasts, two legs and two wings...

@Peachandpearl

My really easy leftover chicken recipe is make oven chips, then fry off some mushrooms, onions and chicken, boil some frozen peas (I do these in the microwave), and heat up some ready make curry sauce. Then I mix it all together.

Brown rice, satay sauce, stir fried Savoy cabbage and leftover chicken. Amazing.

Or I make coronation chicken to put on baked potatoes.

I also do honey mustard chicken which is just leftover chicken cooked in a little butter, Dijon mustard and a drizzle of honey and some seasoning, at the end stir through a little bit of double cream or creme fraiche. Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans.

These all sound lush. Thank you!

@londonmummy1966

If you have little children then build your own wraps are popular. Cut some veg into thin batons (carrot cucumber courgette pepper all popular) put on a plate with some shredded chicken and lettuce leaves. Children can the build a wrap - spread with a little mayo, line with lettuce leaves , veg and chicken down the middle and roll up. Was a very easy way to get veg in them.

Quick chicken and broccoli lasagne - spread a thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of dish, then a layer of lasagne sheets. Mix cooked broccoli and chicken into tomato sauce - layer of sauce, shredded mozzarella, pasta - repeat and end with pasta topped with mozzarella.

Love these as well, thank you!

I need to buy another chicken. 🐓

@DrinkFeckArseGirls

chesirecat99 I like crispy c hicken skin but I doubt I’d be in a mood to ever buy “cock scratchings”!!

🤣🤣🤣

You got all that out of a 2kg chicken? Seriously?

All those meals for 3 people. Do you eat like sparrows,

I cook 3 x 2kg chickens for one main meal for 7 of us. Right, I've older teens but if you're getting 6 full meals x 3 people, that's 18 dinners out of one chicken

@OddsNSodsBitsNBobs

I've got a 2kg Chicken roasting on the oven just now. It will all be eaten tonight 2 adults and 2 older teens, none of us are over eaters either. Honestly the portions must be chickenless!

A 2kg chicken has about 1.4kg of meat on it. A health portions is around 100g

A 2kg chicken has about 1.4kg of meat on it. A health portions is around 100g

I refuse to live in a world where a 'portion' is less than one average sized chicken breast. Absolutely not.

Ermmmm, it's chicken! 100g going to equate to half a handful. To be fair or dinner was just roast chicken in tortilla wraps with salt, no sides. I'm 5ft9 and 9stone, DH 6ft 2 and 13 stone, kids similar. We exercise. We are healthy thanks!

I don't like the taste of the chicken when used as seconds. It has to be disguised with big flavours :(

I was being generous with 100g portion sizes, dieticians recommend 60-90g www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/nutrition-diet/portion-size

@earsup

Soup...just keep adding water !!!

Oh yes I do this! I boil the whole carcass down with onions, leeks, carrots, celery, celery salt, garlic, saffron, parsley, oregano and peppercorns. I simmer it for 8-9 hours until the bones have pretty much disintegrated then strain it and when I want soup I heat it up, throw some chopped carrots and leeks in for a few mins and then roast chicken pieces right before serving. Nothing better when you feel poorly!

@daisyjgrey

A 2kg chicken has about 1.4kg of meat on it. A health portions is around 100g

I refuse to live in a world where a 'portion' is less than one average sized chicken breast. Absolutely not.

Fair point. A chicken breast weighs 150g ish.

@OddsNSodsBitsNBobs

Ermmmm, it's chicken! 100g going to equate to half a handful. To be fair or dinner was just roast chicken in tortilla wraps with salt, no sides. I'm 5ft9 and 9stone, DH 6ft 2 and 13 stone, kids similar. We exercise. We are healthy thanks!

Did you not have anything else in the wraps? See I think that's where the difference is with meat portions

Chicken + mayo in a wrap - need more chicken
Chicken + mayo + salad + tomatoes/peppers/cucumber/gherkins - less chicken

@Thethreecs

You got all that out of a 2kg chicken? Seriously?

All those meals for 3 people. Do you eat like sparrows,

I cook 3 x 2kg chickens for one main meal for 7 of us. Right, I've older teens but if you're getting 6 full meals x 3 people, that's 18 dinners out of one chicken

Well yes. 🤷🏻‍♀️ One breast was so huge that it filled up me and my two kids for the roast dinner, obviously with roast potatoes and veg too, but we were all stuffed.

Used another breast for the chicken risotto. One leg each for the fricassee and paprika chicken. Scraps from my (bad) carving - so lots of them - for the pasta bake and to go in the chicken soup.

There was plenty of stock for the soup and the fricassee sauce and risotto base.

Like I said my kids are small and I eat standard portions so it's not that shocking. I can't imagine how anybody could eat a whole breast or leg off this huge bird as a single portion.

I mean my kids generally eat around half an adult portion each so it's effectively 6 x 2 so 12 adult portions. Some meals were obviously more "meat heavy" than others but a PP said a bird this size has approx 1.4kg meat and a normal portion is 100g so that means if anything our portions were over-average!

A large chicken does a maximum of three meals for me and DH: one roast; one stir fry type dish, and possibly leftovers for wraps/sandwiches.

If I’m having a Sunday roast then I want my portion of meat to be about 200g, never mind what dieticians might say! (DH and I are both very active and slim, by the way.)

When I was cooking for myself, husband and young son a large chicken was an economical buy.
It used to make a Sunday roast, then I would strip all the meat off the carcass, dice it quite small and use it to make dishes such as chicken pie with a cream sauce, chicken and mushroom risotto, chicken & mushroom in cream sauce served with rice, pasta Alfredo, chicken & mushroom vol au vents, chicken & bacon pasta bake.

I’d get two of those meals from the remains of one chicken. Then I would boil up the carcass to make a good stock, use it in the risotto or sauce, and make a vegetable soup with the rest. I’d use the soup as a first course before omelettes, or for lunches, so that was another meal from the chicken.

All this was time consuming of course, but I was only working part time, it wouldn’t be so easy with a full time job. Also, I think that over the years portion sizes have grown, so the expectation of large portions is widespread.

We're the same. I'm getting a bit fed up of eating leftovers all week though?! Fave meal with leftover chicken is chicken and black beans wraps, or chicken, black bean and kale soup, both bbc good food recipes.

@Indecisivelurcher

We're the same. I'm getting a bit fed up of eating leftovers all week though?! Fave meal with leftover chicken is chicken and black beans wraps, or chicken, black bean and kale soup, both bbc good food recipes.

Ooh thanks will check these out.

@AdaColeman

When I was cooking for myself, husband and young son a large chicken was an economical buy. It used to make a Sunday roast, then I would strip all the meat off the carcass, dice it quite small and use it to make dishes such as chicken pie with a cream sauce, chicken and mushroom risotto, chicken & mushroom in cream sauce served with rice, pasta Alfredo, chicken & mushroom vol au vents, chicken & bacon pasta bake.

I’d get two of those meals from the remains of one chicken. Then I would boil up the carcass to make a good stock, use it in the risotto or sauce, and make a vegetable soup with the rest. I’d use the soup as a first course before omelettes, or for lunches, so that was another meal from the chicken.

All this was time consuming of course, but I was only working part time, it wouldn’t be so easy with a full time job. Also, I think that over the years portion sizes have grown, so the expectation of large portions is widespread.

I'm a single parent and have a full time job. Yes the chicken stock etc takes a long time to boil down really nicely but it's not that much work to do. I think lots of the recipes on here are good quick fixes so thank you everyone who has shared!

If you have a slow cooker or pressure cooker you can also do stock in them

[quote Postdatedpandemic]I was being generous with 100g portion sizes, dieticians recommend 60-90g www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/nutrition-diet/portion-size[/quote]

I didn't say your facts were wrong, I said that there are limits to this madness and sharing an average sized chicken breast between two adults is absurd. I would be laughed out of my own kitchen at the very notion.

@PattyPan

If you have a slow cooker or pressure cooker you can also do stock in them

I was thinking about this, I'd like to do it in the slow cooker just so I don't spend a million pounds on the gas hob being on for ages but does it actually do it properly? I'm never convinced by anything I've ever made in a slow cooker, I need convincing!

@PattyPan

I don't know why people think this is a MN thing, it's not. It's discussed on plenty of other sites like the MSE forum where it is treated as a perfectly normal thing! Looking at the Sainsbury's website a pre-cooked standard sized chicken says it serves 5 so assuming 2 adults and 2 children it's easy to get a roast dinner using around 3/5 of it, then put the other 2/5 into a dish with pieces of chicken like pasta bake, curry, risotto etc, and then use the carcass for soup. I think a lot of people have lost sight of what a portion of meat is - it's about the size of your palm or a deck of cards.

It's not even a MSE thing, but traditionally how people ate when chicken and other meat was very expensive and people didn't expect to be able to eat large portions (and a modern day chicken breast is a large portion) several times a week.

Are people not trying to reduce their meat consumption for environmental reasons these days?

Roast on Sunday
Pie on Monday
Soup or traditionally something like rissoles (like a croquette I think, the last bits of meat and whatever veg you have, mixed with potato or white sauce? and breaded) on Tuesday.

I cook 3 x 2kg chickens for one main meal for 7 of us. Right, I've older teens but if you're getting 6 full meals x 3 people, that's 18 dinners out of one chicken that is greed not need. Unless of course you have very little else with it.

@daisyjgrey yes the slow cooker is perfect for stock.

I often don't bother though. Stock cubes are cheap and easy, and if there's any leftover gravy you can chuck that in too.