I'm a veggie - talk to me about chicken

[Lottie4]

Money is very tight at the moment, but I'm thinking ahead to Easter weekend and meals for MIL and Mum which we can do very cheap. I'm a veggie, I only cook meat I haven't got to fiddle with, ie cut up, but in this instance am thinking DH could deal with.

I've read chicken can go a long way. How much would one cost? Would it stretch to six portions with maybe a little left over for a sandwiches, stir fry? Also, what would you do with it in the circumstances with very cheap things on the side? MIL won't eat anything fancy, so would have to be with veggies or a cold tea. My Mum is a little more flexible so with veggies, tea, salad, pasta, spiced up things. We will be seeing them separately as both together doesn't work!!

Rather than chicken what about a turkey crown. Easy to cook, leftovers OK for stir-fry or sandwiches. Roast potatoes and ratatouille perhaps.

I'm veggie and rarely cook meat that I need to touch! If I'm cooking for in-laws there's 5 meat eaters and we usually buy a cooked chicken from the supermarket on the day it will get eaten and DH does that manly carving thing

Thanks for your replies. Can either of you give me an idea how much a turkey crown or whole chicken will cost.

Whole chicken price depends on size and quality eg small free range will cost more than large economy one. If you use mysupermarket.co.uk and put in 'whole chicken' and see where is cheapest today. It's usually Lidl or Morrisons ime.

You can get a decent monster for about £8 from the butchers. If you want it to go a long way, don't get a cheapo supermarket one - they shrink massively in the over (possibly plumped up with water??). Use the carcass to make soup.

If you go to the butchers, they can prepare it for you and give you tips on cooking it.

Don't forget to take the giblets out.

www.girlsgonechild.net/2015/02/eat-well-vegetarians-guide-to-cooking.html

Aldi Turkey crown is about £7 for a 2 kg one

If you want to stretch a roast chicken, do plenty of roast potatoes, parsnips, cheap veg like carrots, savoy cabbage, frozen peas? And a pile of sage and onion stuffing balls (use packet mix, basics is about 20p)

You could double up the veg and then use the leftovers for bubble and squeak with fried eggs and baked beans (my favourite post-roast nearly free meal
I just chop some onion and fry it and then chuck in all the leftover veg (dice it up) and mix and fry til crispy. I like one egg and a small helping of baked beans with it. DH likes to pep it up with chilli powder and smoked paprika.

Delegate pudding and wine - one to each of your guests if you're skint.

Sorry had to go out! A whole rotisserie chicken is about £5-£6, usually cheaper than raw per kg I think.