How To Feed Your Family For A Week With One Chicken

Last week I set myself a challenge - to get a weeks' worth of dinners from one roasted chicken. And I not only achieved it, but I also uncovered some delicious meals that I will definitely make again! We are a family of an adult and a teenager with very healthy appetites, and we even had some lunches and leftovers that I froze, so a single parent family with several younger children would have easily got by on the same quantities as us. Larger families could stretch the meals to their requirements, bulked out with bread or additional starchy vegetables if needed. This was a Pams size 20 frozen chicken on special for $9.99.

Day One: Roast Chicken. A simple roast meal of chicken, potatoes, frozen mixed vegetables and gravy. Normally we would have more chicken on our plates, but it just isn't necessary.

Day Two: Chicken Pie. A creamy pie filling with shredded chicken breast and peas, topped with mashed potato and a little grated cheese. Yum.

Day Three: Chicken Pizza. Homemade pizza base topped with tomato purée, shredded chicken, grated carrot and a little grated cheese. I loved the end result, but making the pizza base was fiddly. I think next time it will be easier.

Day Four: Chicken and Rice Soup. I put the carcass, with plenty of meat still on the bones, in a crockpot filled with water overnight. The next day I stripped all the meat off the bones and added rice and veggies to the meaty broth. Served with homemade bread.

Day Five: Roast Vegetable 'Soup'. I put the chicken bones back into the crockpot and got another batch of chicken stock out of them overnight. I then removed the bones and added roasted pumpkin and potato, that I had prepared earlier, to the crockpot and let it simmer all day. When I went to mash the vegetables into the stock at dinnertime it turned out much thicker than I had expected, but I ran with it. This was delicious thanks to the crispy/oily/caramelised nature of the vegetables. You could make it with raw pumpkin and potato, but it definitely wouldn't have the same depth of flavour.

Day Six: Roast Vegetable Red Curry Soup. I took half of the leftover roast vegetable/chicken broth mash and added to it a can of coconut cream and a tbsp of red curry paste. I think I could eat this soup every day of my life! Served with homemade bread.

Day Seven: Leftover Fritters. Leftover mixed veggies and gravy from Day One, mixed together with roast vegetable/chicken broth mash and egg/flour, pan fried in oil.

So there you have it! A weeks worth of dinners (and some lunches) from one humble chook. I also have some chicken pie and rice soup in the freezer for quick meals later on. This personifies Frugal '14 entirely. Why buy several different types of meat for the week when you can get by with only one, bulked out with vegetables and flour/rice staples? It also is a good reminder of how much money you can save by making everything from scratch - and it's much healthier too. If you also served porridge for breakfast, and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch the days you don't have leftovers, then you're looking at an extremely low bill at the checkout. I hope this inspires you to set a challenge for yourself and get creative in the kitchen - and save yourself $$$ on groceries at the same time!

Tip: Freeze leftover tomato purée in an ice tray.

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What To Do When You're In a Dire Financial Situation Part III

Click here for part one and here for part two of the series.

In this post I would like to share meals that are still extremely frugal but take a little more preparation time, and contain more nutrition.  It would be a good idea to mix up your families' meals from those in this post in the series, and those from part two.

One word:  beans.  I don't mean baked beans, I mean those black, red and white dried beans you see in the bulk bins.  They're an extremely cheap and nutritious food which can be used in a wide variety of recipes.  In many developing countries beans are a staple, and even in the US - Americans eat a great deal of Mexican food, and beans will feature regularly on the menu.  You can buy canned beans, and you might choose to have a couple of cans as backup, but it is so much cheaper to buy them dried.  

It's a common misconception that dried beans take a lot of work to prepare, but this couldn't be further from the truth.   All you need to do is is place your dried beans in a large bowl of water - two or three times as much water as beans, and leave them to soak overnight.  In the morning they will have re-hydrated, and be ready to cook.

Rice and beans together also create a complete protein, meaning it's a pretty good meal. 

If you have a slow cooker, this is a perfect way to cook beans.  You could cook them with just about anything you have - canned tomatoes, vegetables you need to use up, leftovers... and serve over rice.  If you don't have a slow cooker, the same results can be achieved by cooking on the stove in a pot on low heat, but you will have to hover over it, as opposed to the slow cooker that can be left.

There are seemingly endless recipes to be found on the internet, but here are a bunch to get you started:

• $3 - $4 rice and beans meals
• 5 cheap and easy rice and beans recipes
• 35 delicious rice and beans meals
• Simply recipes rice and beans
• Vegetarian rice and beans recipes
• Carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers

Chickpeas make a great meal - coconut milk, curry paste, chickpeas, cubed potato, peas, onion and chicken stock mixed together - yum!  Or here are a couple of delicious recipes:

• Easy chickpea curry with coconut rice
• African curried coconut soup

Next is the humble chook.  Many people don't know that a whole chicken can be cooked in the microwave.  It will come out very similar to having been roasted, but it won't have cost nearly as much for the 30 minutes of microwave power as opposed to the 1hr+ of oven time.  Of course, if you can combine roasting a chicken with baking other items at the same time, this is a great idea too.

The first night is chicken served with lots of roast or mashed potatoes and whatever frozen veg you have, and if your budget can stretch, a packet of gravy (or make your own with the drippings).  However much chicken you normally serve each person, give them half as much, and bulk out their plate with the other foods.

Night two could be chicken pot pie, and night three homemade pizza with whatever other toppings you have handy.

On night four place an onion and the chicken carcass, with some meat still on it, in a large pot with 3L water and boil for an hour.  Take the carcass out (be sure you have got ALL bones out), pull any remaining meat off and put back in the pot, add 1 cup of rice and whatever vegetables you have to the pot, and boil for another half an hour.  Serve with homemade bread.

And finally, boil the meatless carcass with an onion and a carrot - cover with water and simmer for an hour or two to make chicken stock - strain and use to make more soup or freeze to use later.

You have just got a LOT of meals out of one chicken.

Legumes are another cheap eat.  Try a simple dahl, or a slightly fancier dahl and serve with homemade flatbread.  Lentils, barley and split peas can be added to soups to bulk them out.


Want CHEAP vegetarian meals that taste like meat meals?  Try these:

• 'Chicken Fried Steak'
• Vegan Sausage Patties

Here are a few more cheap meal/snack ideas to try:

• One packet of plain crackers, crushed, mixed with one can of cream of chicken soup.  Mix together, and drop spoonfuls into an oiled frying pan, flip once, and enjoy!
• Homemade sushi
• Stir-fries with any vegetables that need using up, with a little oil and soy sauce, served with rice
• Carrot and coriander falafels
• Homemade rice paper rolls with vegetables and vermicelli

Click here for Part I of the series.

The next post in this series will be on making cheap meat meals stretch.

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What To Do When You're In a Dire Financial Situation Part II

Click here for Part I of the series.

When you're in dire financial straits, often the only variable in your budget will be the grocery bill.  With the following meal ideas, you will be able to bring your grocery bill down lower than you ever thought possible, leaving more money for bills, debt, or other essential living costs. 

This is not gourmet food, and it probably won't excite your soul.  It is however largely unprocessed, will fill empty tummies, and will help keep the wolf from the door.  I've broken it down into two sections - absolute rock bottom meals, and those which take a bit more time to prepare and therefore offer a little bit more flavour and nutrition.

The first rule of thumb when reducing your grocery bill is to cut out meat, or at least seriously reduce the frequency that you eat it.  There will always be debate about whether eating meat is good or bad for us, but all you need to know for now is that cutting out (or severely reducing) meat for several weeks or even several months is not going to do your health any harm.  Your family is hungry, and you have no money.  Your goal is to fix their hunger, not satisfy their cravings.  If anyone complains about the lack of meat, tell them that if they bring home the bacon, you'll cook it!

What you need to do is focus on foods that will fill you up, as cheaply as possible.  Rice needs to become your best friend.  As well as bread, pasta, potatoes and other root vegetables - yep, all the foods that get crucified by low-carb lovers.  Again - you're not reading this blog because you're looking for delicious superfoods recipes that fit in nicely with your diet preferences.  You're here because you're in survival mode.  Add to your filling foods things like beans, lentils, eggs, tinned tomatoes and tuna, vegetables, baking ingredients... and you can come up with plenty of meals.

 
Rockbottom Tummy Fillers:


Breakfasts:

• Porridge made with water and salt.  If you can afford it, top with cinnamon, sugar or jam, or with cheap, seasonal fruit.

• Toast with peanut butter or jam 

• Fried eggs on toast

• Breakfast roti

• Banana pancakes 

Lunches:

• Peanut butter sandwiches (remember to bake your own bread)

• Mashed egg sandwiches

• Toasted sandwiches

• Leftovers

• Carrot sticks, boiled eggs, seasonal fruit, banana bread, cheap crackers/biscuits, homemade baking

Dinners:

• Rice and peanut butter warmed together (1 - 2 cups of rice and 2 - 3 tbsp peanut butter per person) - satay rice.

• Corn fritters - simple recipe here

• Scrambled eggs on toast (use water not milk)

• Spaghetti or baked beans on toast 

• Creamed corn on toast

• Tinned tuna (buy it in oil for more flavour) and rice

• Baked potatoes with cheap, simple toppings 

• Thick potato slices baked or microwaved and topped with whatever toppings you have on hand, served with frozen vegetables

• Pasta with olive oil mixed through

• Pasta with tinned tomatoes or pasta sauce mixed through

• Pasta with tinned tomatoes/pasta sauce, grated carrot and peas

• Pasta with tinned tomatoes and tuna, served with frozen vegetables

• Tinned tomatoes heated up and eaten as soup, with toast

• Homemade soup and toast

• Crispy oven-roasted potatoes, served with frozen vegetables

• Fried rice - with just about ANYTHING added

• Rice topped with hot sauce/sweet chilli sauce/tomato sauce/bbq sauce

• Rice topped with soup

• Mashed vegetables with onion gravy

• Homemade pizza with homemade bases and anything you have in the fridge

• Homemade pizza with tinned spaghetti and fine breadcrumbs on top

• Homemade pizza with tomato sauce, sliced cooked potato and herbs on top

• Potato, pumpkin and pea curry

• Roast vegetables with gravy

• Roast vegetables blended with homemade chicken stock to make soup, served with toast

 
Spend Money To Save Money:

• Buy a bottle of your favourite flavoured sauce and make it a rule that the only time you can use it is when you've accidentally made something that is so unpalatable that you're considering not eating it.  A delicious sauce can mask just about anything when you keep in mind that your goal is just to fill your stomach and give yourself energy.

 
Food Tip:

• Buy smooth peanut butter, weight for weight it contains more peanut butter than crunchy peanut butter.  You can always add your own chopped nuts to the mix if you still want it crunchy.

Next up: Slightly more involved/nutritious but still cheap recipes.

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What To Do When You're In a Dire Financial Situation Part I

It goes without saying that if you are experiencing extreme financial hardship, then you need to ask for help.  There are many organisations out there who may be able to help you, depending on your circumstances.  WINZ may be able to assist with emergency benefits/allowances, or food grants.  Your local foodbank should be able to offer you a food parcel if you meet their criteria.  Agencies like the Salvation Army may be able to help, and often can offer free bread and other bakery items given to them by supermarkets.  Be honest with your family and friends and accept offers of assistance.  You can always pay them back later, or pay it forward if they prefer.

Financial hardship can occur for many reasons, and it can be both long-term or short term.  Maybe you've had an unexpected bill or two arrive which has been enough to tip an already tight budget over the edge.  Illness or injury can happen out of the blue and will often cause a major change in circumstances and finances.  Even starting a new job can catch people out - there is usually a delay between starting work and your first pay packet.  Whatever the reason - and whether you are entitled to emergency assistance or not - there are things you can do to bring your budget down to the absolute bare bones.  It's not pretty, and it won't be a lot of fun, but it may be the difference between make or break.

First write down your budget - all the money you have coming in, and everything you spend money on.  Then cross out everything except the ABSOLUTE bare minimum.  No SKY, no dvd's, no coffees, no landline and internet package (you probably need a cheap mobile phone and cheap pre-pay monthly package for emergencies, contact with employers, and access to the internet), no eating out, no new clothes, no gym, no alcohol (it goes without saying no smoking/drugs/gambling)... NOTHING except the basics - shelter and associated expenses, food, transportation, schooling, medical and insurance.  I know people try to save money by not having car and home/contents insurance, but to me this is tempting fate and can end up costing you more in the long run.  Unless of course you decide to get rid of the car altogether!   

Everything else is a luxury you can't afford right now.

Now for reducing your expenses even further:

• Need to go to the doctor or see a nurse?  Look up your local Hauora clinic.  Maori medical clinics are not just for Maori, and are heavily funded.  Most offer free medical care for under-18 year olds, and extremely cheap visits for everyone else.  For example, this is the Tauranga Hauora.

• Need a smear test/contraception?  Go to your local Family Planning Clinic.  Appointments for under-22 year olds are free, and only $5 for everyone else if you have a Community Services Card.  The contraceptive pill and condoms are $5, but you'll usually find they give you these for free.

• Discover vinegar - it can be used for cleaning, fabric softener, dishwasher rinse-aid, rinsing your hair... oh and of course, cooking!

• Once the family has finished dinner and their various activities for the night, everyone usually settles in front of the tv.  So turn off all the lights.  They don't need to be on, they're just burning power.  Light a candle or two - it's cosy, and cheap.

• Most generic budgets include an allowance for new clothes - but do you really need more?  Most of us have plenty of clothes and could go at least a year or two without having to buy anything.  If you really need something - there is Savemart, and opshops.

• If you can, get someone you know to cut your hair.  If you can't, look up your local polytechnic and find out when their hairdressing school opens up for real clients.  It will take longer than usual, but it's dirt cheap and will be conducted under the watchful eye of tutors.

• Use baking soda to brush your teeth (it will whiten them also). 

• Check in with your household to make sure everyone is turning the tap off between rinses when brushing their teeth.

• Cut old up clothes into squares and replace everything paper - paper towels, tissues, sanitary pads.  Some people even make their own 'toilet cloth'. 

• Get out library books for entertainment.  It's free, and you will learn something. 

• Keep a bucket in your bathroom and catch the water from the shower while you wait for it to warm up.  Use this to water your vegetable plants that you are growing to supplement your grocery bill.

• Buy the above mentioned vegetable seedlings from your farmers market, they will often sell things like lettuce for .20c each.  A couple of plants could keep your family in salad for the whole summer.  Places like The Warehouse will mark down tomato plants and the like when they're looking a little mottley - once you get them home and in soil they'll take off again.

• Barter.

Click here for Part II of the series.

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