CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOG LAYOUTS, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »

Monday, May 18, 2009

Do you enjoy chicken???

Do you or your family enjoy cooking with chicken? Do you have a lot of chicken recipes in your personal family favorites?

If so, you may want to take the opportunity to stock up on some chicken this week at Albertson's (sale runs through 05/19/09)! Family Packs of chicken drumsticks, thighs, leg quarters or split breasts are on sale for just 77 cents per pound. Whole fryers are also included at this sale price. The best buy of this deal (in my opinion) is the split chicken breast. When bone-in chicken breasts are on sale, I like to buy a few packages, cook and debone the breasts and freeze the cooked chicken in freezer bags, portioned for our favorite chicken meals.

This week, I purchased one large package of chicken breasts and was able to add enough chicken to our freezer for a full week of chicken recipes! By only having chicken once or twice a week, that means we are set for about a month of our favorite chicken casseroles.

Try this recipe for making your own cooked chicken! The crock pot will cook away for you while you complete the other tasks of your busy day - and you will also make your house smell great! Or, put your chicken on to cook on the low setting when you go to bed in the evening and it will be finished cooking in the morning.


Crock Pot - Usable Chicken

1 whole chicken or package of your favorite parts
4 cups water
2 Tablespoons parsley
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon minced onion or onion flakes
1 teaspoon seasoning salt (salad seasoning also works)

Place all ingredients on crock-pot. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 3 to 4 hours. I love the fact that I can just put the ingredients in my crock-pot and the chicken cooks by itself while I do other things. If you do not have a crock-pot, simply put the ingredients in a large pot on the back burner of the stove and allow the pot to simmer.

Allow chicken time to cool and then remove from bones. You have several cups of usable chicken all ready for any of your favorite chicken casseroles or recipes.
You can also use frozen chicken parts with this recipe. Cooking the chicken on low allows you to start this cooking before bed at night and have cooked chicken ready in the morning – all ready for use in a casserole for dinner that night! This recipe adds a terrific smell to the kitchen versus simply boiling a pot of chicken parts.



Here are a few recipes for you to use your cooked chicken as well, and possibly help you find a new family favorite or two!



Buying the chicken on sale and adding to your freezer stock helps you to have some easy go-to recipes for busy nights as well as helps your budget on weeks when the sales may be missing your favorite items! Have a terrific week - and thanks for stopping by!

3 comments:

Donetta said...

I got 40 pounds of it and put it up in the freezer. Not this is the all natural chicken THE BEST STUFF!
Chicken freezes well for at least 6 months.
Best investment bar non is a deep freezer.
It is 10* today. All my meat for the summer is in freezer. Kids will be out of school and they do not have to go shopping I am all stocked.
Lunch meat at Albertsons is a good bargain too. use the coupon inside the box take a second trip and even save more. Freeze it up and summer lunches are done. I purchased 50 of them No need to shop for lunch meat in this heat either. By shopping in bulk for those heat sensitive things your family is kept safer.

Keira said...

Hi!
I'm Keira and new to your blog! Love it!! I used to blog (Teaghansmama) but haven't done it in a long time. I'm the mom to two little girls, 2 and 4, and am also a thrifty, SAH, soon to be homeschooling mom.
I love this idea of cooking the chicken in a crockpot. I frequently have a pot of chicken boiling away on the stove and I don't understand why I never thought to cook it in the crockpot with some seasonings! Thanks!!
I'm going to be back later today to browse your archives and will be a regular reader now!
Keira

One Thrifty Mamma said...

Donetta - I'm so glad you were able to stock up on some of your family's favorites before it gets too HOT to get out to the stores much!! I would love to hear how your summer goes as a result of your pre-planning!

Keira - welcome! Thanks for your comment and for stopping by! I hope you enjoy my ideas and that they might help your family! I'd love to hear any feedback you have in the future! :)