Welcome to part 2 of cooking ahead to keep me from eatting out! I hope I shared some recipes or ideas you can take away!
Moneywise Moms had a post last year about cooking chicken once to eat 10 times.
I have done this with ground beef for a while, but had never thought to do this with chicken. I was not able to use many of her recipes because of family diet restrictions and tastes (read picky family) but it gave me a great idea!
The local Latin grocery store has been putting boneless skinless chicken breast on sale for 1.59lb about every 8-10 weeks so I have been buying 20 lbs and cooking a better portion of it
immediately! I do separate 4 full breasts and put them in freezer bags for my favorite crock pot chicken recipe (recipe below (1)). Then I pull out my stock pots and cook up the remaining chicken. I have 4 pots so I separate the chicken and add just enough water to cover them.
I add garlic to the pots and I leave 2 plain. Generally I allow them to boil for 20-25 minutes until they are no longer pink inside.
With the first pot (no garlic) I drain the pot, rinse the chicken and allow it to cool to touch. I chop the chicken into pieces and double bag it in freezer bags for use in broccoli chicken bake (recipe below (2)) and chicken salad.
I follow the same drain, rinse and cool method with pot 2 (with garlic), but I freeze these breasts whole to use in a quick crock pot recipe that only involves pouring spaghetti sauce over the chicken and allowing it to slow cook in the crock pot all day. I add mozzarella chicken 30 minutes before serving and voila!
The third pot (no garlic) is shredded for use in shredded chicken tacos (recipe below (3)), chicken enchilada casserole, chicken quesadillas and chicken salad sandwiches.
The last pot (with garlic) I freeze the breasts whole to use in a quick oven recipe (recipe below (4)).
As with the ground beef I double freezer bag (and reuse outside bags as long as I can). Always mark the bags so you know what and when!! On to the recipes!!
(1) Easy Crock pot Chicken Recipe (with frozen breasts)
Combine 4 Chicken Breast halves,
1 can of cream of chicken,
1 can of cream of mushroom
4 tbs of Roast Seasoning
2 cans of water.
Red potatoes cook wonderfully with this meat dish. Set to cook on low for 8 hours.
(2) Chicken Broccoli Bake
1 Bag of Frozen Broccoli thawed,
4 cups of diced chicken,
1 can of cream of chicken,
1 cup of milk, pepper to taste,
1 cup of mozzarella cheese,
1 cup of cheddar cheese.
Mix ingredients in a 9×11 baking dish and cook for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
(3) Shredded Chicken Tacos
Combine 4 Cups of Shredded Chicken Breast,
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon chili powder
Place chicken breasts and tomato sauce in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then add the salsa,
cumin, and chili powder. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
(4) Feta Chicken
Place cooked chicken breasts in 9×11 dish
Top with juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of lemon peper
1 pkg of Feta Cheese
Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Pasta or rice go fabulously with this dish!
All of these recipes are family favorites and are super easy to pull together since the chicken is already cooked! It saves me time and sanity when I need it most!
Do you have any recipes that can use cook ahead chicken??? Share with us!!
For more frugal ideas visit Life As Mom! She has a great read on inexpensive weddings and I know there will be many other great ideas too!
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