Stretching Your Food Dollar

Can't you just smell it? There is nothing like the delicious aroma of an oven-stuffer roaster. It fills your kitchen with a feeling of old-time comfort.

Today, with the prices of everything rising, stretching your food dollar becomes even more important.

I have spoken before about the benefits of cooking an oven stuffer roaster but here I go again. If you are not convinced that this is a great way to get more out of your food dollars, read on.

Oven stuffer roasters were on sale for .99 cents a pound. Feeding a family of 5 is expensive and lately, it seems more so.

Dinner #1 we enjoyed this roaster with a can of vegetables (on sale for .39) , about 1/2 lb. of spaghetti that was broken in fours, mixed with fresh garlic and parsley and about 1/2 stick of butter. A tasty, easy meal.

The roaster was seasoned with a few stalks of chopped celery, freshly chopped parsley, garlic and onion and some salt,pepper and paprika.

Even with my hungry family, there was still a good amount of chicken leftover.

I removed the bigger pieces of chicken, even managed to set aside some scraps for my chicken-loving kitty, and then put the carcus into a huge ziploc bag to use again.

The next night I took the leftover chicken, chopped it, seasoned it with some chili powder and garlic and used it in yummy quesadillas . (dinner #2)

The following day it was time to use that carcus. Homemade Chicken Soup would be perfect on a day where it was feeling like winter outside even though the calendar says spring. (dinner #3)

The leftover chicken roaster yielded about 5 quarts of soup.(dinner or lunch #4,5,6,etc.) That is amazing! Celery, carrots, parsley, garlic, onion and of course some pasta and I had really stretched that one chicken roaster to make several meals.

Homemade soup is great for lunch or as a part of a hearty dinner. You can pair homemade chicken soup with fresh bread, grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches or just about anything and make it into a meal.

All for pennies! I like this.

You can even strain the broth, put it in a freezer container and have chicken stock for use in other recipes. I personally do not like canned soup or canned chicken broth. It is way too high in sodium and even if it is on sale, it is still far less money to make your own.

You can even cook a chicken roaster in your slow cooker. How much easier can it be to make it homemade, save money and get several meals out of one?