I have this thing about roast chicken. Maybe it’s something from my childhood but the smell of a roasting chicken in the oven makes me feel like a Bisto kid when I walk into a house. It’s the ultimate Sunday roast for me, and I normally cook it once or twice a fortnight. Most people don’t realise how frugal a roast chicken can be, maybe because they throw away the carcass after the main event (the roast dinner) or perhaps because they just see the initial cost of buying a chicken. Have you figured out that if you’re careful a roast chook will last for 3 meals?

You can expect to pay between €3-€5 for a whole medium chicken in supermarkets and butchers. If you are careful about how you treat the chicken, you will be able to eke out your meal and be left with very little food waste as a bonus. The vegetables mentioned here are only suggestions; make the most of the offers available where you shop, and buy what’s in season. Using value ranges in the shops at the moment, the list of ingredients below will cost you under €9.50. Considering you will get 2 main meals and 1 lunch for 5 people from these ingredients that will cost you under €0.63 per portion.

So here’s the plan. Purchase the items on the shopping list below; and over the next week, I’ll share the 3 meals that you’ll get from 1 roast chicken.  Read More →