Waste Not Want Not

I made stir fry the other day.

I breasted out 2 chickens (skinny Red Rangers ~remember them? Hence the 2 chickens) Cooked them up in coconut oil & they were yum.

For many folks that would be the end of the story.

They would pitch the carcass & what was left of the meat.

I mean, you cut off all of the breast right?

There couldn't possibly be much more meat on the bones right?

Wrong.

Super wrong.

Uber wrong.

After I breasted them out I put the carcasses in a stock pot, filled it with water & boiled them over night.

The next day I strained out the broth & picked the meat.

I took approx. 2 cups of meat, a couple quarts of broth, added veggies, spices & rice & viola Chicken Rice soup.

Dinner & lunch for the next day or 2.

I also took the other approx. 2 cups of meat & made chicken salad. A few more meals right there.

The remaining 5 quarts of chicken broth is canned & cooling on the counter.

So out of those 2 skinny chickens I eeked out Stir Fry for 4 adults, Chicken Rice soup which has so far provided a lunch & a dinner for 6 (and I still have more) Chicken Salad which has provided lunch for 2 adults (and I still have more) & 5 quarts of broth for future meals.

Boiling down those carcasses netted 4 cups of meat!

In years passed this would have been the SOP (standard operating procedure) of most households.

Folks had a 'waste not, want not' mentality & using all of our resources to feed our family mattered.

These days? Not so much.

I know folks are busier & many families have both parents working outside the home but the waste in our culture is so prevalent.

It saddens me.

And it inspires me to write blog posts like this one encouraging folks to learn how to get more out of their food.

More for their money!

Who doesn't want that???

So next time you think you get all the meat off of your chicken?

Boil it down & see how much you missed!

Even if you don't can you still could whip up a fabulous batch of soup, some chicken salad, shred up some meat for tacos, etc.

Waste not! Want not!

Blessings.