Do you have a family with BIG eaters aka "One" chicken does NOT = 3 meals???

[Thystle]

Whether it's all of you or one of you. Hubby got a BIG appetite? You do? House full of bottomless teens? PG? Kids super picky? Health issues?

You are heavy or slender, strive for healthy eating or are a junk food addict, have kids or don't.



Are you part of the one chicken does NOT = many meals tribe?


Do you read about how one roast makes 5 meals and wonder how that can be possible?


Don't WANT to have to stretch everything with more grains?


Veggies and fruit not as cheap as you read about others getting?



A wee tad frustrated?




Come on in and share your woes and thoughts.

[Caneel]

Hubby got a BIG appetite? - check, try a HUGE-must-have-a-tape-worm- because-I-don't-know-where-he-puts-it-appetite

Super picky? - check, picky in the sense that he will not eat prepared food or almost nothing that comes out of a box. example - will not eat Rice-A-Roni or mac and cheese from a box.

Kids - check, one toddler who eats (of chooses not to) eat whatever we are eating.


Are you part of the one chicken does NOT = many meals tribe? check, one roasted chicken IS a meal at our house


Do you read about how one roast makes 5 meals and wonder how that can be possible? - YES!

Veggies and fruit not as cheap as you read about others getting? - check, produce is the largest part of our grocery bill

[aircantu1]

Ha! Yes -- last time I made a whole chicken I told my husband "how can this possibly feed people for days?"

We usually have enough left for one person's lunch the next day. Certainly not enough to create soup or pot pie or any of the other 2nd and 3rd day chicken creations I read about.

[mtm]

the only way our roast chicken lasts more than one meal/one lunch is by making soup with it.

[CarrieMF]

Are you part of the one chicken does NOT = many meals tribe?

depends on where the chicken comes from. Roast chickens(generally 3-4lbs) from the store we need 2 for a meal. Roast chickens(generally 8-9lbs) we get from a guy I went to high school with we need 1 for a meal. We may have enough leftovers for the girls to take to school once. Then if I have room & feel like it I'll keep the carcas for soup.

My girls love roast chicken/turkey. My oldest is having her bday party here tomorrow so I'm cooking a 20lb turkey right now for turkey sandwiches for it. There'll be my 3 girls, my dd's 7 friends she invited & me. There better be leftover turkey for sandwiches for them for school next week.lol

Roasts, are the same. We don't have to buy beef as we get it from my parents. The roasts we get are usually 4lbs, we have a couple that are 5lb roasts(and nice prime rib & sirloin ones too). As long as there isn't alot of fat or bone we can usually get 2-3 meals out of a roast, especially if I make popovers.

[Montana Mom]

Oh yeah, this is us! I will make a casserole and it will not last more than one meal. DP will just eat until the food is gone. Its verrrry frustrating sometimes.

[beansmama]

Well, we are veg. and not big eaters, but i think that the people who make chicken last for that long use it as a side dish - not a main coarse. Like a little bit in soup, add some to bean enchilladas, stir fry...more of a condiment or side...but yah, i think it's pretty impossible to have a chicken (or whatever kind of meat) be served as the main coarse and expect it to last more than 1 meal!

[beansmama]

Originally Posted by Montana Mom

Oh yeah, this is us! I will make a casserole and it will not last more than one meal. DP will just eat until the food is gone. Its verrrry frustrating sometimes.

Oh my DH will do this too!

I'm not the mom who puts food on the table and lets people help themselves (my tables not even big enough for that ). I serve up the plates and then Pack lunch for DH with extras, and me (and maybe dd) will eat the rest for lunch the next day. This doesn't ALWAYS work! If we eat too early and stay up too late, we may polish off the "leftovers" that same night...but it typically works!

[Marcee]

My DH is 6 foot 8 and eats A LOT. My oldest son is 11 wears a size 11 mens shoe and is 5foot 5. Grayson is wear a size 9 mens, Barrett is 8 and wears a size 7 mens. So they all eat A LOT too.

2 chickens plus a side dish and veggies and bread would be A meal at our house. Left overs are never an issue here. My kids and hubby eat all of the time.

[enkmom]

Any leftover chicken at my house gets made into chicken salad, which my ds eats the next day for lunch (and a tiny lunch at that).

[chely7425]

This is totally us!!!! I swear my boyfriend eats enough for 3 people...

[nathansmum]

Depends on the chicken size here - I used to wonder HOW I could get 3 meals out my free-range chicken coz it would all get eaten in one sitting. Then, I discovered a different free-range chicken which was quite a bit larger and it did do 3 meals - I was quite surprised. The third meal was actually making a crock pot of stock for the freezer which I will use in about 2-3 soup meals. The dog even got a huge meal after stock had been made with all the goopy bits and cartilage etc.

[Mama Dragon]

LOL When a recipe says it makes 4 serving, I triple it. We have 3 adults, 2 pre teens and 2 little ones who don't eat much yet. I'm scared for the time I have 4 older kids!!!

[Devaskyla]

Originally Posted by Marcee

My DH is 6 foot 8 and eats A LOT.

I read this sentence to dh and he asked if I'd been posting again. He's a huge eater. Actually, we all eat quite a bit at supper. Mostly because we keep weird hours, so we have breakfast and then just snack throughout the day. My mom just doesn't get how much we eat around here. We easily go through the 3.3lb frozen lasagna's at one meal, usually having something else to eat with it. We always use at least 2 side dish packages, plus veggies and our main food. When we have pasta for supper, we use 1/2-3/4 of the package, depending on how big it is.

We almost never have left-overs. On the rare occasion that it happens, dh either eats it for a late night snack or I end up tossing it a few days later because we all forgot that such a thing existed.

We're on a really tight budget and it is soooo hard to be sure everyone gets enough. Usually, dh ends up still hungry after supper because we just didn't have enough. I can't wrap my head around people having *soup* for supper. That wouldn't even be a snack around here.

[bwylde]

If I want a chicken to last more than one meal, I have to buy pieces and portion them out as a whole chicken doesn't last long. For one, we can only afford itty bitty chickens (like 2lbs) so we have enough for a meal and could stretch the rest out for soup, but it doesn't usually happen. However even when we splurge and get a rotisserie chicken, it rarely lasts two meals. I come from a family of pickers and one of my favorite things to pick is chicken (well, turkey too ). I also clean things down to the bone, not letting any go to waste. That kind of grosses DH out, but that's just how things were growing up. I luv chicken

[superstella]

My dh eats like no one I've ever seen! Like if I give him 2 sandwiches for lunch, he asks if he's on a diet and asks where the rest is. So definitely no more than one meal per chicken. 1 roast is LUCKY if it feeds everyone, with a pound of noodles and a veggie.

[jennlyn]

I think when you purchase a roasted chicken, they are smaller than if you buy a chicken and roast it yourself. Usually I buy a 5lb chicken, but the oven-stuffer roasters are even larger. Out of the 5lb chicken- if I want it to last- we eat all but one breast at the first meal. The remaining breast goes into a recipe that calls for cooked chicken. If I want a soup meal, then I'd boil the chicken which would make it three meals. I do have a couple of big eaters, but I still think there needs to be balance in a meal. You can fill up on other things at the table , not just the meat. If I want leftovers, I do not put that portion on the serving platter. Thus when the meat is gone, eat more side dishes.

[Sonnenwende]

I have trouble finding a whole chicken that weighs 5lbs or more. :

[Thystle]

Ok your "average" chain grocery store chicken weigh about 3lbs (giver or take a 1/2 pound). And some of that is bones and gizzards.


I normally roast two at a time, we eat al the meat we want... then I might have a bit of dark leftover for a sandwich or two the next day. I then make "free" bone broth with the carcass.





Some people do NOT believe in "less meat = healthier", just as some do not think being "Veg" is ideal either. Just go check out the "Tradional Foods" forum.


I live in a land locked state where "typical" grocery stores meat CAN be less than many fresh fruits or veggies.

And a $0.99-$1.99 a pound "conventional store" meat (store sale, usually hamburger) can "fill up" more than a $3.00 head of romain lettuce.



You can't assume everyone can get cheap fresh foods and that everyone WANTS to eat less meat. I think that is the BIG reason for some of us to not "fit" in as well with those who go mostly veg for meals.

Also MANY people do not eat or want to eat a ton of grains... many do not believe it is healthy.



And there lies the dillema....


NOT KNOCKING anyone.......... as I sit here and eat a salad made of a whole head of lettuce all by myself. I looooooooooooooooove salad.

[bobandjess99]

LOL. With 3 teen boys, 1 toddler who can eat her weight, I swear, and a dh who works hard all day, and me, the giant preggo vacuum - we eat a TON right now. Really, it's embarrassing on a global scale.