Continuing the freezing process...

So, tonight I managed to exhaust myself... I stood way too long without proper shoes on... I need one of those rubber mats in my kitchen :)

Tonight on the agenda: Cook 2 whole chickens. EEK!
This was a super intimidating experience. A) I truly despise chicken on the bone. One too many bites of grizzle... ick... B) I'm not a fan of dark meat.. But, I got over it and did it anyway. Thank goodness I had 2 big stock pots so I could do both chickens at the same time.

Here's how easy it was....
Put chicken in pot. Fill with water to cover chicken. Cover. Boil/simmer for 90 minutes. (I turned it to medium after the water started boiling so it wouldn't boil over).

I swear... it's that easy. The house smelled AWESOME. It seriously smelled like I just made homemade chicken n dumplings or something... haha So, once the chickens were done, I got my strainer and the biggest bowls I could find and poured the stock into them. I set the chicken aside to cool and then went and hung out for a little while. I was planning on bagging the stock, so I needed to let that cool as well - I added some ice after about 10 minutes to help speed up the process. This is a perfect time for a nice break... And, if your husband is hungry enough - he'll start picking at the chicken (clean hands of course) and may even debone it for you!

Welp, that's exactly what happened... Brian got hungry and so he deboned the first chicken for me while I filled baggies with 2 cups of stock a piece. By the time we were done with both chickens, I had a little over 12 cups of cooked chicken and 34 cups of chicken stock. I marked the bags with quantity and threw it all (but 2c chicken) in the freezer.

With the 2 cups of chicken that I left out, I made a big batch of King Ranch mix or, you could leave it as is and it would be spicy chicken n rice... whichever you prefer. Basically, I cooked 2 cups of rice, 2 cups of chicken, 2 cans of rotel tomatoes and 2 cans of cream of chicken soup. I mix it all together and voila! I'm ready to freeze 4 meals... now... when you are ready to cook this, just let it thaw...

For King Ranch, you'll need tortilla chips and Velveeta to finish the dish. I basically layer chips, mix, cheese until the mix is gone... the last layers are chips and cheese... I put it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes to warm it up.

I'm almost positive that I pay around $2 for a thing of Swansons chicken broth (16 oz) and over $3 for a can of chicken (10 oz). Sam's Club was selling a pair of whole chickens for $8. I just saved over $60...

How dumb do I feel for not doing this before? Pretty dumb... but I had NO CLUE. The subject of "how to fix America" has come up quite often lately. (No, this isn't about to become political...)... I have been preaching (in a sense) that the fix is EDUCATION. This right here proves my point. My MIL gave me the information I never had before to save my family a lot of money. Is it as convenient as buying those cans? Not really, but it's so easy and so much healthier that in the long run, it will be more convenient. I'll make less trips to the store because I never bought more than a few cans of chicken at a time and maybe a pair of boxes of broth... Plus it gave the hubby and I time to just sit and talk while we pulled chicken apart. :)

Last night, I made 4 single servings of Beef Stroganoff to freeze for Brian's lunches. I'll post that recipe tomorrow. We also went ahead and browned 2 lbs of meat (we are using nalgi since Brian and his fam hunt for our meat... but there's nothing wrong with just plain ole hamburger). I'll be preparing the mix for the stuffed bell peppers soon. Time just got away from us tonight.