I bought an 8 pound (3.6 kg) chicken the other day. I partially deboned it, placing the wing tips, neck, and carcass into a stock pot with some vegetables and aromatics, and made some stock, and set aside the meat.
Dinner 1: One boneless breast, probably about 1.5 lbs (0.7 kg), got cut up into cubes to cook into a soup noodle dish (think fancy ramen, but lazier).
Dinner 2: The 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 2 wing drumettes, 2 wing flats were deep fried (breaded for the big pieces, naked for the wing parts) and served as fried chicken with some sides.
Dinner 3: The remaining boneless breast was cut up into cubes for a homemade kung pao, using a modified recipe from Kenji Lopez Alt. I served it with rice and a separate stir fried broccoli dish.
Each meal fed me, my spouse, my 2 young kids (who eat slightly smaller portions). I didn’t set out to be frugal with it, but I think each meal cost less than $10 for 4 portions. And I managed to pull it off on weeknights after work, after picking up my kids from school/daycare, so I’m pretty proud of that.
I strive for meals like this but man does it seem a long ways away. Feels like a lot just to heat up some noodles and sauce most nights. Sounds like some good cooking, thanks for sharing!
Cooking is my happy place. I now have a white collar job, producing words on a digital page, where most projects are measured in months and even individual tasks within those projects are measured in weeks, so I like to work with my hands to turn around something tangible on shorter timelines. Cooking is how I can turn raw ingredients into something delicious and beautiful.
It also helps that I used to cook professionally, so I have a lot of useful experience and knowledge about how to do things quickly and efficiently.