Meal planning: turn one roast chicken into three mouth watering family meals

I always feel a tiny bit smug and like I’m winning at life when I know I have a whole organic chicken in the fridge #mumlife. It makes me feel like I can take a breath, at least three of my week’s meal plans are sorted.

It means we can have a wholesome family traditional roast chicken with all the accompanying sides. Sometimes on a Sunday or of late, to make an uncomplicated nourishing midweek roast.

The thing that I love about this meal is that once the main roast dinner is done, there is enough meat to divide between a chicken casserole or curry. Sometimes there is enough to make a caesar salad or my favourite Chicken salad. I always boil my bones to create chicken stock to feed the freezer and to make chicken broths or seasonal soups. The one chicken becomes a budget friendly way to feed the family.

It’s always a good idea to have a few core recipes up your sleeve for times like this. Again it helps with the feeling of being organised and takes some of the thinking and stress away from what to make. I thought I’d share my core winter chicken recipes with you. My no fuss roast chicken, a chicken curry (also great to feed the freezer with and batch cook), and a nourishing chicken stock soup.

Simple wholesome roast

I’m actually a fan of simple roast chicken. Minimal fuss with copious fresh herbs, whole garlic, whole lemons and seasoning. Keeping the flavours minimal for the future dishes. I like the use of lemon as I find it adds a zesty and fresh taste to the chicken and also the stock. The meat in my roasts are almost like a “condiment”, an addition to all the wonderful, colourful and seasonal plants that will make up the majority of our plates

At this time of the year I love to roast root vegetables such as parsnips, turnips and carrots with thyme and honey. I do a mixture of sweet potatoes, red potatoes and white potatoes for my roasties. A bowl of mashed swede and carrots. I also love roasted red cabbage and beetroot. Handfuls of fresh seasonal sautéed greens. I’ve taken to adding everything into a big serving bowl for everyone to help themselves to for an informal dinner (it also means less washing up for me!).

Every roast dinner needs a good sauce or gravy. I keep it quite simple with some juice from the chicken roasted, water from any boiled vegetables, a stock cube, seasoning if needed and one teaspoon of cornflour to help thicken the sauce. Occasionally I add a small glass of white or red wine for added flavour. Allowing the alcohol to cook away.

My go-to mild chicken curry

This recipe is ready in 30 minutes, it’s perfect for feeding the freezer and serves 4.

Ingredients:

2 onions diced

3 garlic cloves crushed and chopped

2cm of fresh ginger chopped

1 tbsp curry powder

1tsp ground turmeric

1tsp ground coriander

400ml passata

Seasoning-including black pepper

400ml coconut milk

1 tbsp fresh coriander chopped

2 cups chopped swiss chard (or any greens you have)

2 medium sweet potatoes chopped

Method:

1. Add the onions with a little butter or ghee. Soften for 5 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, ginger, curry powder, ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala and seasoning. Cook for a few minutes mixing everything together.

3. Add passata, coconut milk, leftover cooked chicken and sweet potato. Cook for 20 minutes.

4. Add the swiss chard and cook for a further 10 minutes. Check all cooked through. Serve with rice and homemade flatbreads (shout if you’d like this recipe).

Nourishing chicken broth

Using my favourite Homemade chicken stock recipe . I create a complete bowl of gut loving, immune supporting and glow giving bowl of goodness. I add any leftover chicken, veggies and fresh herbs. You could also add some white beans or pearl barley is a great addition. So deliciously wonderful for an easy leftover lunch.

Hope you enjoy the recipes and inspiration. Let me know what you think. Do you love midweek roasts as much as me?

Much love.

Katie x