Crock Pot Chicken

I cannot wait until the Hub's project at work is over and he's working normal hours again.  Right now I'm struggling to stay on top of everything.  It's not so much that he's working late as it is that I'm never sure what time he'll be home so it's hard to plan anything.   Just a few more days... :)

So rather than reviewing what I've been eating I thought I'd share one of my $$ saving tricks.  Even though I don't eat much meat, I have to keep it on hand for the Hubs.  Chicken tends to be one of my go-to proteins for his meals but it can get expensive and when there's only one person eating it we wind up with left overs that don't get eaten. 

This is what I do...

I cook it up and then separate it out into frozen single serving "packets".

Buy a little chicken

Put it in your crock pot on low...
add a bit of wine or chicken broth if you'd like.
Let cook for 8-10 hours.

Put a cheese cloth over a strainer that sits in a bowl.
Pour your crock pot contents into the cheese cloth.
Let cook so you can handle it without burning your fingers. :)

Separate your chicken from the throw away (bones, etc...)
This part is SOOO gross!!

Cut up pieces of wax paper and dole out single servings
of chicken into each folded "Packet" 

Pile your packets into a freezer safe bag and toss into the freezer. :)

When you want to make a meal just pull out a packet of chicken and you're ready to go.  I'll either toss it into some soup in a frozen state or I'll put it in a bowl with a bit of water and nuke it.  Easy Peesy!

And remember how we poured the chicken into the cheese cloth.  Well it helped filter out the broth for soups & what-have-yous.  Take your broth and pour it into a dish and put it in the fridge.  After a few hours the fat will solidify at the top.  Just scrape it off and toss it. 

With the fat.

Fat be gone!

Then pour your broth into a freezer bag, label and toss into the freezer for later use.

I got about 14 servings of chicken and that bag of broth.  :D