I Bought a Rotisserie Chicken Now What?

Not every week, but sometimes when I am at Costco I will pick up a rotisserie chicken to use at home. Over the years I have discovered a few ideas on how to make the meal stretch.

Honestly after working all day and then stopping to do a shop at Costco, dinner is not what I am looking forward to preparing when I arrive home. The first night I bring home the chicken I just make a few quick sides to round out having the chicken as the main course. This might be a salad, a vegetable and a starch (in the form of rice or potato).

After we have eaten our full I take all the meat off of the chicken. The carcass I then place into the freezer. Later in the week or at the weekend I use it to make chicken stock. The chicken stock can either be frozen or pressure canned. (All meat products, including stocks must be pressure canned, they CANNOT safely be water bath canned).

The meat I have removed I either vacuum seal and place in the freezer to be used at a later date or it is repurposed into another meal within a day or two. I have used it in various chicken casserole dishes, shredded filling for tamales, shredded topping for a nachos bar, even chicken salad sandwiches. If I have already made the stock I will use a portion of the stock to make chicken gravy and serve hot chicken sandwiches.

The possibilities are endless once you have a cooked chicken. It really makes the purchase quite economical. I get at least 2 meals from the chicken along with about 6 cups of stock. Not bad when I currently only pay $4.99 for the chicken at Costco. Your milage of the chicken may vary depending on how many you are feeding and if any of them are teenagers:)