Four Meals, One Chicken!

This is the stalk I am currently making. It smells AMAZING!

Between work, household chores and other obligations, finding time to grocery shop as well as cook healthy meals (although a priority) can sometimes be hard to come by. A lot of times I am not off work until 6:45pm and the last thing I want to do is go home and cook let alone step foot in a grocery store. I have learned that the only way for me (or my husband) to put a HEALTHY meal on the table is to meal plan. But more specifically meal plan meals that are easy to shop for AND easy to cook.
One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways I have found I can do this, is with a rotisserie chicken. I could make my own whole chicken but honestly the time it takes to prep and cook it sounds daunting to me. So for the time being I will use a store bought rotisserie chicken (the Costco ones are my fave). Anyways as the title of this post suggests, I can use this chicken to make FOUR MEALS for the two of us if I am properly organized (pre-purchased all necessary ingredients).

Here are the typical four meals I do with the chicken:

1. Chicken breast, Homemade Mac and Cheese (with a cauliflower sauce), and Steamed Veggies.
2. Chicken Salad served on Whole Grain Toast- chicken breast, a little mayo (just enough to bind the ingredients), Grey Poupon Mustard, celery, dill, red onion, cayenne, *salt, pepper.
3. Drum Sticks (as well as other dark meat) with BBQ sauce, Mashed or Roasted Red Potatoes with garlic, Grilled Veggies.
4. Homemade Chicken Soup- pull remaining chicken off bones (just the white meat). Then place carcass with skin and remaining meat in a stalk pot. Add celery, carrots, cayenne, *salt, pepper, onion and garlic. Cover completely with water. Allow to simmer for several hours (the longer the better). Strain chicken stalk. Add partially cooked pasta, raw carrots and remainder of white meat chicken previously pulled from the bone, bring back to a simmer and cook until carrots are al dente. 

Ta-da!!! Four meals (maybe even more because that makes a lot of soup :). I thought I should add that although the stalk does take quite a while to cook I do not find it very time consuming, as the bulk of the time is spent letting it simmer (no work on my part). Most times I even prepare the stalk a day before. When I get home from work the next day all I have to do is heat the broth on the stove and add the last ingredients... perhaps make a few grilled cheese. Yum!

These recipes are all so easy and husband approved (my husband likes them)! I would also just like to reiterate, if you are not particularly fond of rotisserie chickens you could totally make your own whole chicken at home and still make all of these different dishes. I use rotisserie chicken for the mere simplicity as well as the inexpensive cost.
If you have any further questions about any of these meals please feel free to comment below. I'd also love to hear from you about any quick healthy recipes you love to make!

*Keep in mind when making anything with store bought rotisserie chickens that they are pre seasoned. So add salt only if really needed. Although I put salt in the recipes listed above, I always make sure to taste the food before adding it.