Busy people don’t always have a lot of time to cook but eating healthy is even more important when you live a stressful life. To help with this problem, create a few meals using one roasted chicken you buy at the store or deli. This is an economical way to eat well for one to two people depending on the appetities involved.

Here’s the way to get three meals from that one roasted chicken.

First find a supermarket or deli that sells roasted chickens. These are usually about the same cost as an uncooked chicken. Each place seems to do theirs a bit differently. Ive found only one market in my area that cooks the chickens well enough to not have to keep cooking them once you get them home. You’ll have to experiement to find your right source. If you can’t find a cooked chicken, you’ll have to roast one yourself. This is a simple proces but we’ll cover that in another post.

Take the cooked chicken home. Usually, I find the chicken still needs some “doctoring” to be ready to eat. Many stores don’t cook the chicken well and some of them are very fatty. So I always season and finish cooking the chicken at holme.

First, I skin the chicken. I’ve been skinning all of my poultry for decades so the first thing I do is remove the skin. When the chicken is already cooked that’s very simple to do. I do this to cut back on the fat and toxins which are held under the skin. If you enjoy the skin, leave it on and go from there.

After making the skin decision, you’re going to cut the chicken into pieces with the breast, wing, thigh and leg. Season with herbs and spices and put into a baking tray. Use what you have and what you enjoy as flavor. You can also use some marinade such as a barbeque sauce, curry sauce or other sauce or dressing. Using a sauce adds an additional dimension of providing a type of gravy to use if you want to add a starch such as rice. You can spoon the sauce over the rice or potatoes and pull the dish togehter.

Cover the chicken wtih foil to hold in the moisture and place the dish in the stove at about 350 Degrees. Cook for about 15 to 30 minutes depending on the doneness of the bird. If it was well cooked you only need a few minutes to get it warmed up well. If it was still rather raw, cook longer. You ight even need more than 30 minutes if ift was really raw.

Now you’re ready to create your meals.

1. The first meal can be the full pieces. Use one thigh and leg for one serving and one breast and wing for another for a meal for two people If it’s only you, that’s two meals for one. If you created a sauce, spoon this over rice or another starch. Add a green salad and you have a full meal.

2. The second meal will use one breast and the wing meat. Roughly chop the chicken or pull the meat from the bone to put into your salad for the day. Create your Humongous Vegetable Salad and top with the chopped chicken. Sprinkle some nuts and cheese on top if you want. Sprinkle with your favorite dressing. use oilive oil and balsamic vinegar or a splash of fresh lemon.

3. Your third meal will be a chicken salad. Take meat from the leg and a thigh and chop well. Add chopped celery, some green onions, parsley and other herbs to taste. I use cilantro. Don’t worry about being exact. The use of additional vegetables stretches the meal and keeps from being just solid protein so use what you enjoy. I’ve also added green or black olives, paparika, and other seasonsings depending on my mood that day. So use what you have and season to taste. Mix with all in a bowl with a low-fat mayonaise or non-fat plain yogurt. Serve as-is, make a sandwich or put into a salad.

There you have it. Three meals from one roasted chicken. Do you have left-overs still because you’re cooking for one? Here’s a few more ideas.

1. Try a chicken omelette. Scamble two eggs, add salt and pepper, fresh herbs. Add chopped chicken, chopped onions or scaillons (green onions)and cheese if you want. Feel free to include other fresh veggies if you are so inclinded. Serve this as a breakfast, lunch or dinner. Add a salad or toast.

2. Create a chicken vegetable chili. Open a can of your favorite beans. Rinse the water off which helps take out the sodium and drain the beans in a colander. Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet. Add onions, chili powder, and other seasonings and spices depending on what you like. You can also add chopped celery and green peppers. Saute until the veggies are a bit soft but not too done. Add in the chicken in small pieces of chopped so it absorbs the flavors. Add the beans, mix everything in the skillet and heat until the beans are warmed. Adjust spices as needed. Serve while warm in a bowl, add to a corn tortilla as a taco, or use a flour tortilla as a burrito.

3. Just heat up the extra pieces and eat as is!

Keep working with your roasted chicken and you’ll start coming up wtih your own ideas about how to use one lowly roasted chicken to create loads of dishes.