The Chicken Noodle Soup turned out great! I made it the day before we planned to eat it, because I just don’t have time to prepare any meals before dinner time this week. By the time I get home from work, I need to eat right away. Instead, I’ve been doing most of my cooking AFTER dinner, before bed.
Here’s the recipe:
- 5 raw chicken tenders, sliced into small pieces
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp butter, unsalted
- 1 cup baby carrots, cut in half
- 2-3 celery stalks, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms (1/3 – 1/2 of a package of sliced mushrooms)
- 1 box of reduced-sodium chicken broth (32 ounces)
- 4 ounces uncooked linguini pasta, broken into pieces
- pepper (several turns on the mother-of-all pepper grinders)
- Cook the chicken in the soup pot until it is no longer pink (medium heat).
- Throw in the butter and onion; cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, and 1/3 of the box of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the linguini, pepper, and remaining broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.
How I was frugal:
- I bought a package of chicken tenders on sale. Splitting the tenders into groups of 5, I sliced them and froze the groups of chicken in vacuum-sealed bags.
- I bought a package of 2 organic celery stalks. I cleaned and sliced them, splitting them into 4 ounce portions, which I also froze in vacuum-sealed bags.
By splitting up chicken and celery (which I don’t use up very quickly), I spread them out over several meals. Vacuum-sealing allows me to freeze meal-sized portions, as well as giving me an easy way to defrost (soak in the sink or microwave-defrost).
(Vacuum-sealing the celery)
How do you stretch meats, vegetables, and other food items over several meals? What experiences have you had with vacuum-sealing foods?
