There’s something special about bringing home a whole chicken from a local farm. Not the plastic-wrapped kind you toss into your grocery cart on autopilot—but a bird that was raised outdoors, chasing bugs in the sunshine, soaking up fresh air, and living like a chicken should.
When you start with real food like this, it feels less like buying meat and more like bringing home a gift—one you can stretch into five hearty, nourishing meals if you know how to use it well. And honestly, in a world where grocery bills just keep climbing, making a chicken go the distance feels like a quiet kind of victory.
It’s not just about saving money (though that’s a perk). It’s about honoring the animal, the farm, and the work that went into getting it to your table. It’s about slowing down, cooking intentionally, and making meals that actually feed your family in every sense of the word.
Let me show you how we do it on our farm—how one good chicken can carry you through a week’s worth of dinners, without feeling like you’re scraping the bottom of the pot.
Meal 1: Roast Chicken Night
Start with a whole roast chicken. Season simply with sea salt, garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. Roast it low and slow (325°F for 2 hours) until the skin is crisp and golden. Serve with roasted root vegetables or sourdough stuffing. Save all the drippings.
Roasted Chicken Recipe Link: https://www.thekitcheneer.com/2022/07/18/garlic-rosemary-oven-roasted-chicken/
Leftovers tip: After dinner, pull every bit of meat from the bones and set aside. You’ll use it for the next few meals.
Meal 2: Chicken Soup with Bone Broth
Toss the carcass in a pot with an onion, carrots, celery, apple cider vinegar, and filtered water. Simmer for 12–24 hours to draw out minerals, collagen, and immune-boosting compounds. This broth becomes the base for a rich, healing chicken soup.
Bone Broth Recipe Link: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-chicken-broth-how-to-get-the-most-from-your-rotisserie-chicken/
Add back in some of the pulled chicken, toss in veggies and a handful of rice or einkorn noodles, and you’ve got a second meal that feels like a warm hug.
Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe Link: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/chicken-noodle-soup/
Meal 3: Chicken Tacos or Wraps
Use more of the shredded chicken with cumin, garlic, paprika, and a splash of lime juice. Warm it in a skillet and serve in sourdough tortillas or lettuce wraps with salsa, avocado, and cilantro.
This is a crowd-pleaser—even picky kids will go for it!
Chicken Taco Recipe Link: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a58716/easy-chicken-tacos-recipe/
Meal 4: Chicken Pot Pie
Take your leftover chicken and broth and mix it with diced carrots, peas, and potatoes. Pour into a homemade pie crust (or even just a casserole dish with a sourdough biscuit topping) for a cozy, nourishing comfort meal.
It’s homesteading at its finest.
Chicken Pot Pie Recipe Link: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/double-crust-chicken-pot-pie/#tasty-recipes-74828
Meal 5: Ramen or Bone Broth Bowls
Use your remaining bone broth as a base for a nutrient-packed ramen night. Add boiled eggs, leftover greens, sliced radish, and a sprinkle of sesame oil or tamari. Even a few scraps of meat go a long way here.
It’s the perfect end to your pasture-raised bird.
Ramen Recipe Link: https://fedandfit.com/homemade-ramen/#wprm-recipe-container-67652
Final Thoughts:
The more I cook this way, the more I realize—it’s not really about the chicken. It’s about what it gives us. Slow dinners around the table. Leftovers that somehow taste better the next day. That quiet sense of satisfaction when you’ve used every last bit and nothing’s gone to waste.
There’s something deeply good about that. About making what we have stretch, not because we’re scraping by, but because we’re paying attention. Because we know the story behind our food.
One chicken can go a long way when you let it. It can carry you through a week of meals, yes—but it also carries with it a reminder: we don’t need as much as we think. What we need is to slow down and be grateful for what’s right in front of us.
And I think that’s a table worth gathering around.