Making our money go further is imperative. This includes our food budget. As a family of five we go through a lot of food and keeping our costs down is difficult but doable. We usually buy a chicken to roast most Sundays and after that it’s used for my homemade chicken soup recipe. This makes your food go further and you can put your own stamp on the basic recipe.
Choose Your Chicken
Whatever chicken you buy, make it work for you. Whilst we’ve been getting food delivered from supermarkets I’ve been buying a medium chicken which is about £2.80. When the large chickens are on offer at £3 we get one of them. Wheat I’ve found is that the standard chickens which aren’t seasoned or anything are much better than the roast in the bag ones which are seasoned. They seem to have more meat on them and you can season them however you like. After roasting your chicken, take whatever meat off it that you need for your dinner and enjoy.
Boil It Up
I throw everything and I mean everything into the pan, cover in water and boil it up for a good hour or two. The carcass and any chicken left on the bones creates a wonderful stock. boiling up the carcass also helps you remove any other meat as it literally falls off the bones. After a couple of hours I use our steamer which we’ve probably used for the roast dinner. It saves washing it up twice if you just set it aside ready to use for a secondary job. I pour the stock through the steamer pan with the holes in it, into the bottom pan. This allows the stock to pass through and any large chunks get caught up. Pour the carcass in as well and any extra stock will dip through.
Add Some Extras
Before I start pulling the meat off the bones, I throw some bits and pieces I’ve saved from during the week into the stock and boil it up again. During the week we may have some leftover broccoli stalks or off cuts of peppers that would go bad. I put them in the freezer to save and then just dump them into the soup to boil up and then blend up. You can throw carrots, green beans, left over potatoes in there. Frozen vegetables are perfect too – a 500g bag of chopped peppers is about 80p and you can just pop a couple of handfuls in. I even put aside any apples which have gone a bit bad to save for the soup. Apples add a tasty sweet edge to your homemade chicken soup recipe.
Remove The Meat
Whilst the stock and your extra ingredients are boiling up now is the time to get the good bits of meat off the carcass. Have two bowls ready, one for the meat you’re keeping and one for bits to dis-guard. You’ll be surprised as to how much meat one chicken can have on it and you’ll soon fill that bowl. Once you’ve got all the meat off, bin the carcass and the bits you don’t want.
Your Hand Blender Is Your Friend
The stock and ingredients you threw into the pan should have boiled for enough time now. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Now get your hand blender, plug it in, stick it in the stock and blitz up those chunks of vegetables and apple. As they blend up the colour of the stock will turn into a beautiful colour. Sometimes green, sometimes red, it all depends on the bits of vegetables you’re using. Once it’s all well mixed, season with plenty of salt and pepper, drop the bits of meat into the stock and stir through.
The Next Day
I usually serve the next day but you can freeze it once it’s cool too. An old ice cream tub is completely fine. Make sure you boil it through nicely and serve hot. Some part baked baguettes are ideal for having in the cupboard to bake and serve with this homemade chicken soup recipe. Lashings of buttered bread soak it up brilliantly. I sometimes add a ‘brick’ of dry noodles into the pot when it’s starting to heat up, stirring it through to give an extra element and texture. Dry pasta could also be thrown in in the same way too. I often sprinkle some pieces of spring onion in a few minutes before turning the heat off. These herby halloumi fries would be great on the side.
Try It Yourself
Once you’ve had this soup once you’ll want to make it again and again. You can tailor what you add to it depending on what you have leftover from your food shop that week. It doesn’t cost a lot of money but it certainly warms you up. A brilliant homemade chicken soup recipe which you can put your own stamp on too.
