These 5 frugal meals out of one simple shredded chicken recipe are perfect for large group gathers or as frugal family meals!
When we hold women’s retreats, we try to do most of the cooking ourselves. Well, actually, we don’t do it OURSELVES. We have one of our ladies be head cook. With help from my husband and daughter, she prepares all the meals for our weekend retreats. She does this in exchange for the retreat cost and attends all the other functions. Plus, we have the ladies sign up to help in the kitchen for each meal. We use 25 x 30.5 Inches Post-it Self-Stick Easel Pads
and hang them on the wall during our welcome and introductions. Then, the ladies have time to sign up to help prep or clean up on each meal. That way, the cooks don’t have spend ALL their time in the kitchen.
It has worked very well for us and everyone seems happy and eager to pitch in.
One of the easiest and most popular recipe we base meals on is the Simplest Shredded Chicken Ever. Because it’s so easy to prepare this slow cooker
chicken, I’m always looking for new, delicious, frugal meals to make with it.
These are the five most popular shredded chicken recipes we’ve served so far:
1. Tacos – because this recipe has taco seasoning in it from the start, it’s perfect for our taco bar. We use Old El Paso taco seasoning because it’s gluten free. There may be others out there that work as well. We always offer various salsas for those who might want to spice up their tacos a bit more. We also always have both soft and hard shells for variety.
2. Nachos – along the same lines as tacos, this chicken works perfectly for nachos. It shreds so finely that it’s easy to spread over chips. Load it up with cheese and fixins and your ladies will be oh so happy!
3. Stuffed baked potatoes – make up a huge batch of baked potatoes (super easy in a slow cooker) and use the chicken to stuff those potatoes. So delicious and filling plus it’s super cheap. Add cheese, sour cream, bacon bits or anything else that sounds good. We love adding the chicken too as it seems to make the potato more of a main dish.
4. Sloppy Joes – take the chicken out of the slow cooker after it’s shredded and move it to a large skillet. Use any sloppy joe sauce or make your own, pour it over the chicken, and let it simmer until it’s cooked down a little. Serve on great big hamburger buns (I love the ones with the sesame seeds on top but have a variety) and offer chips, potato salad, slaw, and a salad bar as sides.
5. Chicken and rice – for retreats, we make our rice in a large stock pot on the stove. For our family meals, we use this handy rice cooker
which makes perfect rice every time. After both rice and chicken are finished cooking, combine them. This makes a great, hearty one-dish meal. On the side, offer a full salad bar, rolls, and green beans.
What else do you make with shredded chicken? Let me know in the comments below!
Sam - Raggedy says
So many yummy recipes from one chicken!! Such a great idea!
Julie Pfeifer says
They’re delicious!
Sabrina Quairoli says
I love shredded chicken leftover meals. Chicken breast especially is so versatile. We are fans of Tacos so once a week we make them and having leftover chicken makes it that much easier to prepare. Thanks for sharing.
Julie Pfeifer says
Yum! Chicken tacos with fresh guacamole are my favorite!
Lynn Spencer says
Your system for providing meals for your retreats is brilliant, especially the stickon notes. And you can’t beat a chicken for providing a base for so many other meals.
Thanks for sharing.
Hugs, Lynn
Julie Pfeifer says
Thank you, Lynn!
Emma me and b make tea says
these are some great ideas 🙂 i like the idea of adding to nachos and baked potatos. Adding to a salad would work well if you wanted something with less carbs 🙂
Julie Pfeifer says
Love the idea of adding this chicken to the salad bar. We typically offer the precooked grilled chicken strips on our salad bar (wasn’t sure how the shredded would work), but I like the thought of it as it would save carbs and would save on the cost of the food, too!