Chicken stretching

After a sweaty tough workout, the best thing for a chicken to do is stretch! Into about 6 meals that is :)
Yesterday I plum lucked out at Kroger and found 2 whole chickens for $0.64 a lb! That meant that for the 5.78 lb chicken I cooked today, I paid $3.70. This is under what I would pay for 1 package of boneless chicken breasts. I decided to stretch this yummy little chick to its fullest by following a few steps from Heavenly Homemakers and their advice on stretching a chicken to make 6 meals. We will be shooting for 6 between 2 adults (not 6 like them...we like our protein!). Here is the way I've done this. Lather, rinse, repeat....I mean use as you see fit.

Tuesday-7:00 am-Put the chicken in the crockpot with 1 cup of water and poultry seasoning and turned on low. Arrived home from work smelling the lovely chicken all ready to go. I took the chicken out on a platter and took off ALL the chicken from the bones (we do not discriminate in our house...we like the light and dark meat equally) and put it in a bowl.
Put all the bones, skin, and any additional scraps back into the crockpot with all the stuff that had initially fallen off the chicken before I pulled it out and filled the crockpot to the top with water. Add a few bay leaves, salt, pepper, garlic, and half an onion. Leave on low for 12 hours. Refridgerate during time I'm at work to allow fat to rise so I can scrape it off. Then pour through strainer into another pot to catch the bones/scraps.
Bam! All chicken and broth are ready to go!

Now for the good stuff! The meal plans...links are included for all the recipes :)
Our chicken provided about 3.5 lbs of meat and about 6 quarts of broth.
Tuesday-Chicken alfredo pizzas-1/2 lb meat
Wednesday Dinner-Chicken and Gnocchi soup-3 quarts of broth and no meat (the soup has the bits left from making the stock in it which is more than enough)
Thursday Lunch-Chicken and Gnocchi soup-repeat :)
Thursday Dinner-Chicken fajitas-1.5 lbs of meat since I'll be using some for the chicken salad tomorrow
Friday Lunch-Chicken taco salad-some of the meat from last night's meal
Friday Dinner-Chicken Tortilla Soup-1/2 lb of meat and 3 quarts of stock
Sunday Dinner-Cheesy Chicken, Rice, and Brocolli casserole-1 lb of meat

That uses all 3.5 lbs of meat and 6 quarts of stock in one week. Sure we'll be chickened out, but what better way to use in a variety of recipes throughout the week. All for the low low cost of $.16 per serving of the dish with meat. Sure can't beat the price on that!