How to Stretch Chicken Breasts

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Looking for an easy way to stretch chicken breasts, and save on your groceries? It just takes one simple trick.

We buy a family pack of chicken breasts every two weeks in our home. With a now family of 5, that pack of protein can disappear quickly if we don’t use special tricks to make sure that it stretches our budget. But, there is an easy way to do so! I wanted to share how to stretch chicken breasts, so you get the best bang for your grocery budget buck each week.

Here’s the big secret:

Cut The Chicken Breasts in Half

That’s it. It’s very simple to do and will immediately stretch your budget.

Chicken breasts that are sold in grocery stores today are way too big. Chickens are now grown to have larger parts to feed our 21st century appetites, but in all actually, we only need a small amount of protein per meal. The amount of meat you eat per meal shouldn’t be larger than a deck of cards. Strange, but true.

If we slice our chicken breasts in half, lengthwise, we end up with more than enough meat per person. In our home, we can feed 4 people with just one large chicken breast.

Here’s how to stretch your chicken breasts and store them:

Cut each breast in half lengthwise.

Wrap each chicken breast half in plastic wrap. We sometimes use Glad Press ‘N’ Seal, if I have some in the pantry.

Wrap two halves with one piece of foil. This makes it easier for you grab just enough meat for one meal, and have it defrost in record time. It also keeps out freezer burn.

Place wrapped chicken breast halves in a large freezer bag and label as chicken breasts. This will also help to keep out freezer burn, and will make it easier for you to find the chicken breasts when searching through the freezer.

That’s it! A simple, easy, and frugal way to stretch chicken breasts.

What to watch a video explaining why this works? Here you go!

Here are a few recipes you can try with those chicken breasts:

Applesauce Chicken

applesauce chicken; easy 20 minute recipe for those busy weeknights

Apricot Chicken

An easy recipe for Apricot Chicken that uses items right in your pantry. Plus, there is a video tutorial!

 

I hope this tip helps you! If you know of any other ways to stretch chicken breasts, please let us know in the comments below.

About Amiyrah

My name is Amiyrah and I'm an an African American fashion & lifestyle blogger based in Ohio.

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4 Comments

  1. 7.17.15

    Love this – brilliantly simple. We’re big chicken eaters in our house, so I’ll be doing this weekly going forward:)

    • 7.17.15
      Amiyrah said:

      I’m so glad that this tip helped you, Jennifer!

  2. 6.9.16

    How many pounds and how much does it cost? Years ago I bought a bag of chicken tenderloins and now that is all I buy. I pull out 3 for dh and 2 each for each person in the house. they thaw quickly or you can bake/grill right out of the bag. 8.99 for a bag. 3 lbs. When I am down to the last few pieces in the bag and its not enough for dinner I then will use it to make sandwiches to make it stretch. For 5 of us I would use 9 tenderloins..

  3. 1.25.21
    Amy S said:

    Great tip. I learned this as a broke college student 25 years ago. I remember often buying a pack of fresh chicken, cutting it up into 4 oz portions, and freezing them on my pizza pan. Once frozen I bagged them up. It was easy to cook a single serving that way. Chicken breasts now are gigantic compared to back then when I got two servings from each breast.