Chicken can be used in a great variety of ways in recipes for preparing your meals. In addition to being high in protein and low in fat and calories, chicken is readily available, fairly inexpensive and can be prepared in a variety of delicious and nutritious ways. To get the most value buy a whole chicken and prepare it yourself. With a whole chicken, you have the option to cut it into quarters or even smaller.

However, for a cost of not much more per pound, you can conveniently get packages of chicken parts. Whenever you prepare recipes with any cut of chicken, you need to take some initial safety precautions. Not only be the hands washed before working with chicken, but the utensils and counter space should be cleaned thouroughly. Raw chicken contains harmful bacteria most of the time so it is important that you keep your workspace clean so that you don’t spread contamination to other areas.

Lightly rinse your chicken and pat it dry before you begin working on your recipe. Be sure to always completely cook chicken. Consuming chicken that is raw or underdone can give you a bad case of food poisoning. While its unlikely, place it safe just in case. There are literally thousands of chicken recipes available in cookbooks and online, so it is unlikely you will ever run out of ideas on how to prepare chicken. From grilled chicken to chicken salad, you could make a different recipe every day of the week for years before getting tired of the flavors and textures available through different cooking methods and ingredients. Grilled chicken can be cooked right on the top of the stove and is the easiest recipe to cook. Dizzle olive oil on boneless chicken breats and add salt and pepper. Cook the breasts on a pre-heated grill pan for about five to six minutes on each side or until the juices run clear. The cooked meat can then be cut up and mixed with celery and mayonnaise for an easy and delicious chicken salad, sliced for sandwiches, or covered with tomato or hollandaise sauce for a quick dinner. Fried chicken,chicken parmesan,sweet and sour chicken,chicken and dumplings are few of the other favourite chicken recipes.

Fresh chicken can be frozen easily, thus try to find and stock up on it when it’s on sale. Just make sure you freeze the chicken in airtight packages. You can defrost it in one of three ways, refrigerate for a couple of days, microwave on the defrost setting, or soak in a sink of water. Never leave chicken to defrost on the counter! For Americans chicken is a staple and can be worked into many recipes.

If you’re on a tight budget, like many people are these days, chicken can be a great help in keeping your food expenses down. Try some tonight!