Roast chicken is a cooking basic, popular for its affordability, as well as for all the ways you can “stretch” it. For those reasons, it’s a great starting point for young cooks.

One of my favorite versatile recipes is Greek Lemon Chicken with roasted potatoes. It only has seven ingredients, all pantry basics. This meal can easily feed four people with leftovers that can make one or two more meals to boot. You’ll often find chicken on sale — I recently found whole chicken for 87 cents a pound and bone-in chicken thighs also work nicely.

Greek Chicken and Potatoes (Meal 1)

One large whole chicken, spatchcocked (cut the backbone section out and save)

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 large lemons sliced to ½”
• 2 tsp minced garlic, dry or fresh
• ½ tsp coarse ground pepper
• 1 tsp dry oregano flakes
• 4 large potatoes, sliced to ½”

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large oven-safe frying pan, drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil. In a gallon zip lock bag, add remaining oil, garlic, pepper and oregano flakes. First add sliced potatoes, seal bag and shake to coat thoroughly with oil mixture. Drop potatoes in a pan and fry on medium high until golden on both sides, then remove. Repeat the process with the chicken. You can cut into quarters or keep whole depending on your preference. After frying both sides of chicken to a golden brown, set aside. Return potatoes to pan, then add the chicken pieces. Squeeze one lemon and add rinds on top and under chicken. Put everything, uncovered, into the oven and roast for about 1 hour. Serve with the juice of the remaining lemon slices as a condiment. Ranch dressing tastes great, too, as a dip for potato slices.

Meal 1 complete — cost about $10.

Roast Chicken Sesame Salad (Meal 2)

Use remaining chicken meat from Meal 1, chunked, no skin (save bones and skin)

• 1 head large head Romaine lettuce, sliced ½”
• 1 large can mandarin oranges, drained
• ¼ cup almond slices or slivers
• 5 green onions, sliced
• 1 bag coleslaw mix with carrot
• 12 oz. bottle Lighthouse Ginger Sesame Dressing
• Fried chow mein noodles (available pre-made from grocery)
• Cilantro leaves, fresh (optional)

Combine all ingredients with half the dressing. Top with chow mein noodles and cilantro leaves, plus pepper and additional dressing to taste.

Meal 2 complete; cost, another $10, depending on your pantry contents.

Chicken soup with rice or noodles (Meal 3)

• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 tsp garlic, minced (fresh or dry)
• 1 Tbsp butter or olive oil
• Remaining chicken bones, skin and backbone
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes or paste
• 12-16 oz. pasta or 1.5 cups rice

Saute all veggies in a large stock pot (6 quarts or so) with oil or butter. When veggies have softened, add remaining chicken bones, skin and backbone. Add bay leaves and bouillon cubes. Fill pot ¾ to the top with water and bring to a simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove bones and skin from the pot and discard. Be sure to pull any remaining meat off the spine and bones and return it to the pot. Add your choice of uncooked rice or broken linguine noodles and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes, covered. Season to taste with pepper and salt, if needed. Serve with a baguette that has been sliced, buttered and lightly toasted in the oven.

Meal 3 complete; cost about $6 more, depending on your pantry contents.

So, for roughly $25 to $30 in total, you can stretch a whole chicken into three delicious meals, with leftovers of soup for lunch the next day. Each of these meals will feed at least three, perhaps four, adults, depending on appetite. It is important to note that all of these recipe ingredients should be considered pantry basics. Purchase these items when they go on sale and save from 20% to 45%.

Best of all, with these homemade meals you know exactly what they contain. You can adjust salt content to your family’s tastes and dietary needs. Each meal takes no more than an hour or so to make (the salad is even quicker). These meals are simple enough for children, about age 10 and up, to prepare. Most importantly, each meal is made with love, which, in my opinion, is the most important ingredient of all.