This blog is dedicated to every person who has nightmares involving the question "What's for Dinner?"

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Cut-up Chicken

I think that whole chickens are probably the cheapest and most versatile meat out there. When Ernie and I were first married I would buy a whole chicken, on sale for $.69 a pound (cheapest I can get it for now is $.89/lb) and roast it, guaranteeing leftover meat for chicken enchiladas or chicken pot pie or chicken salad for the rest of the week. Multiple meals for less than $5.00. Our family is significantly bigger and nowadays one chicken = one meal with very little leftovers, but I am still a huge fan of whole chickens for other meals.

Yesterday I noticed that cut-up chicken pieces were on sale, so I went over to Wal-Mart and had them price match. Here’s what I got:

5.5 lbs split chicken breasts for $.98/lb

4.5 lbs chicken thighs for $.89/lb

5.5 lbs drumsticks for $.89/lb

Total spent: $13.85

So, out of all that meat (which totals 15.5 lbs of meat) I have divided it up, with 3 drumsticks in each freezer bag to make my older kids happy. I am sick today so I took 2.5 lbs off the top and boiled it for chicken and dumplings to have tonight, because that’s what sounded good to me. I broke the rest of the meat into 4 additional freezer bags. They ranged in weight from 2.5 to 3 lbs. I left two bags of chicken unseasoned. With the other two I added one cup of Italian dressing to one bag and 1/2 cup of teriyaki marinade to the other. Those seasoned bags with marinate in the freezer and I will probably grill up that chicken in the next couple of weeks.

5 meals for $13.85 makes me happy! That equals to $2.77 per meal and appx. $.46 per serving.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Beef Stew

Today at the grocery store I picked up some beef stew meat. It was on sale (yea!) and I’m cold- so it was essentially a perfect storm for beef stew tonight! So I picked up the family pack of stew because it was cheaper to buy it in bulk and since I bought enough for 3 meals, I decided to assemble the remaining beef into 2 additional beef stew meals.

Here’s the recipe:

  • 14 oz. stew meat
  • 3 c. beef broth
  • 1 T. worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 t. minced garlic
  • 1/2 t. crushed oregano
  • 1/4 t. black pepper
  • 1/4 t. rosemary, dried
  • 1 onion, medium
  • 2 carrots, medium
  • 3 c. diced potatoes
  • 1 c. frozen green beans

Assemble stew meat, beef broth, worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, pepper,  and rosemary in gallon size Ziploc bag.

beef stew

Dice onion, slice carrots, and dice potatoes. Place onions, carrots, potatoes, and green beans in gallon size Ziploc bag.

beef stew 2

Freeze both bags together with date and cooking instructions on the bag.

Cooking Day: No need to thaw. Place meat mixture in crock pot and then place veggie mix on top. Cook on low 10-12 hours, cook on high 5-6 hours. If thicker stew is desired, in the last 30 minutes of cook time, turn crock pot to High and add 2T flour mixed with 1/4 c. water to the stew and stir until thickened.

Notes:

This recipe is Weight Watchers friendly (I removed the step of dredging the meat in flour and then browning the meat in oil). Here’s the nutritional info:

  • Servings: 6 (1 cup each)
  • WW points: 3 points per serving
  • Calories: 182
  • Fat: 4.6
  • Fiber: 2.9

Cost per Meal: Approximately $7.00

Cost per Serving: $1.17