Thursday, February 21, 2013

Chicken meal on a budget (~$5.48-7 meal for 3-4)

Ingredients:
1.24lb Boneless chicken breast (9 pieces) - Winndixie BOGO ~2/$7 ($3.50)
1.5lbs red potatoes (or potatoes of your liking) - Winndixie 3lbs bag is $2.99 ($1.50)
1 can Cream of Chicken condensed soup  ------  had in pantry, less than $1 at the store last time I checked
.5 bag of Publix Greenwise Carrots (or carrots of your choice)  ------- my mom gave me when they went back home from the condo, not sure of this pricing at the store
1/4-1/2c milk ------  free thanks to my sister, $3/g
~2tsp butter ------ had in the house already, apx $2 for 4 sticks (~$.06 for 2tsp)

If your chicken is frozen thaw it first.  Preheat the oven at 350. I used a 9*9 pan for my chicken.  Spray the bottom with oil or butter.  Rinse your chicken to get any of the bad stuff off of them then lay the chicken in the pan with a little space between them.  Scoop the Cream of Chicken soup over the chicken and spread it around.  Cover with foil.  Place it in the oven for 30 minutes.

While that is baking go ahead and start prepping the side dishes.  To be easy I put my carrots in a microwave safe container with water and some brown sugar.  I then put it in the microwave on High for about 7-8 minutes until tender.

For the potatoes: since I use red potatoes I peel half of them and leave the other half with the skin on.  Wash the potatoes.  Cut your potatoes any way you would like so that they are in smaller pieces.  I normally make my sections about 1.5".  Add salt if you would like to your water and then place the potatoes in the water.  Boil on High for about 10 minutes until tender.  I have a Kitchenaid mixer so they are really easy to make.  If you do not have a Kitchenaid just use a hand held blender or hand mix the potatoes.  I start with 1/4 cup of milk and 2 tsp of butter and add in the potatoes.  Mix until creamy texture.  Since I used red potatoes with some skin the mashed potatoes will be lumpy which is how I like mine.  If you do not like lumpy remove all the skin before you boil them.



*prices are based off of my chicken and potatoes cost.  Since 3 of us are eating this will make 2 meals which further reduces the total cost from $5.48 down to $2.74 for the 3 of us to eat!!!!  That is only $.91 per person!!!  Beat that fast food, lol.

If timed correctly everything should be done at almost the same time.  Serve and enjoy!!!

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I did not have any foil to use so I covered my chicken with parchment paper.


Mashing the potatoes in the Kitchenaid


Getting the chicken out of the oven. It was bubbling!


  My 29m old downed her dinner in less than 5 minutes.  This was around the 3 minute mark.

My plate/portion.  I love potatoes but this was actually a little much for me.