$10 Dinners

One of my resolutions was to provide meals for my family at $10 and under. Two days in and I've already gone over! Sort of.

Yesterday's meal was Cream Cheese with broccoli and it was VERY good. As a further testament to what Cherie and I have in common we both highly recommend this book though I bought it seperately and not because she told me about it :) Anyway, this is a great book - check it out - it's on sale for just $12.98 at Amazon.com - very worth it:



Back to the cost:

Chicken was $1.83 a pound (HT buy 1 pack get 2 free) - used 1.83 lbs: $3.35
Oil: $.10
1 Package Italian Seasoning Mix: $1.75
Onion: $.23
1 can cream of chicken soup: $.64
Broccoli: $.50 a box - used 2 (I'd recommend a bag next time): $1.00
1 package cream cheese, cubed: $1.66
Spaghetti: $1.00

Total Cost: $9.73

(On a seperate note: the recipe also calls for 2 cups sliced mushrooms which we do NOT like so I left those out - also calls for 4 pounds of chicken but seriously that would have been WAY too much chicken so I only used 1 pack - also called for dry sherry but I'm not much of a gourmet chef and I have no idea what that is :) - so maybe I cheated a little but it turned out great. Oh, I didn't have olive oil either so I used vegetable which is way cheaper.)

Recipe:

1. Toss cubed chicken with olive oil. Sprinkle with Italian salad dressing mix. Place in 5-quart Crock-Pot slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 3 hours.

2. Coat large skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add mushrooms and onions; cook 5 minutes over medium heat or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Add soup, broccoli, cream cheese and sherry to skillet; cook until hot. Transfer to Crock-Pot slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 1 hour. Serve chicken and sauce over pasta.

Yummy!!

I'd like to say tonights menu was as frugal but it wasn't exactly. Truthfully it was because I used all the pork chops which 2 packages totaled just shy of $10 themselves. However, we did not eat all the pork chops and they will feed my husband for lunch and a leftover meal later this week. I also had to buy olive oil at Target along with the frozen lemonade I use for the marinade. The sides I had on hand - carrots, scalloped potatoes (purchased for less then $1.00 at HT) and biscuits. So, it was slightly over $10 but still at home and cheaper then going out!

If you are interested in more cheap meals check out this blog: $5 Dinners I think it's a great website except that she's feeding a family of 4 and we have 7. I also can't imagine that she has many leftovers. To feed my family I could've done 3 pork chops since my 5 kids don't yet eat much but that would have left us with nothing and I like to have leftovers making a free meal later. But if your family is smaller it's a great site!