Day 3: 12 Days of Frugal Stockpile Meals

Tonight's dinner was baked chicken with sides of peas and macaroni and cheese.

I used these:

to make this:

I'm sorry (again!) for the picture being sideways.  I have no idea why it's doing it randomly, even though it looks like it will appear normally until I actually post it. :-(

 

Here are the ingredients and a cost break-down:

 

• Chicken thighs - $2.48 (Honestly, this is a total guess on my part.  I found them in my freezer, but since I don't normally buy bone-in thighs, I must have found a good deal on these although I can't find a receipt.  To estimate the cost, I'm using the regular price of $0.99/pound for the Wegmans Club Pack to be on the conservative side, since I really think I only would have bought them if they were super cheap.  I'm also estimating that each thigh weighs a half pound.)
• Idahoan instant mashed potatoes - free 
• Birds Eye Steamfresh peas - $0.67 
• Annie's Homegrown macaroni & cheese - free (I don't use butter to make the cheese sauce, I only use milk which I picked up for free with a coupon yesterday!)

I really really wish there was technology available to share the way the chicken smelled.  It was absolutely divine!  The picture doesn't do it justice.

Making the chicken was easy.  I poured the instant mashed potatoes into a plastic bag and tossed each chicken piece to coat (I knew I'd find a way to use these potatoes, since I don't like to actually eat them in their mashed form!).  Since it was garlic and parmesan flavored, I didn't have to add any additional seasoning to it and it made a nice crispy coating on the outside.  After the oven preheated to 450, I put the chicken in on a foil-lined baking sheet and turned it down to 375 and baked it for 40 minutes.  Easy peasy!

Total cost for a meal for a family of 5: $3.15 ($0.63 per person).

Stay tuned to see what's on tomorrow's menu...

Do you have a favorite cheap meal you make from your stockpile?  I'd love to read about it -- just leave a comment!