Recently, she posed a challenge to her readers - to cook a family meal for less than $10. I was like, piece of cake! I can do this! Bring it on!
I had already planned my meals for the week and did my shopping last Saturday, so I had to work with what I had already bought. Usually I budget per week, not per meal so that was also tricky. Luckily, I had planned to make a classic Chicken Cacciatore on Monday night and decided to put my money where my mouth is and figure out if the meal would meet the $10 budget.
This Cacciatore recipe is from a 1970's edition of Better Homes and Gardens, New Cook Book, that I stole from my mom's house years ago.
Pricing the ingredients was the hardest part of the challenge. Not sure how to price the pantry items that I already had, but I took a stab at it.
Fresh ingredients:
3 lbs Chicken thighs - $5.58 (on sale!)
1 medium onion - (0.65 each or $2.49/lb)
2 cloves of garlic (0.69/head)
1 medium green pepper (0.89/each)
1/2 package of button mushrooms ($1.00 for half pkge or $2.00/package)
Pantry Items:
couple of glugs of olive oil
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes ($1.99/can)
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons basil and/or oregano
1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
1/4 cup white wine (optional - I used some leftover stuff I had in my fridge)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper (optional)
1 teaspoon of salt (optional)
2 cups of brown rice ($1.00 for 2 cups or $3.09/box)
I estimated my dried herbs and seasonings totaled about $1.00. Overall I think I spent about $12.80 for the whole meal but there was plenty left over for another meal, so I think that I am in the clear. Yes? YES!
That was fun, but it did take planning. Worth the savings though!
Ingredients. I only ended up using one can of tomatoes (the big one!)
Once the garlic and onions are cooked, set them aside while you cook the chicken.
You can use chicken breast, but I use trimmed and ready to cook thighs since they are cheaper and have more nutrients, plus less dry in my opinion and therefore tastier and more tender too.
Add the seasonings to the chicken, onions, green pepper, tomatoes mushrooms. Then simmer with lid on for 30 minutes before adding the wine and continue cooking for another 15 minutes with the lid off.
I like to serve the Cacciatore over brown rice. Ta da!
My hubby thinks this dish is very tasty!
3 comments:
See, it could be done! And it looks like a very hearty meal.
Now to get my post up!
Yummy! Thanks for playing! ...and I spent a summer in Positano when I was a teenager. My dad is italian...It was a magical summer.
yummy! nice pictures!
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