Baked Chicken Morphs Into Chicken 'n' Dumplings

If you read my previous post How to Feed a Family of Six on $200 you will appreciate this post. Part of the success of my menu planning is that I choose meals that are low in cost and that stretch to cover another meal or three if I am really on a roll.

Yesterday's dinner was baked chicken. Husband procured a natural free range 7 lb chicken from Trader Joe's for $13.00. You could get this figure down to really cheap if you did not care if it is natural or free range. For the first night we had baked chicken, mashed potatoes ($1.50) & gravy (free) and canned organic green beans (2 at a $1.00 each) ($2.00). The next morning I took the chicken carcass, still half full of meat, and put it into the crock pot and let it boil all day. Once the meat was falling off the bones I cleaned the carcass, put all the chicken back into the broth and simmered the rest of the day. Half and hour before dinner was to be served I added frozen, boxed all natural Anne's Dumplings ($2.50). Half hour later dinner was served. There was some left over for my husband to take for lunch the next day and for my children to eat for lunch.


This is a prime example of being able stretch one meal into three meals thus reducing your grocery bill. Again, that is the secret to being able to feed 6 under $200 - being resourceful.

Here's the breakdown:
$13.00
$1.50
$2.00
_______

$16.50 - feeds six people three times = $5.50/meal - you could get this figure down further if you bought a less expensive chicken.

Debt and/or Savings Strategy Step #9 - Be resourceful.