These meals are intended to be a relatively simple and healthy weeknight meal for a family of four. We assume that these dinners are being made in a kitchen stocked with regular kitchen staples. We will not include prices of oil, sugar, flour, spices, etc. unless you need a substantial amount or it is unusual. Regional food prices may vary and can be reduced by smart shopping techniques.
| 1/2 lb. chicken breast | $1.48 |
| 1 medium onion | $.99 |
| 1 head garlic | $.50 |
| 1 Bell Pepper (any color) | $1.49 |
| 1 Snow Peas 1/4 lb. (big handful) | $1.00 |
| Total Cost = $5.46 | |
Mince about 3 cloves of garlic and chop onions into bite sized pieces. Set aside. Chop pepper and snow peas approximately the same size. Slice the chicken on the short side into 1/2 inch strips, so they will cook quickly. I like to chop everything and have it ready to go in the pan, buy you can do it in stages if you are on top of things.
Heat about 1 Tbsp. oil in a wok or large frying pan at a medium high heat. Add onion for a minute, then garlic for about 30 seconds. The onion should be softening. Add chicken and cook together until no more pink is showing, 3-4 minutes. You will want to stir regularly for even cooking. There are wok spatulas for this but a wide wooden spoon works as well. Mix 3 Tbsp. soy sauce and 1/4 cup water together and set aside. If you would like a thicker sauce, add a little cornstarch and whisk it all together in a small bowl, removing lumps.
*Note: I put soy sauce and rice in the "Staples" list because I use them both at least once a week and buy them in bulk. If you need to purchase them separately, they should only cost you a few dollars and this still should be under $10 for the total.
Tips:
Hey, starchild here to help make a cheap meal cheaper. Sorry, I can't help myself. You can buy a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables,for under $2.00(1.79) and there is a large variety of veggies without all the prep! I usually but the store brand, with 5 different veggies. Not to mention...its the time of year for sales on frozen veggies.
The meal can spread farther when served on white rice OR ramen noodles. Save on!
I dont know where you are from , but I have you beat by a long shot. You do good in trying to feed a family of four. I can feed a lot of foster children and adopted children of mine on next to nothing and healthy too. First you buy non name brand food store brand items only, and they are way cheaper. In the town I live in my grocery has one of the employees from the store slaughter chickens and sell them the processed meat from it for $1.09 a pound. You can get potatoes from the can that don't have brown spots on them like they have been having lately in stores and they are whole potatoes too for around 49 cents max non name brand. These are the same as name brand and taste just as good. Onions can be grown and harvested for free. Lots of people have left over seeds, and they can be container gardened along with peas too, if you live in an apartment that has a storage closet you can grow organic mushrooms from left over seeds too. Treat these container plants like other plants give them love, water and sunshine or darkness depending on what a book free from the library says. Training your cat or dog to stay out of them is easy. Kennel them when your gone, and watch them when your home. You can also get lettuce on sake in the winter at your store for less than a dollar. There are other ways too. Did you know baked beans is an excellent source of protein.
That's cool, I like how the costs for ingredients are broken down. Does an onion really cost $0.99? Wow.
Um, somebody mentioned feeding your kids kool-aid instead of milk. I don't have kids, but that sounds pretty unhealthy to me. Just my two cents.
i agree koolaid isn't as healthy as milk. but i cut the amount of sugar back to 3/4 c instead of the 1 cup they call for and we don't drink excessive amounts of it but i can't afford to serve milk at every meal either
