Kona Chicken - $5 Dinner Challenge

I am happy to report that Kona Chicken made the List! Tom thought it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it too. Thomas, on the other hand, wouldn't touch it.

The original recipe came from all recipes, but I have altered it so much I am just going to post it with my alterations.

Kona Chicken


6 chicken breast halves, boneless skinless. ($2.50 - from my stash of cheap chicken )
1/2 cup chopped onion (.13 I price matched a 3# bag of onions for a dollar)
1/2 cup soy sauce (.25 ? just a guess)
3/4 cup water - the recipe called for 1/4 cup of white wine and 1/2 cup of water, but we don't drink wine and I couldn't justify buying it for 1/4 of a cup. You could use apple juice, but I didn't have any of that either.
1/2 cup honey (I didn't have quite enough honey, so I made up the difference with molasses) (no idea, I buy the honey at Sam's in big bottles since I use it for my bread recipe)
ground black pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic, crushed - two or three would have been better. (.25 again, just a guess)

Place chicken into a slow cooker. add onion, soy sauce, water, honey, garlic and pepper and give it a stir or two. Cover, and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours. After cooking, I thickened the sauce with a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch. Serve over steamed rice (.25, .57 for a pound with price matching) with a side of steamed broccoli (1.50? .99 lb for crowns with price matching) for a delicious dinner.

$4.88 if you don't count the honey/molasses, pepper and cornstarch. This was enough for six generous servings. Check out more $5 Dinners at Erin's blog!

Cheap Chicken

I processed all my split chicken breasts. I removed the skin and deboned each breast, then tossed the carcass with the tender into the stock pot - or in this case pots. I had three pots going on the stove at once.

I ended up with six 5.5 lb packages. I had seven, but Mom (who taught me how to price match) didn't manage to score any, so I gave her one - would have given her two, but she refused. Love you Mom! Most packages only had five breasts per package - they were big! I ended up with ten bags of three boneless skinless breasts. Five bags (approx. 2 cups each) of cooked shredded chicken. And last but not least, ten bags of broth (2 cups each).

The cost breakdown: Each package was 5.5 lbs and cost $3.14 @ .57 cents per pound. So, I got it all for $18.84 Roughly $1.25 per package and I should be able to get two meals out of each package. The broth, we will just count that as FREE!

It's funny, I wouldn't even let my Mom teach me how to cut up a whole chicken when I was a kid. I told her that I would buy my chicken already cut up! LOL Now, I prefer to buy it as unprocessed as possible. The less a food product has been handled, the fewer people have had their hands on it. And it saves money!

Pop Tart Deal at Wal-Mart

This week our local Wal-Mart had the NEW 20% daily value Fiber in Frosted Chocolate Fudge and Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon priced at $1.98 for the 8 pack. Each box had a $1.00 pull off coupon. I was able to combine this with price matching at 3/$5 making them $1.66 each, less the $1 coupon for a grand total of .66 per box.

Shopping at Wal-Mart

I know some people hate Wal-Mart. But, not everyone in these United States has the luxury of multiple stores from which to choose. The closest town with more than two grocery stores is almost 40 miles from here. But, I can and do save a lot of money by shopping at Wal-Mart. None of the stores here double coupons, so if you are in an area with lots of choices and they double coupons, you might do better elsewhere.

Wal-Mart price matches. So, I can collect the ads from neighboring towns and WM will sell me their sale ad items for the same price. You have to match size and brand exactly, except in the case of store brands like "Best Choice" or "Always Save", then WM will sell you their store brand "Great Value" for the other store's price.

This week a local store had split chicken breasts on sale for .57 lb. That is correct. Fifty-seven cents per pound. So far, I have bought five packages.** I debone the chicken breasts (discarding the skin) and package them to freeze. Since I am not great at deboning, I put tender and bones in a stock pot and boil with some onion, celery and carrot. I pull out the meat and pick it off the bones - great for chicken noodle soup, chicken salad - anything you would use canned chicken for and it tastes so much better. Strain the stock and you will never have to pay for chicken broth again. I just freeze it in a ziplock type bag. Easy Peasy.

The best way to get the most bang for your buck at WM is to match coupons with your price matching. This week Ritz crackers (that the boy LOVES and his mommy is usually too cheap to buy - lol) were $2.98 at WM. Country Mart had them on sale two for $5. And I had a coupon for $2 off two. My price? $1.50 per box. Almost half price.

Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner. It can't remember the exact price, but it was over $3. This week another store had them 2/$5 and I had a $3 off two. That is $1.00 each. Cheaper than Suave!

** I didn't buy all five packages at once and I didn't take all they had. I will make at least one other trip this week to WM - when we go to church - I can't make special trips to town for just chicken - lol. We are fifteen miles from the nearest town.