DAY 1: Going Back To The Basics

Breakfast Day 1-Oatmeal and strawberries with a glass of milk!  It was delicious!

I went with a huge container of instant oatmeal that will make 30 servings for only $2.49, I added strawberries that were listed at $2.50 but since I price matched from a competitor’s ad I only paid $1.19 for a pound of strawberries.  Add a glass of milk (half-gallon $1.34) and it was a great start to this challenge.

Of course all of these items will last me for more than just 1 mean but I was trying to be thrifty while thinking of healthy and good breakfast options.

Lunch Day 1-This was an easy option.  As someone who already eats tuna and knows it’s a cheap lunch, this was easy for me to pick as one of my meals

I bought the economy size (store-brand) can of tuna that has 5 servings ($1.99)  I added some chopped onions and mayo and had myself some tuna salad for several lunches this week.

I added of course two pieces of toast (loaf of bread $1.89)

And some yogurt (I bought with a tip from Peggy) This 4-pack of yogurt had come out of the cardboard packaging so the store had to wrap it up, but doing so dropped  the price to just $1.00 from $2.50.  HUGE difference for the same yogurt, don’t we all rip the cardboard off anyway.

All and all this was a good lunch, my husband stopped by for lunch and was eating some chips, which was hard for me not to take part, but if I want to really give this a try I feel I should try to stick to the list!

After lunch, I started to prep for dinner, something I was not looking forward to.  I learned of course it’s more affordable to buy a full chicken ($3.14) then chicken breasts.  Again, Peggy spotted a deal and we price matched the chicken for 69 cents a pound with a competitors ad saving a couple bucks!

Of course when you buy the full bird, this also means MORE WORK!

If you’ve never tackled a full chicken, you might be with me, it’s a little intimidating! But after reading a few online tutorials on the best way to cook the bird I decided a crock pot would be best.

My good old Dad told me to remove the “bag of innards”  from inside the bird, however after checking several times, I didn’t find it, I guess sometimes when you buy a full chicken this is already removed for you, which was not a problem with me, I was just going to toss these anyway.

So the online tutorial I read was simple, wash the bird, throw it into a crock pot, add your favorite seasoning (I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika) put the crock pot on low and leave it alone for 7 hours.  I’m off today, but this would be a great easy dinner for when you have to be at work all day.  Also, being off has been a plus, because my apartment smells AMAZING!

As for a side dish, I bought some red potatoes ($0.63) and just sliced them up thin added some olive oil and Italian spices threw them in the oven for 25 minutes and I had a perfect affordable side-dish.

Dinner Day 1:

After baking my bird for 7+ hours I was hesitant on how to cut the meat into meal sized portions.  I called my Dad again, and he said just take two forks pick it up and put in on a cutting board. Easier said than done!  My attempt to pick up the chicken ended up with it breaking into a ton of pieces, literally falling off the bone.  I suppose this is a good thing, but it made it tricky to pick out the bones and parts of the chicken I didn’t think we could eat. Luckily, I had a TON of chicken from this easy to cook meal.  My husband took part in helping me with my challenge for dinner at least and enjoyed some chicken and potatoes with me.

I will have to say after experiencing cooking a whole chicken from start to finish I can see the benefits and cost savings for doing so.  My husband Ryan said the meat looked more like chicken we would use in a stew or chicken noodle soup since it was broken up into such small pieces but it still did the job.  If you’re on a budget of any kind a full chicken in the way to go, it cost me $3.00 and will last for at least 3 meals.  Tomorrow I might try to tackle homemade chicken noodle soup, I did buy some noodles.

So as day one comes to a close, I didn’t find it at all challenging to stick to my meal plans.  I was full after every meal.  I also pushed myself out of my comfort zone with the whole chicken task, I’m looking forward to what’s to come for Day 2 tomorrow!