“We are a one income family living in a two income world!” Erin, $5 Dinners
That quote really resonated with me and so I decided to challenge myself to three Mondays of $5 Dinner Challenges. This means, each Monday I will cook a meal for 2 adults and 2 children for around $5. Here’s the real challenge, though: I will do it while maintaining my commitment to eat mostly local and organic vegetables and humanely raised meats. For my inaugural meal, I made Olive Oil & Rosemary Chicken with Pearled Barley & Green Beans for $5.61.
The great thing about this meal is that it is one of the tastiest I’ve made lately. The chicken was crispy and not over seasoned with a hint of rosemary. The green beans were flavorful and crisp and since the barley was simmered in chicken stock, it complemented the meal perfectly. Here’s how made this fantastic meal for just over five bucks:
Prices and Products
- 1 tsp. finely chopped rosemary from my garden: free
- 1/2 tbsp. organic, cold pressed, Extra Virgin Olive Oil: $0.10
- 1.09 lbs. chicken thighs (no animal byproducts or antibiotics in the animal’s feed or added hormones): $2.99
- 1 cup dry organic pearled barley (each serving has 30% of your daily dietary fiber requirement): $0.69
- 1 cup home-made organic, free range chicken stock with local veggies, good wine and home-grown herbs $0.76
- 0.75 lb. local, pesticide-free green beans from farmer’s market: $1.07
- Couple dashes of salt and pepper: negligible
How I got these great deals:
- I’d heard from my friend Elisa that the end of the day at the farmer’s market is a good time to bargain with the farmers, so I went ten minutes to closing and talked the farmer down from $2/lb to $1/lb on the green beans.
- I told the butcher at Whole Foods about this really cool dinner challenge I was doing and he helped me pick out the pieces of chicken that were the best value and (don’t tell anyone!) did a little rounding down on the price.
- I made the chicken stock from the left over carcass and offal from last week’s roast chicken, tasty wine that hubby found a great deal on, left over veggies from last week and herbs from my garden.
Recipes
Rosemary and Olive Oil Chicken Thighs
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Combine 1/2 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary and a dash each of sea salt and fresh ground pepper in a small bowl.
- Wash and pat dry 1 lb bone-in, skin on chicken thighs.
- Rub thighs with olive oil mix
- Bake at 400 for about 45 minutes (until skin is golden brown and temp. is 165)
Barley Cooked in Chicken Stock
- Cook 1 cup pearled barley according to instructions on package, replacing 1 cup of water with 1 cup of chicken stock (usually 1 cup dried barley for 3 cups liquid, simmer, covered for 1 hr 15 min.)
Steamed Green Beans
- Cook 3/4 lb. green beans in steamer basket over one inch of water in covered pot on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached, but color is still bright green.
