How to Save with Affordable Chicken Recipes

With family food budgets being scrutinized now more than ever, many of us are searching for frugal recipes, especially cheap chicken recipes. When we consider a recipe, the first thing we focus on are the individual ingredients. If a recipes contains too many ingredients, or looks like some ingredients will be pricey, we may not select that recipe. But is that the best way to find affordable recipes?

I recommend that you shift your attention away from searching for cheap recipes, and concentrate more on making recipes cheaper by buying the ingredients when they are at their lowest possible prices. For example, in many chicken dishes, the chicken is the most expensive item. If you were to consistently buy chicken when it’s on sale, and you bought enough of it to last until the next sale, you would dramatically reduce the cost of all chicken recipes.

How to save money on chicken?

At my local grocery store, frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts are sold in 40 oz (2.5 lbs) bags for 8.99 each. I wait until they run a buy-one-get-one-free sale, and then I buy two bags, or 5 lbs. of chicken for 8.99. This way I am only paying $1.80 per pound for boneless, skinless chicken. In my area, chicken regularly costs over $4.25 per pound., when it’s not on sale.

How to Prepare Chicken when it's Frozen?

An easy way to prepare frozen chicken for the recipe below, or any recipe that calls for cooked chicken, is to use a crock pot. Place the frozen chicken breasts into the crock pot with some chicken broth (or water), and let it cook on low for anywhere from 6 - 8 hours. Crock pot cooking produces great, tender chicken.

Creamy Chicken Noodles

Here’s an inexpensive chicken recipe I came up with, that my family really likes. By purchasing the ingredients on sale, I estimate that this meal costs under $5.00 to make. It will feed 5 adults.

1 cup - 2 cups cooked chicken

1 TBSP butter

1/2 large onion, chopped

3 (3 ounce) packages chicken flavored ramen noodles

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups water

1 cup frozen green peas

1/4 cup sour cream

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add noodles to boiling water and cook for 3 minutes; drain. Meanwhile, sauté in skillet the onion in butter for several minutes. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 seasoning packets from ramen noodles, flour and water until smooth; add this sauce and peas to the skillet. Bring mixture to a boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes or until heated through. Remove mixture from heat and stir in sour cream; do not boil. Mix in noodles and serve.

This recipe is very adaptable, so consider the following substitutions:

- You can use hamburger instead of chicken, but use with beef flavored noodles

- Use any veggie you have on hand, instead of peas

How to Save more Money?

Need more help saving money? For more affordable chicken recipes - visit the forums.

And remember you can make all your recipes cheaper with these free coupons!