Sooner or Later…

Remember that recipe for Cheesy Chicken Goodness? 

Cheesy Chicken is a very economical recipe with one exception: the enchilda sauce. The price of a can or two of enchilada sauce was never cheap but the price increase has motivated me into finding a good homemade sauce recipe. After all, there was enchilada sauce before there were grocery stores.

Finding a good recipe was quite a search effort. There are plenty of recipes on the internet but I wanted & needed a recipe that was not complicated, did not take a lot of time and was not more expensive than the canned stuff. Cheap is good, cheap & tasty is better.

Thanks to the Headmistress at The Common Room I have found the recipe. From their site:

AUTHENTIC ENCHILADA SAUCE

3 T oil
3 T flour
6 T chili powder
2 c water (or meat broth)
1 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder Dissolve chili powder in the water and set aside.
(try putting the chili powder in warm water for ease of mixing)In medium skillet, heat oil.
Add flour and heat until dissolved.
Add chili powder/water mixture and mix well.
Add salt and garlic powder and mix well.
Bring to bubbly boil, stirring constantly.
Simmer for 5 minutes.Use water or meat broth for the base.
Mix this and some butter in with refried beans for an authentic tasting side dish.

This recipe was a success from the first try. I used the store brand chili powder we already had, it was not quite as spicy as I would have liked but that is easily fixed by adding a dash of hot sauce or salsa. Also, I did not simmer the full 5 minutes as the sauce was going to be baked in the oven for at least 30 minutes.

Cost breakdown: (estimated as we buy on sale & in bulk.)  .62  versus $1.89 for the large can at Save-A-Lot. 

1. Oil .11
2.  Flour .01
3. Chili powder .45
4. Garlic powder .05

Success! Easy, quick & cheap.

The entire recipe: Serving 7-10 people

1. Chicken leg quarters: average price $5.90 for 10 lbs. (Usually cheaper)
2. Enchilada Sauce: .62
3. Rice: (25 lbs $11.88)  .19 per cup uncooked = .38 for 2 cups uncooked or 6 cups cooked rice
4. Fajita Seasoning: .50 package but I skip this anymore
5. Canned corn: .49 per can = .98
6. Canned Black Beans: about .89 (guessing as cannot find price on-line)
7. Tortillas: $2.24  (Mission)
8. Sour Cream: .89 per carton we use about 1/4 so .22
9. Salsa: $1.49 jar, we use about 1/4 to 1/2 so .37 – .75 (used .50 for calculations)
10. Grated Cheese: Member’s Mark 2 lbs for $4.52. We use as about one pound total so $2.26 BUT when money is tight or the cheese is low then we use less or no cheese. Also usually bought on sale. This is for a good estimate.

Total for all three days: $13.37 or $4.46 per meal.

This is *just* for three meals but I can say that there will be nibbles between main suppers. This can be cheaper if the chicken is on sale. The local Price Chopper often has leg quarters 10 lbs for $3.90

At the sale price the numbers become $11.37 for three meals or $3.79 per meal.

We usually drink tea, water or milk for beverage depending. No crunching there, it gets complicated. If we are low it’s tea or water. Kool-aid type beverages are appearing (store what you eat, eat what you store)

Why the number crunching? Too many news stories on feeding x people on x amount of money. I think we are fairly thrify but need numbers…

Sooner or Later

Thank you to the Common Room family for their most excellent blog.