The Real E V V O N N E: EASY & HEALTHY CHICKEN DINNER

Hello,　

This is a new Blog series I am starting focusing on sharing my personal solutions to help you feed yourself and/or your family healthy meals on the CHEAP. Many of us want to eat "healthy" but due to time restraints and finances, many of us think this is an un-obtainable goal. Well, I am here to tell you that is FALSE. Let me give you an example based off of what I prepared for my family's Monday night dinner. I am just as busy as most (I work and I am a mother to an Autistic son, and I am a wife), that is why I try to prepare, AT LEAST, the MAIN dish of our dinner, the night before. So I prepared Monday night's chicken, Sunday evening. This is what I did:　

For starters, I prepared chicken parts with seasons such as: Cayenne Pepper, Turmeric, Sea Salt and Black Pepper. (FYI - Use whatever seasons you currently have on hand. Please do not go out to buy what I have just to prepare this meal. It is NOT necessary.) I put those washed chicken parts in my Crock Pot (Slow Cooker), I added a little water, and then seasoned the chicken. 　

I then placed the slow cooker temperature to the LOW setting and timed it for four (4) hours. After 4 hours, the chicken was nice and tender! I placed the cooked chicken in a storage container after it cooled slightly, and placed into my refrigerator. (Side Note: You can also do the same with FROZEN chicken, just adjust the time to 6 hours on LOW)　

When I arrived home on Monday evening, I placed rice in my rice cooker (which steams vegetables as well) and I warmed up some frozen broccoli (you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Just remember, FRESH is always best, then FROZEN is second best. CAN is not healthy....cheap, yes, but not healthy, but sometimes we have to make due with what we have, so do not think I am knocking your canned goods. I just want to inform you, that is all.). 　

SIDE NOTE: Normally, I would have placed the rice and water in the rice cooker in the morning, and delayed the timer to start cooking right before I got home from work (but homegirl was running late this am!). The rice cooker that I have can be delayed up to 15 hours (I will list name, price and link to rice cooker I purchased, below). And after it is done cooking, it will stay on the WARM setting for HOURS.　

I suggest when you see family packs of chicken on sale at your local grocery store, stock up on it and freeze it. If you are a single person, or a two person household, you can still purchase the family packs. Just, separate and clean the chicken and place the portions relevant for your meals, in freezer bags (make sure there is no air in the bag. You can also wrap the meat in aluminum foil then place it in the freezer bag.). This goes for rice and frozen veggies too. When you see sales, stock up as much as you can (and based off of the size of your freezer of course).

Below I am listing the cost of the meat, veggies and rice based off of where I live. These same items may be less or slightly more where you live, but there is no reason why these items would cost you more than $20. I will also post a picture of a plate of the final meal.　

GROCERY LIST:　

- Chicken Parts (Family Size) : I Paid $5.66 (Sale price)　

- Rice (A bag of the Store brand) : I Paid $1.99　

- Frozen Broccoli (Store Brand) : I Paid $0.99 (Sale price)　

TOTAL = $8.64　