Big mistake
The whole idea for this blog came out of this one recipe they have up for Chicken & Noodles. It's trademarked, so I won't share the entire recipe, but these are the ingredients:
- Cream of chicken soup
- Mexican chicken bouillon
- Water
- Onion powder (if they use real onion I'd be shocked)
- Egg noodles
- Chicken (optional)
- Pepper
Oh, where shall we begin? At the beginning, I suppose
Cream of chicken soup - $1.18 x 8 = $9.44
Now I have no idea how much Cream of Chicken soup costs locally, but Google pointed me to a blogger who reported the same generic brand I would buy at $1.18, so that's probably pretty ballpark.
According to foodfacts.com, probably my new best friend, a similar brand of cream of chicken soup contains:
Chicken Stock, Wheat Flour, Chicken Fat, Chicken Meat Cooked, Cream, Corn Starch, Canola Oil,Corn Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Margarine, Chicken Mechanically Separated, Salt, Soybean(s) Oil, Water,Beta Carotene, Calcium Caseinate, Flavor(s) Chicken, Chicken Powder, Dairy Blend Dried,Whey Dried, Food Starch Modified, Monosodium Glutamate, Flavoring Natural, Sodium Phosphate, Soy Protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate, Spice(s) Extractive, Whey, Yeast Extract
Nummies!
Mexican chicken bouillon - $3.75/2 = 1.88
I can only assume they mean this stuff. It's a small jar and they use a lot of it, so I went with half the jar.
Back to FoodFacts for a similar product
Salt, Corn Maltodextrin, Sugar, Sodium Bicarbonate, Water, Monosodium Glutamate, Corn Protein Hydrolyzed, Onion(s) Powder, Garlic Dehydrated, Chicken Fat, Yeast Extract Autolyzed, Garlic Powder, Chicken Powder Cooked, Whey (Milk) , Parsley Flakes Dehydrated,Spice(s), Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Flavor(s) Natural, Turmeric,Flavor(s) Natural Chicken, Soybean(s) Oil, Soy Protein Hydrolyzed, Gelatin, Celery Seed,Soy Lecithin, Soybean(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Dextrose, Butter Oil, Silicon Dioxide,Calcium Silicate, Corn Syrup Solids, Tricalcium Phosphate, Flavor(s) Artificial, TBHQ(Preservative) , Alpha Tocopherol (Tocopheryl) (Antioxidant) , Butter (Cream, Annatto) , BHA(Preservative) , Propyl Gallate, Citric Acid
Water = $0
Onion Powder = nc
I'm not toting in spices, because you buy a fairly large amount and spread it between several recipes. I also use onion powder from time to time and so I'm going to be kindly and go with my brand from FoodFacts
Onion(s), Onion(s) Green, Parsley, Onion(s) Oil, Sodium Sulfate (Sulfite, Sulphite) As Preservatives
Egg noodles - $29.31/3 = $9.77
The $29 is for 12 bags, and Wal -Mart is usually an average price. FoodFacts -
Durum Flour, Egg(s) Solids, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate (Iron) , Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1)(Vitamin B1) , Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) (Vitamin B2) , Folic Acid (Vitamin aB)
Chicken = nc
The protein is optional. The protein is optional. You're feeding your kids a chemical paste at this point, one that's all simple carbs and sodium, which is going to make them suck down more from your in-house soda bar. What's wrong with this picture?
Pepper = nc
__________
Total cost = 21.09
Divided by 18 (assuming someone isn't home/is nursing) $1.17/serving
My turn:
Farmhouse Chowder
- 3 cups cooked chicken
- Water
- Salt
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 4 potatoes, chopped
- 1 bag frozen pepper strips
- 1 bag frozen corn
- pepper
- paprika
- Bell's seasoning
- Old Bay seasoning
- Basil
- Oregano
3 cups cooked chicken = ($0.79/lb x 4.5 lb)/2 = $1.69
Here's where the math gets complicated. I roasted a small chicken last night and the husband and I ate the breasts and the leg quarters. But there was still a lot of meat left on the carcass, so today I boiled it off to make the soup.
I know what was in the chicken: Chicken, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic
Water = nc
Salt = nc
4 slices bacon = ($2.00/12)4 = $0.66
Yes, I said only four slices of bacon. Bacon is a flavoring, not a food group.
1 onion, chopped - $0.39/2 = $0.20
One half lb of onion
2 carrots, chopped - ($0.53/16)4 = $0.13
4 oz carrots
4 potatoes, chopped = $0.79
1 lb potatoes
1 bag frozen pepper strips = $1.86
1 bag frozen corn = $1.78
There is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables, if you get just the vegetables, no sauces or dinners or whatnot. They're blanched within hours of picking which locks in the nutrients, and when you're out in the hinterlands where 'fresh' veggies are a week old already that can make a big nutritional difference.
pepper = nc
paprika = nc
Bell's seasoning = nc
Old Bay seasoning = nc
Basil = nc
Oregano = nc
FoodFacts:
Celery Salt (Salt, Celery Seed) , Spice(s) (Mustard, Pepper(s) Black, Bay Leaves, Clove(s),Allspice [Pimento(s)] , Ginger, Mace, Cardamom, Cinnamon) , Paprika
__________
Total Cost = $7.11
Divided by the 10 bowls we get out of this recipe = $0.71/per serving
And vegetables, and protein and much less sodium.
And there you go.
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