I finally got mine up: balsamic braised chicken legs with steamed artichokes! A lot of people don’t live near a Trader Joe’s, but for those who do, their free-range chicken is about $1.09 a pound all the time. It is a freaking chicken bonanza out here!! Good thing I love it!

But I have no idea how much any of this cost really. I can’t imagine it could have been more than $3.50 and if we don’t have to include pantry items then it was well below $3.50 as all we actually bought specifically for the dinner was the squash and the green beans.

1 egg for the pasta ($2.25 per dozen – in the fridge)
~90gm flour ($10 per kilo – on hand)
pecans (again, no idea, we had these on hand)
small amount grated Ilha Branca cheese ($23??? per kilo – we had it in the fridge)
1/2 onion (no idea, we always have onions)
milk powder (no idea, we always have milk powder)
1 Tbsp butter ($4 per lb; on hand)
1 Tbsp olive oil ($8 per litre; on hand)
splash of 10% cream ($2 per litre; on hand…)
good shot of green beans ($1.29 per lb – I’m guessing it came to around $.90??)
butternut squash (no idea but we only used half of one)

I’ll try to remember about this challenge for another time.

If you buy chicken breast with bones and then freeze the bones til you have enough to make stock, you can eliminate the need to buy canned stock. (Home-made stock is great and VERY easy to make.)

Thanks for the comment! What was your dinner?

When we calculate dinner, we don’t include pantry items in the price, as long as they are things that everyone is likely to have in their pantry (such as spices, salt, pepper, oil). For this dinner, here’s the break down:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($1.49), canned chipotles in adobo (0.75), chicken broth (0.59), corn tortillas (0.80) and Monterey Jack cheese (0.55), 1 box frozen corn (on sale)($1). 1 small loaf of bread (sometimes called a demi-loaf) ($1), 2 tbsp butter ($.20), 1 tbsp gorgonzola ($0.35).

Also, items that you only use a portion of are prorated. You can find the full rules here:
http://sarahscucinabella.com/2008/10/09/are-you-up-for-the-7-dinner-challenge/

When you’re calculating the cost of the dinner, do you include the pantry items?