the reason i bring it up is because the couponing guru in my area has a term i love - the price point. the price point is the most you are willing to pay for any given food item. it is important to set price points on things you buy because if you have no limits, suddenly your budget means nothing. here are a few of my price points - so this is the absolute most i will pay for these items:
boneless, skinless chicken breast - $1.67
green bell peppers - $0.33 each
100% whole wheat bread - $1.88
butter - $1.67/lb
whole milk - $1.67 (gallon)
avocado - $0.33/each
yogurt - $0.33/8 oz or $0.25/6 oz
those are just a few. i have a price point for nearly everthing i buy on a regular basis. even for things i really love and really can't afford. for example, one of my favorite foods is chicken pesto pizza, but i never make it unless my mother-in-law kindly donates a few tablespoons of her pesto or my mom is buying the ingredients when i'm in town over christmas. no longer is that the case - i found classico brand pesto at wal-mart for $2.08. i have made pizza once and the recipe below and still have plently left. i can work with $2.08 if i still use it sparingly.
so push yourself and see how cheap you can go. find price points for your regulars... and some of your favorites too. and enjoy the new pesto recipe below.
parmesan pesto stuffed chicken
4 servings
4 servings
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 tablespoons pesto sauce
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (i buy a ginormous bag from costco and it lasts me 6 months!)
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs (i ran a piece of bread through the blender and used fresh)
spices of your choice (i used garlic salt, coriander, black pepper, etc.)
1. combine pesto and parmesan. slice the chicken almost through, creating a pocket in the middle. stuff 1/2 of the mixture into each chicken breast.
2. beat egg in shallow bowl. mix bread crumbs with spices in shallow bowl. pull stuffed chicken through the egg and then through the bread crumb mixture, coating chicken completely.
3. bake at 350 in greased baking pan until juices in chicken run clear. half a chicken breast is 1 serving.
1 1/2 tablespoons pesto sauce
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (i buy a ginormous bag from costco and it lasts me 6 months!)
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs (i ran a piece of bread through the blender and used fresh)
spices of your choice (i used garlic salt, coriander, black pepper, etc.)
1. combine pesto and parmesan. slice the chicken almost through, creating a pocket in the middle. stuff 1/2 of the mixture into each chicken breast.
2. beat egg in shallow bowl. mix bread crumbs with spices in shallow bowl. pull stuffed chicken through the egg and then through the bread crumb mixture, coating chicken completely.
3. bake at 350 in greased baking pan until juices in chicken run clear. half a chicken breast is 1 serving.
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14 comments:
I've gotten into using coupons as well. Double coupons are my friend :)
Wow, I'm jealous of your price points! Definitely can't get chicken or milk that cheap here. I believe there is a price fix on dairy in parts of California...I could be wrong.
I'm with Sharon - I can't get those things nearly as cheap, even on mega sale (except chicken which occasionally drops to $1.66 per pound). Butter is $1.99 a pound here and that's when it's rock bottom. Milk was on the biggest sale I've ever seen today for $2.99 a gallon. Eek.
yikes! yeah - i've got it good in ut! the whole point is though that you KNOW what rock bottom is. you go girls! you're ahead of lots of people! my food budget is going to go up in flames when we leave in december. :)
The 'price point' idea is great! I think the concept of waiting to buy something unless it's a certain price/on sale is important, otherwise like you said the budget just goes out the window. I like to stock up (as much as I can) when things are on sale. I used your tip for freezing bell peppers when orange peppers were on a super sale. I'm using some tonight!
Where are you moving in December?
Ahhh I forgot I wanted to say that I have never seen pesto-stuffed chicken before. I will try this!
i'm moving to las vegas in december. definitely higher food prices there. definitely post what you use your orange peppers for. i froze a bunch of orange and red together when they were 2 lbs/$1 (wow!) at a local market when it opened.
I work with Michelle (from your ward) and she said to come check out your blog. I thought I'd say hello :)
This looks great! I've been looking for pesto recipes. I have a bunch of fresh basil from my aerogarden that I need to use.
i'm so jealous that you grow fresh basil! mmmm.... someday i will and can make fresh pesto too! :)
Hahaha! Yeah, those prices remind of Utah for sure. As soon as Avacadoes are less than $1 I consider it a screamin' deal. I do have the Orowheat bread outlet here. I encourage people in larger cities to search out grocery and bread outlets. Usually the difference is that the expiration date is more pending.
Just a thought: what you put into your body is very important. And what you spend your time stressing out about. The average American household only spends like 15% of their income on food, as opposed to the 20 or 30% in times past. So if you're trying to cut back, don't cut out fresh produce or seafood. Instead, change your cell phone plan or get rid of your cable TV channels.
I made chicken pesto pizza based off a recipe shown here: http://maresfoodandfun.blogspot.com/2009/03/pesto-pizza.html. I will definitely post it - but it will probably be in a week or so since I already scheduled a bunch of posts :) Basically I just used Mary Ann's recipe, but for veges I used onion, red/green/orange peppers, and zucchini. I also used Trader Joe's pizza dough since I had some on hand, but it didn't work that well...I think a thicker crust would have been better to stand up to all the veges & chicken. This pizza was realllllly good- highly recommend it! The frozen orange peppers worked wonderfully!
great point jeanie! fresh produce is a must... even for someone way below the poverty line like me and other student families i know.
i also agree it isn't worth stressing, but that is the point of the price point! if you get to know what a good price is, you stock up when you find it, then you don't stress because you're always stocked up on the things you need AND you bought them at a fabulous price!
and thanks for passing on the chicken pesto pizza, megan. chicken pesto pizza is my fav. mmmm....
I made a variation on this chicken for dinner and my husband LOVED it! Thanks for the idea! (Yay for cheap pesto!)
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