Tag: grocery budget

Southwest Chicken Salad

Southwest Chicken Salad

by hannahshelbymorgan ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Get ready to eat the tastiest salad of your life!

I’m sure you can already tell that I’m totally obsessed with anything Southwest style. Not only is the Southwest Chicken Salad delicious, but also nutritious! It’s super easy to make & totally customizable. I love that I can make small portions, or enough to feed my husband & I for dinner & lunch the next day! I save quite a bit of time by making this salad in a large batch & it’s so simple to just grab & go in the morning.

Southwest Chicken Salad is a great option to take to work for lunch because it will save you a chunk of change. For all the ingredients I spent under $20. It makes 4-6 portions, depending on big or small you like your salads. That being said, each portion costs between $3-$5. A similar salad at Panera runs about $13. That means each salad you make at home puts $10 back in your pocket that would you would’ve otherwise spent getting a salad out somewhere during your lunch break. Talk about savings!

What You’ll Need

  • 2 bags of salad mix (I like an Italian or Romaine mix)
  • 2 can black beans, drained
  • 1 can corn, drained
  • 2 Packages of grilled chicken strips
  • Shredded cheese (I prefer a Mexican blend of Colby Jack)
  • Santa Fe tortilla strips
  • Cilantro, chopped
  • Avocado, sliced
  • Red bell pepper, diced
  • Spicy ranch dressing

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients you’ll need. Dice the red bell pepper and chop the cilantro. Combine the diced bell pepper, cilantro, black beans & corn in a large bowl. Mix well with a spoon. I like to put my mix in a glass bowl with a lid so it’ll keep well throughout the week.

Step 2

Lay your greens out on a plate. I like to use half a bag of salad mix.

Step 3

Add as much or as little of the black bean mix on top of your salad greens.

Step 4

Top everything with chicken, cheese & tortilla strips. I use about half of a container of the precooked chicken strips out of the cold section at the store. My fave cheese to use for this salad is a Mexican blend or Colby Jack.

Step 5

Slice an avocado & line the edge of your plate with the avocado slices. Drizzle with spicy ranch dressing.

Don’t forget, phone eats first! 😉 I hope you absolutely love this tasty salad I have artfully crafted to give your tastebuds the ultimate southwest experience!

xo, Han

How to Save a TON of Money Buying Chicken

How to Save a TON of Money Buying Chicken

by hannahshelbymorgan ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Get ready to learn my biggest shopping secret!

If you’re anything like me you’re obsessed with chicken. I kid you not–we eat chicken for nearly every meal. It’s no secret that buying boneless skinless chicken breast at the store will put a small dent in your wallet.

Most quality chicken breast at the grocery store is in the $5-10/lb range. The chicken I normally get at Hy-Vee runs about $6.99/lb. Do the math–(6) 1 1/2lb packages of chicken will run you about $62.91 before tax.

Fun Fact: When shopping at the meat cooler at Target, an employee was stocking the refrigerated section & noticed I was comparing the different brands of chicken. HE LET ME IN ON A SECRET! The Good & Gather brand of chicken literally comes in the same box as the Tyson chicken (which comes with a MUCH higher price tag).

SO HOW DO I DO IT?

My entire chicken haul was 14.95 pounds of chicken which I purchased for $14.84. If I would’ve purchased this amount of chicken at Hy-Vee (where I usually buy my meat), the same exact amount of chicken would have cost me $104.50. That is a grand savings of $89.67 . . . seriously INSANE!

Let’s get down to it!

Target sells big packages of Good & Gather boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.99/lb in packs that weigh 5-7ish pounds. Not on sale, this will run you somewhere around $10.

They way to save major cash is by checking the expiration dates. If you notice that Target has a pretty high stock of packages that are close to the expiration date, come back the day before or the day of the “best by” date. At this point the chicken is still totally safe to eat & maintains its quality.

When the chicken reaches its “best by or freeze” date, Target slaps $5 off stickers on it to get it out of their inventory. The attached coupon made each of the 3 packs of chicken I bought roughly $5 each, give or take. They will also put $3 off coupons on the smaller packs of chicken breasts that are 3 pound(ish) packages. Since it is so close to the “best by” date when you purchase the chicken, it is important to get it prepped & in the freezer right away.

If all of the packages you pick up have a coupon like the one pictured below, they will all ring up at a discounted rate! When I purchased 3 packages I was able to use $15 worth of coupons, so basically half of it was FREE!!!

Target attaches coupons to chicken close to the “best by” date.

After I got that CRAZY steal, I prepped the chicken by dating freezer bags, trimming the chicken, & separating it out–2 chicken breasts per quart freezer bag. Make sure to get all of the air out of the bag before you seal it to avoid freezer burn.

Freezer bags prepped & ready to be filled!

I ended up with 9 portions of chicken out of my haul, all of which I stacked in my freezer to use for oven recipes & crockpot meals. In the end, each bag of chicken ended up costing $1.64. Compared to the $7 you’d spend at Hy-Vee, Walmart, etc., that is MAJOR SAVINGS!

I paid $14.84 for almost 15 pounds of chicken.

Wishing you happy savings & happy, CHEAP meals! I can’t wait to hear how much you save on chicken breasts from now on. Don’t settle for paying hundreds for meat any longer . . . you’re welcome! Let me know in the comments section how you will be using all your newfound savings!

xo, Han