The Cost of Cooking Chicken in Salsa With Couscous and Avocado

After I successfully slow-cooked pork chops and applesauce (and unsuccessfully cooked chicken in tomato-garlic sauce), I asked Team Billfold for their favorite “protein plus sauce” slow-cooker recipes.

Some of you sent in recipes that I very much want to try, but they have so many ingredients that they feel financially intimidating. Grated fresh ginger and brown sugar and almond butter and coriander and turmeric? All of those ampersands quickly turn into dollar signs.

Not that I shouldn’t have stuff like brown sugar, or the cumin and cinnamon that are essential components of both the butter chicken recipe and the the mango chicken tinga recipe, in my kitchen. I should stock up on spices and sugars at some point! It’s a very grown-up thing to do!

Until then, I’ll jump on the suggestion to pour green salsa over chicken breasts. That recipe only has one ampersand.

The chicken and salsa recipe made three meals, so I’ll give you the full cost and then the cost per meal:

Open Nature chicken breasts, 0.96 lbs: $5.75

Mrs. Renfro’s Jalapeno Green Salsa, 16 oz: $4.69

Near East couscous, Original Plain, 1/2 of 8 oz box: $1.00

Avocado, weight unknown: $1.25

Total cost: $12.69

Cost per meal: $4.23

The shredded chicken in salsa was delicious. I’m curious if this was because I used Mrs. Renfro’s instead of going with a cheaper salsa. (Mrs. Renfro’s is one of the few brands that dares to go as hot as I like my salsa. Mild salsa might as well be jam.)

The couscous worked well enough, although this meal would probably both look and taste better if it were served in three small corn or flour tortillas. (I bought four boxes of Near East couscous on sale a few weeks ago, so I figured I should use what I already had in the kitchen.)

Yes, I did eat this with a spork. This is the type of meal sporks were made for.

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