Recipe Savers: Chicken Enchilada Soup

Over the past 9 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, I've started to share my recipes, secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from a blog I found via Pinterest when I was searching for new recipe ideas! I give you Lil' Luna's Crock Pot Green Chile Enchilada Soup which has become an absolute staple in our house.

I make a batch up, we eat dinner and then we FREEZE these in Tupperware containers, making a quick and awesome lunch for busy mornings. I've Mild-Out the flavors because we have a toddler at home, and lately he hasn't really felt like eating this meal, but i'm happy to feed him a quesadilla when we make this just to stock our freezer up!

I will admit, I've modified her recipe a little adding in more corn and rice because its just easier to use a whole can then less, but either way you follow it, its amazing and people tell me it smells soooooo good when I heat it up at work.

Instead of canned Green Chile sauce, I use this recipe from Mel's Kitchen. I've roasted my own green chili's before and it made it to die for...  but with a toddler, i just don't have the time to roast and peel these suckers and end up using the canned green chili's instead. For my Recipe and math below, you need a double batch of Mel's sauce mixture.

So how much does it cost to make? $14.92 at Aldi for 16 servings... $0.93 each... 

Sauce:

• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion ($0.25)
• 4 garlic cloves ($0.25 / Whole minced jar is $2.19 so this is generous price estimate)
• 6 tablespoons Flour ($0.05)
• 1/2 teaspoon Cumin (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• 1/2 a teaspoon Oregano (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• 1 teaspoon Salt (too cheap to count)
• 3 Cups Chicken Broth ($0.25, using this homemade version)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (too cheap to count)
• 4 cans of Green Chili ($0.55 each / $2.10 Total)
• 4 tablespoons of Oil: $0.20

Soup:

• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (about 2/3 a family packet at Aldi) $6.50
• 28 oz Chicken Broth already factored in above...
• Green Chili Sauce from above
• Cumin (already factored in above for an extra 1.5 tablespoons)
• Chili Powder (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• Onion Powder (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• Garlic Powder (estimate $0.10 / Whole jar is $1.19)
• Can of Corn (I use a whole can in mine) $0.49
• Rice - I just cook 1/2 cup to 1 cup of dry rice on the stove top and drop it in ($0.15)
• Cream cheese - $1.29
• (I don't add additional green chili's to the recipe), but if you want it spicy you can add $1.10)
• Block of Cheese to shred and top soup with: $2.89

It's just flat out tasty folks... 

Check out my other Recipe Saver Ideas:

$0.65 breakfast burritos 
$0.93 Broccoli Bacon Cheese Soup 
$1.27 Chicken Alfredo Bundles
$8.30 Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie (Serves 8)

Recipe Savers: Chicken Bundles

Over the past 8 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, I've started to share my recipes, secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from the makers of Pillsbury and is their Creamy Garlic Chicken Bundles ... but its been adapted to my families taste buds.

Do you know, this FREEZES amazingly well... So much so that I make a double batch so we can freeze some and we have plenty of leftovers for lunches or a quick dinner. Even the toddler eats this adaptation.

I use this recipe to make my own Alfredo sauce from scratch... it's so much better and doesn't take much additional time. I also add Broccoli instead of bell peppers and do more veggies than the original calls for because we like our greens and I think it makes it taste better.

So how much does it cost to make?

$20.31 for 16 servings at Aldi... that's $1.27 each... which is enough for 4 meals 

Heavy Whipping Cream: $1.99 (I've gotten it as cheap as $0.49).

Chicken Breasts: 6.25 (2/3 a family pack, about 6 breasts)

1 lb of Broccoli: $0.79

Butter: $1.34 (2 sticks of the 4 stick box -- whole box is $2.69)

Crescent rolls: $3.96 (4 cans @ $0.99 a can)

Minced Garlic: $0.40 (Whole jar is $2.19)

Parmesan Block: $3.79

Bag of Spinach: $1.29

Dried Parsley: $0.50

Step 1: Cook chicken in oven. 350 for 35-45 minutes.

Step 2: While chicken is cooking, Shred the whole Parmesan cheese block in your food processor or by hand. Put aside 3 cups for the Alfredo (your making a double batch)... Melt 2 sticks of butter in a sauce pan and heat the 2 cup container of whipping cream... then add the 3 cups of Parmesan until it melts and combines well. Stir in some minced Garlic and add some Parsley flakes... set aside.

Step 3: Wash and chop broccoli into pieces (I include the stem -- I just peel the thick skin off with a peeler or a knife) and steam in microwave. Then dump in a food processor to mince. add in spinach leaves so they get finely chopped as well. Put in a large bowl with the remaining Parmesan you shredded and with some more minced garlic.  

Step 4: Take Chicken out of the oven and after it rests and cools, put it in the food processor to shred.  Add shredded chicken to bowl of broccoli and spinach. Mix. Add 1/2 the Alfredo sauce from the skillet, and combine.

Step 5: Take the crescent rolls out of the tubes and place two of them to form a square/rectangle buy pinching the middle seams together (4 cans = 16 squares). Cram tons of filling (Chicken, broccoli, spinach mixture) into them and pull in the corners so they close the bundle. Bake in the oven 350 for about 25 minutes.

Spoon remaining Alfredo onto the tops of the bundles before serving. 

  

I'll serve this with some sliced fruit normally since the veggies are inside, so I treat it like a casserole meal. Hubs normally eats 2 at dinner, I eat one, toddler eats about a 1/2 a bundle, sometimes more, just depends. It also pairs well with salad. 

Pair my $0.65 breakfast burritos with my $0.93 Broccoli Bacon Cheese Soup and the have these tasty chicken bundles for dinner ($1.27) and a single person has three meals for $2.85! Grab an apple ($0.34), a glass of milk ($0.32); dunk that soup with 2 slices of whole wheat bread ($0.18) and its only $3.69... Just saying...

Recipe Savers: Broccoli Cheese Soup

 Over the past 7 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, i'm going to share my secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from 100 Days of Real Food and is one of our go to winter staples. Broccoli is one veggie I can get my hubby to eat regularly, so you'll probably see a lot of it on the blog.

Do you know, this FREEZES amazingly well... So much so that I make a double batch so we can have plenty of leftovers in the freezer for lunches or a quick dinner. The toddler doesn't get the concept of soup, so he normally ends up with a quesadilla and frozen peas on soup night, but we love this recipe. Below I just doubled the ingredients and I save time by making a double batch.

So how much does it cost to make?
$10.21 for 11 servings at Aldi... that's $0.93 each...

• Broccoli: $1.58 (Need 2 of the 1 pound packages, sold at $0.79 each) 
• Bacon: $2.79 
• Yellow Onions: $0.25 (About 1 cup)
• Chicken Stock: $0.25  (Homemade broth recipe)
• 6 tablespoons Flour: $0.09
• Cheese: $2.79 (1 blocks of Cheddar)
• Heavy Cream: $1.99
• 2 cups of Milk: $0.47
• Salt/Pepper: Too cheap to Count
• Oil: (still on a huge box from costco)

Pair that with my $0.65 breakfast burritos and your have dinner and lunch for $1.58! We normally eat it with a bit of bread to dunk, but its a meal on its own. 

Recipe Savers: Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie

Over the past 6 months we have dramatically reduced our grocery budget by shopping at Aldi... so much so, i'm going to share my secrets and tips in a new feature called Recipe Savers.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs, 100 Day of Real Food and it's for homemade chicken pot pie. We add a bit more filling to the mix because I use a deep pan, and I also use 2 crusts because lets be honest, that's the best part... so in our home we refer to this as double crust chicken pot pie! 

Full cooking directions and original recipe can be found here: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie.

So how much does it cost to make? 

$8.30 at Aldi

• Pie Crust: (2 per package): $1.99
• Chicken Breasts: $3.25  (3 large pieces, roughly 1/3 the family package)
• Carrots: $0.25 (Sold in a 2lb package for $0.96)
• Celery: $0.25 ($0.69 for the hole thing)
• Minced Garlic: $0.40 (whole jar is $2.19)
• Yellow onion: $0.25 (bought 4 for $0.90)
• Parsley: $0.50 (Whole container of dried parsley is $1.19)
• Peas: $0.50 (Whole bag is $0.96)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter: $0.34
• Chicken Broth: $0.25 
• 1 Cup of Milk: $0.32
• Salt/Pepper: too cheap to count.

I rounded up a lot on these prices just to make things easier. Technically the broth was free because I saved the bones from a whole chicken I had roasted in my crock pot last week and followed this recipe with what I had on hand to make my own broth/stock so I'm estimating it was about a $0.25 for the carrots, onion, celery and parsley I chucked in there with the bones. 

I also cheat and use a store bought crust because to make it from scratch costs me $0.94 for each crust and since I need two to double crust this tasty meal, i'd rather spend $0.12 to save the dishes and the prep time. I do, after all, have a toddler. :) I also skipped the egg wash, but you could add that in there for $.08 since Eggs are typically $0.89 a dozen.

This recipe yields us at least 2 dinners and about 2 or 3 lunches depending on how hungry the toddler is. Generally we will pair this with it a simple salad or just eat it by itself if its a crazy night.  Aldi carries bag Cesar salads with dressing, croutons and fresh Parmesan for $1.59 so even if you just grab a bag salad for a side, that's a full and complete dinner with leftovers for less than $10!

Now, if you are purchasing all the ingredients for the first time and need to initially buy each individual item (assuming you start with a bare kitchen), it will cost more. I buy my chicken in the family large packs to save some money and just freeze the leftover chicken and use it for a meal the following week, if that's not your style, you can simply buy a smaller package. You'll pay a bit more per lb, but not outrageously so because this is Aldi. Leftover Celery and Carrots can be toddler treats with ranch or peanut butter or used to flavor stock for future recipes; and who can't use a small jar of minced garlic? I know I could, lol. But in all reality, if I used the full purchase price and not just the amounts I used, we're looking at $22 and that includes a whole gallon of milk, brick of butter, and around 4 lbs of chicken. 

But the key to less waste and money savings is to properly store items to use in later meals, or plan your meals for the week to use the other ingredients while still fresh.