We all eat lunch, and it’s easy to get stuck in meal rut when there are daily school lunches to make and busy schedules to keep. Sure, buying prepackaged lunch boxes may save a few minutes today, but over time the cost of these meals can add up. Instant meals are not always healthy either.

So I busted a gut, hit the supermarket, calculated the costs, and came up with ten kid-sized meals worthy of your a growing student’s lunch box all for under two bucks. Each lunch idea is fun, frugal, and pretty darn healthy too. I have also included vegetarian, vegan, and meat eater’s options for your family’s preferred meal plan.

The trick to packing a frugal healthy lunch is to plan meals ahead of time, make a grocery shopping list, and stock the fridge with snack-sized portions of food ready to pack in your kid’s lunch box.

Ready to get gastrointestinal? Chew on these ten healthy lunch box ideas and munch a little frugal lunch for under $2 this back-to-school season.

1. Cookie Cutter Sandwiches

Don’t be a square. Sticking a standard rectangular sandwich in your kid’s lunch box is kinda boring. Think outside of the box by cutting crusts and shaping tasty sandwiches using circular cookie cutters.

Make a standard turkey sandwich exciting with tasty flower-shaped melon and cheese slices. Nested sets of flower cookie cutters or heart cookie cutters may inspire your kid to eat healthier foods since various fruits and veggies can be shaped and presented in fun ways.

Total Cost: Gobble gobble. A turkey, cheese, and lettuce sandwich costs just $1.87 with melon, kiwi, almonds, and a homemade chocolate truffle bar on the side. Add yogurt, and a cereal butterfly snack pack for around $.50 more and you’ve got a packed lunch for little cost.

2. Leftover Chicken Lunch Kabobs

Skewer food costs by using dinner leftovers in your kid’s lunch box. Lunch kabobs are easy to make by sticking a drink stirrer through cubed meat chunks, vegetable pieces, and cheese cubes. Check out 1 Organic Chicken, 22 Healthy Meals, $49 Bucks for more ways to use leftovers across multiple meals.

Little fingers like little eating challenges with dipping sauce on the side. Keep the mess contained in frugal lunch boxes with dividers.

Total Cost: Stretch your food dollar by incorporating leftovers into your kid’s lunches. Two tasty chicken kabobs with fresh veggies and a little homemade salsa for dipping pecks your wallet for a paltry $1.23, including a few flower-shaped whole wheat wraps. Add a blueberry butterfly snack for $0.65 and you’re still under two bucks for a healthy fun meal.

Kids like to wrap and roll kabob pieces in whole wheat pita shells or flavored wraps. Any number of dinner leftover options work here, so get creative with lunch kabobs to save money.

3. Peanut Butter and Banana Pinwheels

Your kid hates crusts, meat, cheese, and all other regular sandwich fixings. Awesome. Now what? Go a little bananas by rolling this tasty fruit into a bunch of nutty butter pinwheel bites.

Just spread a little peanut butter, almond butter, or whatever gooey substance onto a wrap, add a banana, and roll away. Use a sharp knife to slice the roll into bite-sized pieces perfect for a pouty mouth. Try my homemade peanut butter recipe for something a little different — it’s less expensive than your regular spread.

Total Cost: Peanut butter and banana pinwheels with crackers, cheese, veggies, and a mini yogurt keep your kid happy for $1.94, including the candy pieces.

Keep food from touching by using reusable silicone muffin cups as dividers. These little cups are cute for kids, add a little color to lunch, and can be used for baking too. A set of reusable silicone heart baking cups are fun to add to a kid’s lunch box too.

4. Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich

Lunch meats and hard cheeses are not cheap. Make a meal (or two) every week meat-free and save some cash with a fresh lunch filled with fruits and vegetables.

Total Cost: A cucumber and cream cheese sandwich (with crusts removed) costs just $1.44 with apple slices, grapes, and a few veggies on the side. Add a homemade granola bar for a few cents more and your lunch is cool for school.

Too much green? Skip the cuke and make a plain cream cheese sandwich on quality bread. Yum.

5. Breakfast for Lunch Kabobs

Serve your kid breakfast for lunch by kabobing (new word) cubes of homemade omelet, chunks of sausage, and pieces of bread together on a skewer.

A side each of homemade hummus and homemade salsa give this brunchy lunch a dippy twist.

Total Cost: Turn breakfast leftovers into a brunch time lunch for $1.98, including avocado, crackers, melon, tomatoes, green peas, a homemade chocolate truffle bar, and butterfly cereal snack.

Colorful reusable silicone muffin cups keep lunch items separated and prevent dipping sauces from spilling over into dry foods.

6. DIY Pizza Bagels

Does your kid like to play with food? Let the little ones stack and assemble their own lunches by putting together the ingredients for pizza bagels.

Total Cost: A stick of string cheese, pizza toppings, grapes, bagel, tomato sauce, and a couple of cookies costs just $1.88 for a very fun lunch.

Make every day pizza day with this simple lunch box idea. If there’s a microwave available at school, then your kid has a hot lunch ready to go!

7. Baked Potato Toppers with Dip

Bake a batch of tiny potatoes and top ‘em with cheese, tomatoes, ham, or whatever you or your kid likes to eat. A side of homemade hummus served in an easy-to-clean reusable silicone muffin cup is a simple way to jazz up a lowly spud.

Total Cost: Spend $1.67 on potatoes, cheese, veggies, cookies, and kiwi slices and your kid will dine on a few dimes.

Buying in bulk at stores like Costco can help cut food costs. Check out Price Check Experiment: Is Costco really worth it? to see if shopping at warehouse stores makes financial sense for your family.

8. Noodles in Sauce

Spaghetti, linguine, tortellini, fusilli. Whatever your pasta preference, toss those heated noodles in a thermos or pack them in a container for a noodleicious lunch.

Total Cost: Pasta is a cheap, fun, and tasty meal worthy of a your kid’s lunch box. A frugal $1.74 serves a side of pasta, with tomato sauce and humus for dipping. A sliced apple, some grapes, and a few candy covered nuts complete this kid’s meal.

Use an apple corer and divider to make perfect apple slices the easy way.

9. Bagel Egger and Ham Sandwich

Is your kid a good egg? I thought so. Add a couple of hard boiled eggs (shells removed) with slices of ham and a bagel to break from the boring lunch box routine and crack your kid up.

Total Cost: Two bucks will get ya two eggs, a bagel, lean ham slices, some kiwi, strawberries, melon, green peas, and a Kashi granola bar topped with chocolate chips.

Save some cash by baking a batch of homemade granola bars. Yeah, the prepackaged granola bars are often easier.

10. Perfect Pinwheel Sandwiches

Picky eaters can pick apart pinwheel sandwiches for a fun and frugal time. For this lunch I used the leftover cookie cutter meat and cheese pieces from previous meals to turn a leftover lunch into something pretty special.

How to make pinwheels: Toss leftover cheese and meat pieces onto a wrap. Heat in microwave until cheese is melted. Layer some lettuce, place a few pickles onto the stack, and wrap everything into a tight roll. Use a sharp knife to slice roll into elegant pinwheel sandwiches.

Total Cost: This one was hard to calculate due to the little leftover pieces. I’ll guess this meal costs around $2 after adding up the cheese, chicken, and pickle wrap with a side of homemade salsa and mustard for dipping. Three mini cookies, a few vegetables, and a mini yogurt turn scraps into a spectacular midday meal.

This meal is made possible since a frugal lunch box with dividers keeps all the ingredients separate, and not soggy.

What about the adults?

You too can take a bite out of the homemade savings by adding around $0.50 more food to each meal and dining on adult-sized portions. You can keep (and eat) the heart-shaped cheese pieces if that makes you happy. Kudos. Check out my recipe for Vegetable Sushi Nori Rolls — it is one of my favorite adult lunch box options.

Your Turn: What do your kids like for lunch?

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Intrigued, I glanced at the pocket-sized produce prices. I must admit that these little single servings of fruits and veggies were pretty darn cute, and shockingly expensive. A single 65g snack pack of carrots costs $0.99, while a 5-pack of apple slices whacked my wallet for nearly $5. That’s a lot of cash to shell out for miniaturized food.

There’s another way. A fun way. Ok, a very silly way to encourage the kiddlets to eat healthy snacks while cutting daily lunch box food costs. Why not make your own single serving snack packs and craft them into butterflies, monsters, or funny faces?

This is silly, I know. But buying fruit, vegetables, cereal, nuts, or whatever in bulk is at least 50% cheaper than paying for pre-packaged portions. Even including the cost for the craft, you’re saving money in your food budget while getting your kids involved in a fun weekend project.

I didn’t invent these butterfly snack packs — I probably saw them flying around Pinterest.com or something. However, I am probably (one of) the first to price out these insect clips and suggest them as an alternative to pricey snack packs. Making them is simple — even a kid could do it. Here’s what you need:

Butterfly Snack Pack Materials:

• 1/2 pipe cleaner — $0.04
• 1 clothespin — $0.04
• 1 snack baggie — $0.04
• 2 wiggle eyes — $0.08
• Dab of glitter glue — $0.05

TOTAL COST: Spend around $0.25 on crafty materials and turn a boring snack into a fun (and frugal) experience. Plus, you’re treating the kids to a reusable craft project they can take to class. Add in the cost of food, and you’re still spending about 50% less than pre-packaged snack pack portions.

Instructions:

STEP ONE: Dab some glitter glue on one side of a clothespin. Stick wiggle eyes onto gluey side of clothespin. Let dry.

STEP TWO: Fill a snack-sized Ziplock baggie with your kid’s favorite treat. Distribute snack to corners of the baggie.

STEP THREE: Clip the clothespin over the snack. Stick antennae-shaped pipe cleaner into jaws of clip. Easy.

Now add these butterfly snack packs to your kid’s lunch box and turn their midday meal into something special. Puts butterflies in my tummy, that’s for sure.

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The mom cringed, and then conceded.

I don’t blame her. Lunchables are easy to buy, easy to serve, and easily keep the kiddlets content. The problem? Lunchables and their copycat brands are expensive. These packaged cheese, cracker, and sausage snack packs are also stuffed full of sodium and trans fat. Not exactly a healthy snack (or lunch) for kids.

So I did the right thing — I bought two Lunchables-type products (Schneiders Lunchmate Stackers and a NO NAME Lunch Box) and put these snack packs through the Squawkfox paces. Yes people, I’m knocking off these packaged products and attempting to make them less costly and more nutritious. Shouldn’t be hard, right?

I bought the ‘healthiest sounding’ snack packs containing turkey, Swiss cheese, whole wheat crackers, and a treat. Both products contain something called process cheese food.

I have to ask — WTF is PROCESS CHEESE FOOD? Is that the stuff they feed cheese? I dunno, I guess anything you have to label as FOOD probably isn’t really food. Moving on …

One idea behind Lunchables is they’re easy to buy. Well, shopping for crackers, Swiss cheese, and turkey is pretty darn easy too. Without spending hours searching for the cheapest ingredients, I dashed through my grocer’s aisles and picked items that looked healthy. I surveyed the ingredients, scrutinized the content, and ignored the cost. I’m such a bad money blogger …

Lunchables Knockoff List:

• Mary’s Organic Crackers (184g): $3.34
• Blue Menu Swiss Cheese (150g): $4.99
• PC Chewy Granola Bars (175g): $1.89
• Brandt Turkey Kolbassa (250g): $3.77

Total Cost: $13.99 for a week’s worth of snacks or school lunches.

Cost played a secondary consideration in this experiment because I wanted to show that healthier food choices are not always the more expensive option. Now re-read that previous sentence. And again.

Snack Attack: You’re saving 32% with healthier food!

I sliced turkey, counted crackers, weighed cheese, and added up the total cost for my squawky approved snack. Can you pick the Squawkfox Lunchables knockoff?

Bottom Line: Cutting all the trans fat and 400 mg of sodium saves you $0.80 (that’s 32%) for a healthier snacking option.

Despite being cheaper, I ditched the NO NAME Lunch Box since it contained more trans fat and sodium than the Schneiders Lunchmate Stackers. Besides, it looked kinda gross once I removed the packaging.

Add fruits and veggies for the win!

Want to make this snack healthier? Add around $0.50 worth of carrots, snap peas, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries (or whatever), and make this meal more worthy of your growing kid! The real keeners could even use my homemade granola bar recipe to add more tasty goodness.

Total Cost: Adding around $0.50 worth of fruits and vegetables costs just $2.17 for a Lunchables-type knockoff with zero trans fat, half the sodium, and more nutrition. Plus you’re still saving $0.30 over the brand-name product with the added fruit and veggie goodness.

What about the container?

I know, it’s all about the packaging — that dang container. Your kid’s lunch is only cool enough for school if it’s in a divided lunch box with colorful wrapping. Grumble. Gotcha.

I can’t do anything about the wrapping, but I’m a huge fan of these inexpensive Lock & Lock square containers with trays. Yeah, they have removable dividers perfect for keeping your kiddlet’s food from touching — ’cause touching food is a touchy matter with certain kids.

These 3-compartment bento lunch box containers will also get the job done since they’re easy for tiny figures to pry open.

But hey, if your kid really really really wants a Lunchables-style packaged snack then I say go for it, occasionally. OR get the kid in your life to pay for a portion of their non-essential foods from their allowance. Sounds mean, but teaching kids the value of a dollar at a young age could help ward off unhealthy food choices while showing them the true costs in life.

Your Thoughts: What do your kids want in their lunch box?

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Stretching a whole organic chicken into 22 healthy servings for $49 bucks is easy. It’s the meat measuring, food photographing, blog writing, and penny counting that nearly killed me. Unless you scrapbook every morsel of food you eat, stretching a chicken shouldn’t be this onerous for you. Promise.

Anycrazyblogger, so why did I attempt such an arduous frugal food experiment? Easy. I wanted to prove that eating healthy, organic food on a budget is possible when you take the time, put in the effort, and have a plan.

Yes, I am certain you can make these healthy meals cheaper by using a non-organic chicken. So if an organic chicken is not in your budget, that’s OK. The point is that eating healthy food is not as expensive as so many people often whine about. Buying packaged products and eating out is what kills the family budget, not healthy meals made at home from scratch.

Now, before taking on this task, I laid a few ground rules just so you know I didn’t wing it. Here goes:

Squawky’s Chicken Stretching Rules:

1. Rule One: Must use a whole organic chicken (read why).
2. Rule Two: Meals must be healthy and frugalicious. No deep fried battered chickens on a stick.
3. Rule Three: Most food must be from fridge or pantry. No big shopping trips!
4. Rule Four: Each meal must feed at least two people, leftovers are encouraged.
5. Rule Five: Meals must have some variety.
6. Rule Six: Meals must all be made in my slow cooker. I’m lazy, busy, and I love coming home to a hot meal.
7. Rule Seven: The cost must be reasonable — I’m not trying to out cheap the internets, but rather have an honest go at making healthy meals with the food in my house while using mostly organic ingredients. Cheapest isn’t always bestest, anyways.

I’ll stop flapping around now. Here’s how I stretched a single organic chicken into 22 healthy meals for $49 bucks — this includes side dishes too people!

Day One: Oven Baked Whole Chicken Dinner

I started this frugal adventure with a single 6.28lb organic chicken for $21.92. Not so frugal you say? Admittedly, this chicken was by far my biggest expense.

I used to be scared of baking a whole chicken. Not anymore. Follow my instructions and you’ll be fine.

Dinner Details:

• Recipe: Oven Baked Whole Chicken
• Meals: 2 servings
• Chicken consumed: 1/2 breast, 1 leg, 1 wing, 1 thigh
• Sides: spaghetti squash, salad, roasted vegetables, quinoa.

I prefer light meat while Carl enjoys dark. And yes, Carl got a little annoyed (and hungry) while I photographed his meal. Being married to a blogger can be brutal.

Why only 1/2 breast and a few chicken pieces? Well, the amount of meat on this organic chicken was mind boggling. I took the time to measure just for fun. Each chicken breast measured about 8 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1.5 inches thick. That’s bigger than any boneless non-organic chicken breast I’ve bought from the grocery store. Plus, the amount of meat from the carcass, legs, thighs, and wings was astounding.

It sounds funny, but I think our organic chicken yielded far more meat than the non-organic birds I’ve bought in the past. So I deem this pricey poultry a winner!

Homemade Chicken Stock

After our baked chicken dinner, I removed most of the meat from the leftover chicken carcass and made homemade chicken stock in my slow cooker. The idea was to further stretch this chicken by making healthy soups and stews with homemade chicken broth.

Making chicken stock is very frugal and super simple. I basically used ingredients I might have otherwise discarded, such as: the chicken carcass, past prime carrots, celery, and onions.

Chicken Stock Details:

• Recipe: Homemade Chicken Stock
• Meals: see below
• Chicken used: 1 chicken carcass

If you’re new to slow cookers or crock pots, check out 6 Reasons to use a Slow Cooker and then see How to Buy a Slow Cooker for a few frugal buying tips.

Day Two: White Chicken Chili

The White Chicken Chili feast was easily my favorite meal of the slow cooked bunch. Perhaps I was in the mood for something spicy, or I just love beans — either way this one was a winner. I had to invent my own version since most chicken chili recipes call for raw chicken. I also wanted to make do with the ingredients I had on hand.

Dinner Details:

• Recipe: White Chicken Chili
• Meals: 4 servings
• Chicken consumed: 1 whole massive breast, 1 cup homemade chicken stock
• Sides: salad and a wrap

The most expensive part of this recipe were the two cans of chopped green chilies totalling $3.98. I couldn’t find a fresh alternative where I live, hopefully you can (and skip the cans).

Day Three: Chicken Noodle Soup

By day three of this frugal food experiment my gorgeous homemade chicken stock was ready. On this day we also experienced a cold snap and Carl got a case of ‘the sicks’. A sick man stuck inside a cold house is a grumpy (and sad) scenario, so I fired up my slow cooker and made a whole lot of chicken noodle soup.

Dinner Details:

• Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup
• Meals: 4 servings
• Chicken consumed: 1/2 chicken breast, 1 leg, 1 wing, 6 cups homemade chicken stock
• Sides: quinoa, salad, and a wrap

I enjoyed this recipe. But since I cannot eat gluten, I made my own helping with quinoa — a tasty gluten-free alternative. Learn how to cook quinoa for the details.

Day Four: Chicken and Chickpea Stew

For this frugal chicken-stretching recipe all you need is a little leftover cooked chicken, a slow cooker, and some chickpeas. Easy, tasty, frugal, and good.

Dinner Details:

• Recipe: Chicken and Chickpea Stew
• Meals: 6 servings
• Chicken consumed: 1 cup chicken, 1 thigh, 1 cup homemade chicken stock
• Sides: salad and a wrap

This recipe really stretches leftover chicken since it contains chickpeas and potatoes. We dined on this stew for two lunches and one dinner. I was thrilled to cut costs further by using tomatoes frozen from my summer garden.

Day Five: Chicken and Lentil Soup

On my final chicken-stretching day I really didn’t feel like eating chicken. Carl still had a bad head cold so I made chicken soup for him, and added lentils for me.

Dinner Details:

• Recipe: Chicken and Lentil Soup
• Meals: 6 servings
• Chicken consumed: 2 cups chicken, 2 cups homemade chicken stock
• Sides: salad and a wrap

I enjoyed this simple soup. Next time I’ll make it with less onion though. Or maybe next time I’ll just make another batch of White Chicken Chili.

Final Thoughts, Master Grocery List

Adding up my frugal food budget the total cost for all 22 healthy meals (including side dishes) came to $48.60, or $49 bucks if you prefer a nice rounded-up number. That’s a frugal $2.21 per meal for healthy, organic food — less than the cost of a single fancy latte coffee thinger at your local coffee shop. Here’s the budget breakdown with a master grocery shopping list:

Master Grocery List:

• 1 whole organic chicken, 6-7lbs: $21.92
• 1 spaghetti squash: free from garden
• 2 romaine lettuce, 2 leaf green: $3.97
• 8 carrots: $1.49
• 8 celery stalks: $0.73
• 7 medium onions: $1.51
• 3/4 cup mushrooms: $0.58
• 1 cup green beans or broccoli: $ 0.79
• 5-6 cups fresh spinach: $1.49
• 4 large tomatoes, or 1 28-ounce can: free from garden
• 2 medium potatoes: $0.34
• 1 garlic bulb, 5 cloves garlic: $0.23
• 2 cups dried quinoa: $1.82
• 1 cup dried white kidney beans: $0.53
• 1 cup dried green lentils: $0.51
• 1 cup dried chickpeas: $0.54
• 1.5 lemons: $1.05
• 1/2 lime: $0.25
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme, rosemary, sage, or mix: $1.79
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley: $0.13
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander: $0.18
• 3 bay leaves: $0.17
• 2 tsp ground coriander: $0.16
• 2 tsp ground cumin: $0.16
• 2 tsp dried basil: $0.15
• 1 tsp dried oregano: $0.10
• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder: $0.12
• 1/2 tsp paprika: $0.07
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme: $0.10
• 2 cans chopped green chilies: $3.98
• 4 cups egg noodles: $1.15
• 1 bag of wraps: $2.49
• 1/2 tsp olive oil: $0.03
• salt and pepper (to taste): $0.07

TOTAL COST: $48.60
PRICE PER MEAL: $2.21

There you have it — 1 snarky blogger, 1 sick husband, 1 organic chicken, 22 healthy meals, all for $49 bucks. Yes, you might dine on fewer meals if you’re a construction worker. And perhaps you could stretch this cluck even further if you eat like a little person. Regardless of your caloric needs and consumption, I deem this frugal chicken-stretching experiment a success!

Squawkback: How many meals can you stretch out of a single whole chicken? (and how did I do?)

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Don’t ever invite me over for dinner. I might just open your fridge, check out your leftovers, and start photographing your food. That’s exactly what happened to Kazia and Logan Mullin when they opened their door to my crazy and let me walk through.

You see, the Mullins are an interesting bunch — they have three kids (three-year-old Sadie is the youngest, Harrison or ‘Harry’ is 6, and big brother Alias is 8), they live on a budget, and they eat healthy, mostly organic meals throughout the week. Since Logan works full-time in IT and Kazia runs her own small business — Kitchen Table Marketing, digital strategies for online businesses — I had to wonder: how does this busy family of five manage to get dinner done?

It only takes a peek into their freezer to figure it out. Go on, take a look…

…and looky here too…

…have you figured it out it? Now don’t cry fowl — the Mullins dine well on an organic dime (or two) because they know how to stretch a chicken until it squawks. Using one whole organic chicken, they can re-spin that clucker into multiple healthy meals by making homemade chicken stock, and using the remaining meat to slow cook soups and stews. Amazing, non?

Now I’m no stranger to stretching meals to save time and money, but I think the Mullins have me beat. Here is the Mullins’ plucky money saving method:

The Mullin Method:

1. Buy a whole organic chicken, around 6-7 lbs.
2. Bake whole chicken, eat family meal.
3. Make homemade chicken broth in slow cooker.
4. Make a stir-fry or fajita dinner.
5. Slow cook a chicken soup-type meal.
6. Slow cook a chicken stew-type meal.
7. Depending on what’s left, another stew or soup.
8. Freeze remaining chicken stock, if any.

If you’ve been stretching a single chicken for decades then you know this method is nothing new. The internets are buzzing with bloggers who boast about the distance their dinner travels on one bird, and the mileage they muster from their leftover chicken meat. For example, Trent Hamm from The Simple Dollar goes the distance in The Frugal Whole Chicken, J.D. Roth over at Get Rich Slowly makes Simple Homemade Chicken Stock, and Kristen Swensson Sturt at Cheap Healthy Good ruffles a few feathers in 1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26 Bucks, No Mayo.

Since I’m impressed by the Mullins’ Method and I’ve never fully stretched a chicken until it frugaliciously squawked, I’ve decided to throw my slow cooker into the mix and do my best to get dinner done with one bird flying across multiple meals. But there are rules:

Squawky’s Chicken Stretching Rules:

1. Rule One: Must use a whole organic chicken (reason below).
2. Rule Two: Meals must be healthy and frugalicious. No deep fried battered chickens on a stick.
3. Rule Three: Most food must be from fridge or pantry. No big shopping trips!
4. Rule Four: Each meal must feed at least two people, leftovers are encouraged.
5. Rule Five: Meals must have some variety.
6. Rule Six: Meals must all be made in my slow cooker. I’m lazy, busy, and I love coming home to a hot meal.
7. Rule Seven: The cost must be reasonable — I’m not trying to out cheap the internets, but rather have an honest go at making healthy meals with the food in my house while using mostly organic ingredients. Cheapest isn’t always bestest, anyways.

These are the rules, and I’m sticking to them. If you’re new to slow cooked meals (or just need a little convincing), check out 6 Reasons to use a Slow Cooker and then see How to Buy a Slow Cooker for many helpful tips.

Why buy an organic whole chicken?

Yes, an organic whole chicken costs A LOT more than a supermarket rotisserie chicken. So why spend your hard-earned money on organic meat?

I have an obvious bias since I live on an organic cattle ranch where the cattle eat nothing but grass and roam freely on pasture — they are grass fed animals and they are exceptionally healthy. The farmer who lives next door to me (which is several miles away) raises organic chicken — they are free-range, they roam, and they are exceptionally healthy.

The beef and chicken you generally buy in the supermarket is mass produced in feed lots or in small confined cages — these animals are not necessarily unhealthy, but they cannot be compared to those animals who roam and live a life outside on pasture.

In his article on Animal Welfare, author Michael Pollan answers the questions: Is grass fed meat really better for me?, Where can I buy grass fed meat?, and Why aren’t you a vegetarian?. As the mega bestselling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, I think Mr. Pollan is far better equipped than I am to tackle the challenging subjects of food cost, mass production, and dietary choices.

If you think that the cheapest food is the best deal, you may think again after seeing Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc. — an excellent and disturbing movie that examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Go see it. Then share it with your friends.

Next Steps

I’m playing by the rules, so I can’t go over to my neighbor’s and pluck a fresh chicken from their farm. Instead, I went to the local butcher shop to buy that free-range chicken I keep squawking about. Here’s the proof:

Yes, the butcher thought I was nuts when I photographed my chicken on the scale. I live in a smallish town, so everyone knows everybody. Sigh. Anyways, buying your chicken should be a lot less embarrassing, just leave your camera at home.

The proof is in the price. So far my total cost is $21.92, and I’m totally OK with that. Over the next while I’ll show you how I applied the ‘Mullin Method’ to stretch this bird — I’ll share my successes, my failures, and you can follow along with my frugal foodie experiment.

Squawkback: Got a tip to share when it comes to stretching a chicken? I could use a little plucky advice.

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So I got desperate and peeped into my freezer. Now, I’m not one of those people who keeps lots of frozen food kicking around in the depths of the cold box. Freezer-burned food kept long past the expiry date may be cold, but it sure ain’t cool. It just takes up space, costs moolah to keep cold, and no one ever eats it anyways. If you have a freezer full of food dating back to the Ice Age, do yourself a solid — clean it out or compost it, now.

So anyways, back to rummaging and foraging for food. My freezer proved fruitful. After digging around I found a bag of frozen organic apples left over from last year’s harvest, a container of dried organic cranberries I had saved from a Thanksgiving sale, and a bag of flour. Yes, I keep my flour in the freezer. Ever since my parents’ Great Weevil Infestation incident in the early 1990s, the whole Taylor clan stores their flour in the freezer. Trust me, you don’t want to start baking something delicious when your flour is wobbling full of buggy weevils. I still have nightmares.

Ok, so I have apples, flour, cranberries, and a hungry pit in my stomach. Luckily, I spied a bunch of overripe bananas sitting on my counter and decided that today was the day to make banana bread! Yay!

How to Make Frugally Easy Banana Bread

It’s really hard to screw up banana bread. Banana bread is just one of those recipes that demands you clean out your fridge (or freezer) and add ingredients already kicking around the kitchen. That’s why this recipe is frugal — you use the ingredients you already have on hand, and keep overripe fruits from hitting the trash can.

Ingredients like nuts, chocolate chips, eggs, spices, and even vegetables like zucchini go great in Frugally Easy Banana Bread. The only way to mess up banana bread is to buy it. Store-bought banana bread is usually stuffed full of hydrogenated oils with not enough bananas. Go figure! Plus, it can be costly to buy. So skip the store, rummage through your fridge, and bake your own banana bread.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3-4 bananas (1 1/2 cups banana, mashed)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup cranberries (or chocolate chips or nuts)

Step One: Prep ingredients and preheat oven

Assemble and measure your ingredients. Preheat your oven to 350F (175C) degrees. Add a little no-stick spray to an 8×4 loaf pan.

Call me a nerd, but I made my own apple sauce by putting thawed (previously frozen) apples into a blender. When it comes to making low fat banana bread, I find that apple sauce is the perfect ingredient for making banana bread moist.

I left the peels on because apple skins contain many nutrients. Besides, I find the peels pretty, they add fibre, and I’m too lazy to remove them. So there.

I put my homemade apple sauce aside for later.

Step Two: Mix dry ingredients

In a large bowl, mix together your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg.

If you’re into chocolate chips or nuts, then mix those in as well.

Step Three: Mix wet ingredients

In a large bowl, mix together your mashed banana, apple sauce, egg, vanilla extract, and cranberries. Now that’s a very moist banana bread recipe despite the lack of butter and oil.

I must admit, this stage doesn’t look too tasty.

Step Four: Combine and pour into pan

This is super easy, people. Just stir and combine your wet and dry ingredients. Pour the batter into your pre-sprayed loaf pan.

Ok, I had a glass loaf pan. You’ve gotta work with what you’ve got.

Step Five: Bake your banana bread

Bake your banana bread in a preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove banana bread from pan, and let cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Smells so delicious. I love how pretty the cranberries look when sliced. Now serve with a cup of tea or a glass of milk. Banana bread would also be splendid in a back-to-school lunch or as a healthy weekend snack for the kids. Enjoy!

More tasty things to do with leftover fruit:

• Healthy Snacks: A tasty twist on homemade ice cream
• Fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Apples
• Easy and Healthy Granola Bars

Squawkback What do you put in your banana bread? What’s your favorite ingredient? Ever find weevils in your flour? Ack!

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Doing the mathy math, microwave popcorn costs around $22.65 for 12 boxes with 3 packets per box (source Amazon) — that’s an eye-popping $3.53 per pound!

Sure, you may think you’re paying all that delicious cash for a magic metal-lined bag that pops better kernels and cooks your corn more evenly. But think again. I can do the same popping magic trick with a cheapo plain brown paper bag. And at a tasty 50 cents per pound, plain popcorn kernels bought in bulk cost FAR less than that slimy packaged stuff.

Now let me pop the big question: have you ever recycled your leftover microwave popcorn bags? I cringe to think how much of this product graces our landfills, all in the name of snack food. But no fear, by switching your home movie snacking habit using this frugal trick, you can compost or recycle your used brown paper bags and create no waste. See How To Compost Without Raising a Stink for easy composting help.

Speaking of waist, do you know how many calories are contained in those popcorn flavor packets? What about the ingredients? Here’s the ingredient list from the Act II popcorn page on Amazon. Note: I couldn’t find this information on the company’s website.

Act II Popcorn Ingredients: Popcorn, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Annatto Color. Contains: Fish, Milk

Fish? Milk? In my popcorn? Um, no thanks. I’ll skip the hydrogenated oil, fish, and milk additives in my snacks by sticking to my frugalicious and homemade popcorn version. Here’s how to make Microwave Popcorn in a Brown Paper Bag:

Step One: Get a brown paper bag

This is ridiculously easy, internet people. Just head on over to your local grocery store and pickup a package of no name flat-bottomed brown paper lunch bags.

I nabbed a package of 100 brown bags for around $2, on sale.

Step Two: Bag your popcorn

Add a 1/2 cup scoop of bulk popcorn kernels to your brown paper bag.

Fold the bag over twice. Don’t use staples to secure the bag — this might spark in your microwave.

This is so exciting. I’m popping with excitement.

Step Three: Pop in microwave

Stick the popcorn bag into your microwave. I set mine for 3 minutes on high.

Popping Tip: Stop the microwave when the popping slows to one to two pops per second. You don’t want to burn your tasty snack.

Step Four: Add gourmet topping

A pinch of salt with a dab of butter is the most popular way to eat popcorn.

But why not get creative and try some sweet or savory flavors to mix up movie night?

Try these toppings for some gourmet popcorn fun:

• Mexican: Add chili powder, hot sauce, and salt.
• Kiss My Breath: Shake in onion powder and garlic powder — hold the kiss.
• Cheese Please: Mix in Parmesan cheese with a little salt.
• Sweet Tooth: A dash of cinnamon, a sprinkle of sugar, and a topper of honey. Now that’s money.
• Classic: A shake of salt with a pat of butter.

Squawkfox: How do YOU make popcorn? Got a favorite gourmet popcorn topping to share?

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I’ve written about jarred gifts before in 8 Homemade Gifts in a Jar — so check it out if you’re less into pastry and more into mixes in a jar.

Pie in a jar is just that — it’s a small single serving of fruit pie made and baked in a tiny mason jar. These pies are frugal to make, awesome to gift, tasty to serve, and fun to sell at bake sales where there’s more than enough standard cakes and tarts to go around. Yes, every local bake sale has a tart or two. But I digress.

Anytartytarts, I’ve even given a few jarred pies to friends in need of a little cheer after a bad day. We’ve all had those days, and sharing a belly laugh over a tiny pie in a jar is far cheaper than visiting a shrink. But if you do need a shrink then please don’t drop by looking for tiny pie. It’s only pie, after all.

Not only are pies in a jar fun to make, but they are a flexible food to serve too. Bake up a fresh batch today or freeze a bunch for later when unexpected company arrives. These little marvels don’t take up your freezer space like traditional baking since they stack up nicely.

So to get you in the mood for some summer sweet and frugal pie, let’s get some mason jars, turn on the oven, and get baking. If you’ve got some kiddlets looking for a fun project, get them into the frugal fun too by teaching them to bake. Watching little ones eat tiny pies is kinda cute too.

Oh, and don’t forget to add these pies as gifts using the Budget Series Gift Giving Worksheet — where tracking even small gifts is as easy as pie.

Step One: Get the right ‘wide mouth jars’

Making pie in a jar is simple with the right canning jars. If you don’t want to have pie on your face, then skip the super cutie narrow-necked jelly jars and get the still super cute 1/2 pint wide mouth canning jars. You’ll thank me when it’s time to line the jar with dough and when it’s time to plate your pie. Besides, the wide mouth jars make it easier to label for a gift, or eat out of with a fork.

The 1/2 pint wide mouth jars yield a pie around 2.5 inches wide and 2 inches tall.

Don’t forget to wash or sterilize your jars before making pie.

Sterilizing is important if you plan to freeze your jarred pies for baking at a later date.

Step Two: Press in your pie dough

I will not lie to you. Filling these little mason jars with pie dough is not easy. When I had the patience I rolled out a little doily-shaped crust, fit it into the bottom of the jar, and then pressed it in to form the perfect (cough) crust. I also found that taking dough pieces and pressing them into the jar worked well too.

Jarring Revelations:

• Greasing the jar with butter before lining it with dough helps to remove the pie (in one piece) after baking.
• Swearing at either the jar or the pastry doesn’t help. You may scare your spouse. Besides, being a dough-head isn’t cool.
• Leave 1/2 inch of pie crust above the edge of the mason jar. This extra dough lets you roll and crimp the bottom of the pie crust to the pie top.

Now don’t give me the stink eye over my next admission — I used store bought dough for my pie in a jar. [Enter Stink Eye Here]. Making pastry is not my talent. If pastry is your passion then check out the Smitten Kitchen’s Pie Crust 101 tutorial and recipe. For everyone else, just buy three or four pie crusts from the refrigerator section at your grocery store. You’ll need around three pie crusts to fill six mason jars, but chances are you’ll make a mistake or two, or three. If you prefer thinner crust, then just roll out your dough and use two pie crusts. Easy.

As an alternative to pastry or for those on a gluten-free diet, swap out the dough and try my Homemade Granola Recipe as a pie crust. It’s tasty.

Step Three: Add some pie filling

Are you hankering for some apple pie or do you crave a nice sweet cherry pie? The choice is yours. I have a simple pie filling recipe (below), but I must be honest with you again — I used canned cherry pie filling for the pies in this post. Don’t hate me because I felt lazy today. Love me ’cause I’m honest. Smile.

Simple Pie Filling Recipe:

• 4 1/2 cups cherries, berries, or diced fruit
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter, divide between the pies
• spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, or to taste

Or better yet, hop on over to my Fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Apples and try that filling since I’m stuck in a can today. It’s tasty and healthy.

Jarring Revelations:

• Only fill the jars to the 3/4 mark. Filling to the brim will make it tricky to top and crimp your pie. Also, the pie might bubble and boil over if over-filled. It happens.
• Add a little flour to the mixture if your fruit is super juicy.
• Top your filling with a little pat of butter. Yum.

Now on to the fun part.

Step Four: Create a pretty pie top

I hope you kept your mason jar lids handy because the inner ring makes the perfect pie top cutter. Just use a knife to trace the inner ring circle and voila — instant pie top.

Now personalize your pie top by using a small cookie cutter to create a little vent. Once you’ve placed the pie top into the pie jar (it’s tricky I know), go ahead and carefully crimp the pie crust bottom over the top. Put the lids and rings on each jar until you’re ready to bake.

Step Five: Freeze your pies (optional)

If you have cold feet or you’re not ready to bake your pies today, then go ahead and freeze them until needed. I keep a few jarred pies in deep freeze in case I need a quick gift, or for when company comes over. Ok, Ok, sometimes I just like a little tiny tart treat too.

An unforeseen bonus to making pie in a jar is the mason jars protect the pies in the freezer. No more dented pies! Also, the jars make it super simple to stack many pies without ruining the tender crusts — so you can optimize your freezer space and save the room for stocking up on grocery sale items.

One little trick for dealing with slippery mason jars is to wrap each pie jar with a little tin foil to get a better grip. I dropped one the other day and made a little mess. My dog was happy though.

Step Six: Get Baked

It’s time to get bubbly, tarty, flaky, and tasty. Start by removing the lids and rings from each jar. If you own a Silpat Nonstick Silicon Baking Mat, then place each jarred pie on your Silpat (on a cookie sheet) to prevent slipping. Sliding hot jars filled with boiling pie are not safe. Just a safety warning. I’m a safety girl.

• To bake from refrigerated: Preheat oven to 375-400 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly. The bonus with glass jars is you can easily see if the crust is getting too brown.

• To bake from frozen: Follow the same instructions from above but preheat oven to 350-375 degrees and bake for around 60-70 minutes.

Oh, and don’t worry about baking in jars. Canning jars are very resilient when it comes to heat — they are meant to be boiled — so baking pies straight from the freezer is fine.

Step Seven: Serve or Decorate

Removing the pie from it’s jar can be a tricky situation. I’ve had some good luck by sliding a knife around the inside of the jar and using gravity to remove the treat inside. Eating the pie while it’s still inside the jar is easier, and lots of fun at picnics and when company drops by. For some reason my guests have loved being treated to a single serving pie. It’s a novelty. It’s fun.

If you’re gifting the pie, decorate the lids with pretty paper, jar labels, or add a little bit of ribbon for style. A decorated pie in a jar goes over very well at bake sales and fund raisers — so putting in a little creative decorative effort can make you some money too.

Get Squawky: Ever bake a treat in a jar?

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During the summer months I’ve found that it’s easy to get overwhelmed by too much ripe fruit. Local farmers will often harvest their crops and sell bulk amounts at a discount, or I go away for the weekend and need to deal with a few extra peaches, berries, or bananas. Throwing out perfectly good fruit fails to be frugal, and composting can be pretty wasteful too, especially if the fruit is still good.

So I’ve taken to freezing fruit and blending it together into a refreshing frosty treat. Oh, and since frugal fruit ice cream is low in sugar and bursting with whole fruit goodness, you know it’s healthier than most options sold through ice cream franchises, cheaper than branded gourmet ice cream, and the many variations can be fun snacks for kids too.

Tastes like Strawberry Ice Cream

My all time favorite sweet summer fruit is the strawberry. I love a fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (with apples) and enjoy my daily Strawberry and Banana Green Smoothie. But nothing beats a frozen snack when it’s hot outside and I’ve got some strawberries chilling in the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• 2 frozen bananas, chopped

Optional: Add these ingredients if you prefer a creamy or sweeter snack.

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1/4 cup sugar, or sweeten to taste

Instructions:
1. Blend: Place the strawberries, bananas, and optional ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

2. Serve: Place strawberry ice cream in a bowl and serve.

Add ice cream toppings for fun! I love a few pieces from my Healthy Granola Bar Recipe.

3. OR Freeze: If the strawberry ice cream is super soft after blending and a firmer texture is preferred, then place mixture in a container and freeze. After an hour or two, use an ice cream scoop to serve.

Tastes like Peach Ice Cream

It takes a pretty hot climate to grow a peach. If you’re lucky enough to live in the land of peaches, then try taking this ice cream twist for a spin.

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen peaches, skinless
• 2 frozen bananas, chopped

Optional: Add these ingredients if you prefer a creamy or sweet snack.

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1/4 cup sugar, or sweeten to taste

Instructions:
1. Blend: Place the peaches, bananas, and optional ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

2. Serve: Use an ice cream scoop and serve.

3. OR Freeze: If the peach ice cream is super soft after blending and a firmer texture is preferred, then place mixture in a container and freeze. After an hour or two, use an ice cream scoop to serve.

If strawberries, bananas, and peaches aren’t your thing, then feel free to use raspberries or another type of high-sugar fruit to take a unique turn on your own frugal ice cream. Anything goes.

Squawkback: Got a tasty twist on a cool summer snack?

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Long time readers of Squawkfox (the keener beaners) know of my insatiable ability to wax lyrical about the lowly legume. Hey, you’ve gotta get lyrical about something in life, why not beans?

So lyrical I be when it comes to frugal sources of protein — and baked beans are on my soul-warming, comfort-fooding, and fantastically frugalicious yummy list.

To make this dish super easy and super cheap I turned off my oven and fired up my Crock Pot (or slow cooker for those with unbranded cooking dish devices). If you’re still living without one, here are 6 Reasons to use a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot and How to Buy a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot for less. Hint: this is the best time of year to buy a slow cooker on sale.

Now back to brown beans. I’ve put together three recipes for all tastes: I’ve got a healthy homemade baked beans recipe, a Boston baked beans recipe and a vegetarian baked beans recipe. Here’s how to make homemade baked beans:

Homemade Baked Beans Recipe

This is my favorite since I love the sweetness of the honey and molasses mixed with a punch of mustard.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs (3 cups) dried small white beans, or navy beans
• 2.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons dried mustard
• Optional: 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Optional: sautéed chopped onion

Boston Baked Bean Recipe

Here’s a frugal take on Boston baked beans.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs (3 cups) dried small white beans, or navy beans
• 1/4 pound bacon
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons dried mustard
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 sautéed chopped onion

Vegetarian Baked Beans Recipe

This one is similar to the homemade baked beans recipe, but it’s less sweet since it contains no honey. I’ve also cut the salt. Feel free to add more molasses.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs (3 cups) dried small white beans, or navy beans
• 2.5 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons dried mustard
• Optional: 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Optional: sautéed chopped onion

How to Make Baked Beans in Your Crock Pot

The instructions are the same for all three recipes. The photos illustrate the homemade baked beans recipe though — so don’t worry if the pictures don’t match your imagination.

Directions:

1. Soak navy beans overnight. I’ve soaked longer — up to 12 hours — for even softer baked beans. See How to Soak and Cook Dried Beans for lots of background info on why you’ve gotta soak your beans.

2. Drain beans and rinse off. Put beans into Crock Pot or slow cooker.

3. Add all the ingredients from your preferred baked beans recipe.

4. Stir all ingredients together.

5. Cover Crock Pot and cook 6-7 hours on high, or 10-12 hours on low. These slow cooking times are approximate, so cook until the beans are soft and the sauce is rich. Add water to the Crock Pot, if needed.

Eyeball Warning: If you like your eyeballs, then do yourself a solid and refrain from opening the lid during the early hours of cooking. Dried mustard is volatile stuff, and the fumes will burn your pupils if you dare peep into the pot.

6. Serve on toast for breakfast, with scrambled eggs for lunch, or as a side dish with dinner. Enjoy!

Your Two Cents: Are you a keener beaner?

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