Chicken Thighs for 3 meals $3.35 per meal!

Last week I posted this article Teriyaki Chicken Thighs, Rice & Corn for less than $5. In the article I mentioned that I buy the thighs at Costco because they have them pre packed and the cheapest price, I went in on Sunday to buy more thighs and I was sad to see the the price per pound had gone from $ .99 to $1.09 it's disappointing but it's still is a decent deal. In the picture below you can see that there are 6 individual packages each package contains 3 thighs, I have split the thighs into 3 separate packages and then I freeze them like that, so I have 6 thighs in each one and that's enough to feed my family of 3 and leftovers for my husband the next day, so that is $3.35 per meal. If there are just 2 of you, 1 package with 3 thighs in it would be enough so that would be $1.68 per meal, if you had a larger family you could just make it 2 equal portions so that would be $5.03 per meal.
So when I am planning my $5 Meals I use that amount I've spent on meat ($3.35) then try to add a side dish and veggie without the total going over $5.00. I could buy a pound of fresh broccoli at $ .99 per pound and then cook several cups of rice (I buy in a 25lb bag) for around $ .50 if that, and I would still be under my $5.00
Chicken $3.35
Fresh Broccoli $1.00
Rice $ .50
Total $4.85
I have provided my family a decent meal that includes a fresh vegetable (sometimes I can get the organic for that price) and I was able to keep it under $5.00.
I'm not always exactly right on, sometimes it's more sometimes it's less and you may have a larger family so it's not possible, but maybe $7.00 or $10.00 is possible for you to try stay under?
I wanted to kind of explain this because I have had people ask me how I do it, then they say I wouldn't be able to do that or it wouldn't work for my family, well it's not going to work every time but if you try to do it with a few meals a week you could possibly reduce your food budget, can't hurt to try!
Here's another chicken recipe Chicken Thighs, Quinoa & Broccoli and more $5 Meal ideas!


  1. Genius!!! I never thought of setting the meal limit price first and subtract from that number. Love it!
    Can you post more of your chicken thigh meals?
    I tried the whole chicken on a bundt pan and it was the best chicken I ever made!

  2. Hi! I like how you budget the meals. I use Costco to save money for my family. We have 4 to 7 people every night for dinner and I try to keep our meals in the $7 to $10 range too. Thanks for sharing.


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