It’s a constant thing finding easy, healthy dinners that don’t break the grocery budget.  This was a favorite last week and I wanted to share.  I’d gotten out of the habit of buying whole chickens when they went on sale, often I could snag one for about $3.  But it’s been a while and I found one cleaning out the freezer last week.  The other food thing I’m working on is only buying what’s in season, if at all possible.  So out with apples and oranges and in with strawberries and melons.  Back to my old habit of shopping from the weekly sales flier and planning our menu around the bargains.

For the roast chicken, I just grab a bunch of herbs, some olive oil and kosher salt and smear it inside the skin of the chicken.  Then I toss it in a pan, cover with foil and place it in the oven for a while at 325 degrees.

I also made some brown rice in my new rice cooker (that has a steaming tray) and 30 min before the rice was done, I put a bunch of carrots cut up inside the steam basket.  Both were perfectly done at dinner.  I tossed the carrots with maple syrup for a special treat!  And I made some gravy for the rice with the chicken drippings.  Audrey is in need of calories so she ate mainly two large bowls of brown rice with the gravy!  Corn was on sale 4/$1, first of the season, which was an exciting addition.

I estimate that this dinner cost about $10 for a family of six (not including pantry staple items like spices).  And I used the leftover chicken to make some chicken soup for another meal which is always nice.