Well, on the new count we are five days without eating out, with no plans to do so before the 18th. My goal is to make it to the 20th without eating out because that will be 3 full weeks. The way I am going with meal planning and homecooking, I honestly think I'm going to be able to cut my food budget from $700 a month to $500 a month, without sacrificing quality or cutting back on organics. I would like to get it down to $400, but I don't want to push too much at first and with DS's allergies there are just some things we cannot buy cheaper.

DS was begging for nuggets today so I thought I'd change the meal plan which had called for roasting a whole chicken and I thawed out some boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead. I cut them up, saving the pieces that were too little and throwing them in the stir-fry baggy in the freezer. I try to make the nuggets a uniform size and shape so that they'll cook evenly, so there are invariably little bits leftover. The baggy is finally full enough I can make stir-fry with it next week.

I love making nuggets at home. It's so easy and they taste so much better than McD's. Plus I can make enough to feed five people for around $4. The same amount would take $12 at McD's. Here's my recipe:

1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 TBSP corn starch
2 beaten eggs
1 TBSP water
2 cups panko (I use Ian's organic, plain one)
Salt and pepper

Cut chicken into nugget size pieces. Mix corn starch and flour in one bowl. Mix eggs and water in a second bowl. Put the panko in a third bowl. Dip chicken in flour mixture, then egg mixture (letting excess drip off or it can get really thick and gummy and not cook enough), then panko. Place on a plate and add freshly ground sea salt and pepper. (You don't need to season both sides).

Heat canola oil in a wok until very hot (or use a deep fat fryer). Fry nuggets for three minutes. This amount usually takes us two batches.

I use the same breading recipe to make homemade fish and chips style cod fish pieces or fish sticks. And also homemade deep fried mozzarella sticks (except in that case I use the panko with Italian seasoning or if I only have plain add a couple TBSP of Italian seasoning to the panko).

I'll roast the chicken tomorrow for lunch. Whatever is left will be picked off mostly for enchiladas with half a cup being saved for chicken fried rice and the carcass will go to make chicken broth. I found what looks like a great recipe for egg drop soup so I will use the broth to make that on the same day we have the egg fried rice. I love it when I can get three meals out of one thing like that. Even better is it's the chicken I got for free with the gift card from DH's work. Since the chicken is free, and the eggs from Mom's chickens are free, that soup is going to be dirt cheap, just the cost of ginger, salt, pepper, which I have on hand, and scallions and peas and carrots (the latter two I have on hand) which will also go in the rice.