Meals Under $10: Easy Stir-Fry

I love food. I love food so much. Especially tasty food I’ve made myself that doesn’t cost a fortune. The other day I was browsing the freezer section at the Dollar Tree (more on that later…) and came across this package of bell pepper stir-fry:

Tasty, huh?

My brain began whirring at high speed, thinking of all the delicious concoctions I could whip up with it. It could be served as a side, stirred into a pasta sauce, or more things could be added to it. Meat! More veggies! Noodles! Ahh! I am excited about food!

You get my drift.

I decided on a chicken stir-fry with mushrooms and noodles, in addition to the already frozen diced pepper medley. And what better noodle to serve it on than ramen, the cheapest and most popular of them all?

Here we go!

You will need:

• 1-2 chicken breasts (depending on how much meat you want)
• a package or two of ramen noodles
• a can of mushrooms 
• a package of frozen bell pepper stir-fry
• olive oil

1. Toss a little olive oil in your pan along with the chicken breast(s) and fry away!

Chicken boob.

2. Meanwhile, put on some tunes. Cooking is always better with music! I recommend The Head and The Heart.

3. Now, back to the stove. Start boiling the water for the noodles.

Put that chicken flavoring aside though! I like to save it for another recipe which I hope will make an appearance on my blog shortly. Hopefully this whole “Meals Under $10” thing becomes a regular feature.

4. Is your chicken cooked all the way through?

5. Oh, back to the noodles! Time to strain them!

6. That’s better.

7. If your chicken is ready, cut it up into bite-sized chunks.

...I should have cooked another chicken breast.

8. Open up that stir-fry and toss it in a pan with a little olive oil.

Oh, look! It has onions in it too! 

There ended up being way more in that little package than I thought (or maybe I just have a small frying pan, who knows?), so half the bag got bundled up and placed neatly back in the freezer.

My measly freezer supply.

9. Add some mushrooms…

10. and some chicken…

11. Stir it up all nice and good like.

12. Set a romantic candlelit dinner for one. 

Now eat up, you handsome devil, you.

Of course, you’re welcome to season it or jazz it up however you like. I put soy sauce on mine, but you could also use hot sauce or sriracha (which is also a hot sauce, I'm well aware. But it's on an entirely different PLANE of hot sauces, I tell you! Totally different.). Water chestnuts would be a delicious addition, as well as peas or carrots. Or those miniature corns! You could go crazy and use any meat your heart desires. I’ve found that imitation crab or lobster is excellent in stir fry. Or if you’re veggie, even tofu would be delicious!

Okay, now let’s break the cost down:

• Chicken breast: Came in a package of 7 for 6.99. That’s about a dollar per breast. 
• Can of mushrooms: leftover canned good from my last apartment, but I believe it was about .69 cents
• Ramen: came in package of 6 for 1.29. Roughly makes that about .22 cents each. 
• Bell pepper stir-fry: 1.00

And the grand total is…  $2.91!

Now that’s a price I can get behind, especially since I got 3 meals out of it, not counting the leftover frozen half-package that's still in my freezer. 

How do you spice up your stir-fry?