Chicken Bakes:
Chicken bakes are a weekly staple; it's nothing fancy but plenty tasty and I enjoy the low maintenance dinner.
With six chicken bakes in a box, one box lasts us three weeks.
I like to remove the chicken bakes from their individual wrappers in the box and vacuum seal two together for freezing since the wrappers have a bit of air in them and vacuum sealing prevents freezer burn.
Cost Breakdown & Savings:
- The cost for a box of six chicken bakes in September of 2022 was $11.99 based on receipts, which breaks down to $2.00 for each of us and $4.00 total for the dinner not including drinks; the at-home cost for both of us is almost $2.00 less than the same chicken bakes that are served at the Costco Food Court for $2.99 each (not including tax)!
- Not pictured are the drinks we have with dinner, Waterloo Sparkling Water; we purchased a 24-pack in September 2022 from Costco for $8.69 which breaks down to $0.37 a can or $0.74 for both of us; even with two cans, the total for dinner is $4.74 and there's nowhere that serves a dinner for two that cheap anywhere around here!
- Compared to the Costco Food Court, if the two of us each had a chicken bake once a week it would cost $5.98, and if we spent that for 52 weeks in a year the cost would be $310.96; whereas eating two chicken bakes ($4) at home for 52 weeks comes out to $208, which is a yearly savings of $102.96!
- While the cost difference isn't too great, there is nowhere else to compare the dinner to since chicken bakes aren't served anywhere else around here that I know of, and the reality is that eating anywhere else would cost even more than eating at the Costco Food Court!
Preparation & Clean-Up:
I prepare the chicken bakes per the directions on the box; I use our Ninja Foodi Digital Air Fry Oven on the bake setting and let them go for 34 minutes at 350 degrees while my husband gets cleaned up, so diner is ready when he's ready.
I've stopped using the big tray that came with the Ninja Foodi; two chicken bakes fit well on a smaller tray and rack from the toaster oven we had that was replaced by the Ninja Foodi.
Post-dinner clean-up is easy with this meal: two dinner bowls and a salad bowl (my husband gets a small salad before dinner while I prefer my salad during lunch), silverware, and the tray/rack; all hand-washed, dried, and put away that night except the tray/rack that I prefer to let air dry overnight.
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