How to Make a $3 Meal Using Food City Grocery Store Items

Cheap chicken and veggie dumplings

Okay, this was a tough one. What I eventually decided on getting was a can of cream of chicken, a bag of mixed veggies, and pancake mix.

Hear me out. I looked everywhere for their biscuit mix. The cheapest biscuit mix that they had was $2.19. But with every one of those mixes, you needed to buy milk and eggs too. Plus, their canned biscuits were not in the $3 budget at all. So that was definitely not an option.

Pancake mix actually makes this recipe thicker. Use it just like dumplings. We're going to try to do some kind of, like, chicken dumpling with veggie thing going on. I wasn’t sure at first if this would work, but our total for this meal challenge was only $2.67, which is under the $3 I had to work with. So that's pretty stinking cool, right?

And I will say, if I had drawn the slip for Walmart, Aldi, or any other place but Food City, because we call Food City the rich man's grocery store around here, I would have had more items to choose from. And I still could have stayed within my budget.

I kind of enjoy these tight budgets at expensive grocery stores though, because it shows everybody that you can do it. No matter what, you can do it. Don’t let a low-budget or expensive grocery store stop you. This is the only recipe you need no matter where you’re located.

1. Add cream of chicken and water

Pour a can of cream of chicken and four cans full of water into a large pot and stir them together. 

2. Season with pepper

Put a couple of pinches of pepper in because we all love pepper. 

3. Pour in veggies

Pour in a small bag of mixed frozen veggies. I used the kind with carrots, peas, and corn.

4. Bring to a boil

Turn the heat way up and bring the contents to a boil. Keep the heat up high throughout the cooking process, but turn it down slightly if it starts to boil over at any point. 

5. Whisk pancake mix

In a separate bowl, dump in your pancake mix and water. Follow the instructions on the package as to how much water you need, then whisk both ingredients together.

I know pancakes are a little bit sweet, but they’re not too sweet, so I thought this cheaper option would be okay. My recipe ended up being kind of like a chicken pot pie meets chicken and dumplings. 

And remember, don't stir your dumplings. If you stir your dumplings, they'll turn into a big old mess. Well, with normal dumplings anyway. I don't know about the pancake mix used for dumplings, but I didn’t want to find out the hard way. 

6. Drop in dumplings

Next, drop small spoonfuls of dumpling mix into the boiling pot. They will start to float at the top as soon as you drop them in. 

The ones I made were kind of big, so use tiny dollops because they expand pretty quickly. 

7. Cook 

I let this meal cook for about five to ten minutes total once it started boiling and the dumplings were in. Don't stir it even if you really want to. Just gently push the dumplings around with a wooden spoon, and they’ll stay nice and fluffy instead of turning into mush. 

8. Serve

Once it looks pretty good and starts smelling like chicken and dumplings, it’s time to bowl it up. If you’re unsure, you can always take one of the dumplings out, let it cool, have a taste, and make sure it’s cooked through.

Recipe modifications

What I would do next time is get a bag of carrots, or even a can of carrots, and add to it for the veggies because the peas are kind of overpowering. 

This recipe is like a chicken pot pie, just in soup form, so I might also put less water in to thicken it up a bit. 

If I had more of a budget, I would add one more can of cream of chicken soup, one more package of dumplings, and some garlic powder, paprika, and chicken-flavored bouillon powder. 

And if it's in your budget to add canned chicken to this, it would be a lot better, I think.

Affordable meals on a budget 

This was a $3 budget version of a popular dish. It would be a really good dinner for when you're broke, and you're trying to make it to payday. 

I’ve made dumplings and chicken pot pie before, but I've never really combined the two. This would fill tummies, and it tastes good. If you only have $3 and you have access to a Food City, that'll do you. 

Is Food City cheap?

Sure, for some things. But like all grocery stores, it’s important to discover which buys are better at a Food City grocery store near you and which ones are better elsewhere because this retailer is one of the more expensive ones in our area.

The Food City family meals I’ve recently created were a big hit in our home, and they’re sure to be enjoyed by your family too. Let me know your favorite budget meal in the comments down below.