Chicken and fries

This afternoon one of my kids had a doctor's appointment, so I didn't have a lot of time for dinner.  I looked in the freezer for something semi-instant and found this:
Now, I just bought this last week for $5.99 a box.  It comes with "Six to Eight Pieces".  If you can't read the fine print in the corner there, this was their variety pack, with breasts, thighs, and drumsticks.  This particular box came with seven pieces, of which, we ate four, so there's $3.43 worth of chicken.  This can be microwaved or baked in the oven; the oven takes 40 minutes and the microwave 10.  I did what my mother always did: microwave for 5 and bake for 20 (at 350, directions on the box). 

Actually, since I have a weaksauce microwave, I nuked those four pieces for six minutes.  While they were baking (on a cookie sheet in the oven) I turned on my deep fryer to make the cheese fries:

They only had to "fry" until they floated.  It took 4 minutes.  Then, I put the fries on the same cookie sheet, just on the other end.  I sprinkled on some mozzerella cheese from the bulk bag I bought a while ago, and put the whole tray back in the oven.  The large bag of fries was also on sale last week, for $2.29.  We ate about half of the bag, for $1.15.  The cheese was trickier, since I bought it in bulk so I can't even estimate "I used half the bag" or "used 1/3 of the bag".  Instead, I can say, I used two handfuls.  But, I know from experience in a pizzaria that each handful (of mine - I have small hands) is about a half cup, and that, when on sale (not in bulk) mozzerella cheese is about $5 for 4 cups.  I used one cup, so about $1.25 worth.  Let's err on the side of caution and call it $1.50



So, for dessert, I made butterscotch pudding,
which takes two cups of milk, or about 1/8 of a gallon,
which costs $3.59 right now, and the mix was 50 cents,
so the dessert (which filled five dixie cups) cost 95 cents total,
or 19 cents each.

We only had 3 of those cups (57 cents), because I had pie. Lots. Again.

So the total for tonight is: $3.43 chicken + $1.15 fries + $1.50  mozz. cheese + 57 cents pudding + 33 cents pie = $6.98