The $10 McLanahan’s challenge
Is it possible to make a quick, delicious meal from McLanahan’s for just $10?
In downtown State College, options are limited when it comes to grocery shopping. McLanahan’s is notoriously expensive, but with a little planning, it can be effortless to make a quick and easy meal for just around $10 after a long day of class.
Cooking on a budget, especially in college can be difficult. Between paying for the basics and fun things, like club dues or cover at a bar, there isn’t much extra to spend money on eating well.
Luckily, the two locations of McLanahan’s are ideal for anyone to get to and so I sought out to get the ingredients for basic enchiladas: tortillas, cheese, chicken, and enchilada sauce.
After arriving, I learned a lesson very quickly: paying for brand names was going to set my total over, fast. I narrowed my search to strictly off-brands, which made budgeting much more feasible.
I bought the “Best Yet” brand’s shredded cheddar cheese and canned all-white meat chicken, the only enchilada sauce they had, and the “Chi-chi’s” brand of soft tortilla shells. This choice I was a little uneasy about, because I’m pretty sure the “Chi-chi’s” restaurant went out of business for some health related issues, but I ignored this and went to the checkout.
My total came to $10.16 and the result? Delightful. They were warm, melty, and a little spicy. My roommate, a friend, and I were all impressed and comfortably full. I was able to make four servings, which comes to about $2.18 per enchilada.
If you wanted, you could splurge and use rice, beans, or whatever you like in the filling, it’ll just cost a little more. From start to finish, buying the ingredients to my mouth, it only took about a half hour make: easy and inexpensive enough for the average college student to make again and again.
Ingredients:
(All prices based off of McLanahan’s Downtown Market)
12 Pack of Soft Shell Tortillas ($1.99, 1 tortilla/15 cents)
10oz. Canned Chicken ($2.89, 72 cents/serving)
Enchilada Sauce ($2.09, 52 cents/serving)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese ($3.19, 79 cents/serving)
Instructions:
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2
Pour half the can of enchilada sauce into the bottom of an 8×8 glass pan. Make sure the bottom is coated evenly.
Step 3
Step 4
Place tortilla folded-side down in the pan. Repeat until the pan is full.
Step 5
Take the rest of the enchilada sauce and pour it over the tortillas. Finish by sprinkling cheese over the top.
Step 6
Bake for 20 minutes, until melty and bubbly.