Last week, blogger Sarah McColl was brave enough to participate in the first ever Fifty Bucks a week Challenge. And it turns out we could all learn a few things from Sarah. Not only did she stay under budget spending only $44, she made beautiful dishes including Curried Chicken and Cauliflower, Butternut Squash Bisque and Stamppot with Kale—all while house sitting, no less!

Sarah had recently cut her grocery budget anyway, but as previously mentioned was worried she wouldn’t be able to get the “eating well” part down. But I never doubted her and she proved me right, employing a little something I like to call 1 Girl, 1 Chicken (if you don’t know the reference, be glad).

Writes Sarah:

I decided to step things up — but just a little bit. I employed our favorite “eating thrifty” tip — start with a chicken (or some other animal protein) and utilize it throughout the week. I was also somewhat limited by the fact that I was house-sitting. Without my shelves of cookbooks, I decided to use what was at hand: lots of copies of Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle (incidentally, I kind of love reading these magazines, but they also make me very gratefully I’m not having to talk to a teenager about internet porn.) And so, without further ado, my wrap-up for the challenge.

On Sunday, I roasted a chicken and ate half of one chicken breast with a baked potato and some kale sauteed in olive oil with garlic and crushed red pepper. I picked the rest of the meat off the chicken and stowed it in the fridge to make…

To make a light stock for the next recipe, put the chicken carcass in a large pot, cover it with water, and add an onion, a carrot, and a celery stalk. Bring to a boil and simmer until the stock is reduced. This isn’t as flavorful as making a stock from a raw chicken, but it will work in a pinch…

Using leftover Gouda and kale, make a stamppot.

So that’s what I cooked. If I could do it again, I wouldn’t have cooked a week’s worth of meals that were all color-coordinated (I was a little gung-ho on the first of fall yellow/orange autumnal hues). And truth be told, I wasn’t crazy about the curry. But I filled in the gaps with Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal (love this stuff!) topped with slivered almonds and maple syrup, Wasa crackers with peanut butter, and beans and rice with hot sauce, all of which I had in the pantry. My grocery bill came to $44, and could have easily fed another person on this budget. In fact, as I write this, there is chicken curry for lunch and half of the squash bisque in the freezer for a rainy day. But honestly, I’m ready to get back to baked potatoes.

I left out the recipes. You’ll have to go to Sarah’s lovely blog, Pink of Perfection, to find them. But you won’t be sorry. I promise.

Thanks, Sarah!