Month: November 2016

Lunch

Chicken wrap time again using the last of the remaining of the $4.00 cold chicken. We got three lunches from two very large breasts.

• The flatbread is 50c per serve
• The roast chicken is $4.00 for the bird, but we used .75 of a breast, or 34c per serve
• Deli rice salad salad is $2.22 or 56c per serve
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve

Lunch today cost $1.73 per serve.

Dinner

We last had cioppino in March because it’s more a cold weather meal and we’re back to colder weather after a very long summer. It’s a simple seafood stew that’s extremely tasty, but also very easy to make and it makes a lot – at least six serves.

We cooked the base and then added shrimp, mussels and cod for tonight’s meal. They were extracted from the stew and served with a generous amount of the broth. The balance of the broth mix will be used to cook up some more seafood later.

• Olive oil – less than 3c serve
• Fennel bulb at $2 makes for 33c serve
• Onion at 50c makes it 9c a serve
• Four large garlic cloves are about 1/4 of the 50c garlic – 7c serve
• Tomato paste 90c can but only half was used, for 8c serve
• Diced tomatoes in juice – $3.99 or 67c serve
• 1.5 cups dry white wine – about $1 or 16c serve
• 5 cups fish stock $6.20 or $1.03 serve
• 16 oz of White Wine and Garlic Mussels are $4.00 or $2.00 for each very generous serve
• For the firm fleshed fish, Greg used Kroger Wild Caught Pacific Cod. The 40 oz pack costs $16.89 but only 8 oz was used (two filets). $1.69 a serve.
• The pack of peeled, uncooked shrimp was $5.99 or $3 a serve
• Served with Simple Truth Ready to bake garlic bread – $2.50 for the loaf (on special). We used half or 63c per serve

Dinner tonight cost $9.78 a serve with a very generous amount of broth left to cook up the next meal and much more generous servings of shrimp and fish than a more expensive restaurant meal.

Lunch

We took the remaining serve of the Shanghai noodles and reheated them before spreading on a wrap with a little siracha hot sauce.

• The flatbread is 50c
• The noodles were $3.51 per serve but we halved that, or $1.76 per serve
• Add 10c for the siracha sauce.

Lunch today cost $2.36 per serve.

Dinner

Thursday night is ‘steak night’ and tonight we experimented with a chuck eye steak from our Prather Ranch delivery. The chuck eye is the end steak of the primal normally cut into rib eye. They have a little more of a mix of muscles, unlike rib eye’s “eye and cap” combination, but flavor and texture wise they’re very like rib eye, but cheaper.

We also revisited an old favorite we haven’t tried all year: an onion, cream and blue cheese sauce. Three simple ingredients: an amazing package of flavor. The sweetness of the onion balances out the earthiness of the blue cheese, while the cream blends it together.

• The chuck eye steak was $11.33 or $5.67 per serve
• Two onions add 30c per serve
• The whipping cream was $1.79 or 90c per serve
• The crumbled blue was $3.49 for the container. We used 1/4 or 44c per serve
• The pack of potatoes was $3.99 but we used about 1/8 of the pack or 25c per serve.
• The broccoli slaw was $1.69 for 12 oz, but we used only 1/4 or 21c per serve

The crash hot potatoes provided crunchy deliciousness while the broccoli slaw added a little freshness, but the star was – without a doubt – the onion blue cheese sauce. All up $7.77 per serve.

Lunch

Ahead of lunch, we were invited to breakfast at the Country Deli in order to do some business. Our host paid for our breakfasts, which was  big enough that neither wanted lunch.

Dinner

Since we had some ground pork left in the Prather Ranch delivery we decided retrun Stir Fried Shanghai Noodles with Ground Pork and Cabbage, which makes four generous serves.

Sadly we forgot the mung bean sprouts which is a pity as they add a nice crunch and a refreshing wetness. We used regular cabbage instead of napa as we had it available.

• The pork came from our Prather Ranch meat delivery – 1.04 lb of ground pork cost $8.31  or $2.08 per serve
• The pre-cooked organic noodles retail for $3.19 or 80c per serve
• The various seasonings add around 30c per serve
• The shredded cabbage cost $1.29 or 33c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $3.51 per serve for a filling and very tasty dish.

Lunch

Due to some minor repairs to our kitchen floor, we couldn’t walk in that area to prepare lunch, so we went down the road for a burrito.

A burrito is $5.50 per serve.

Dinner

Any combination of sausage and mashed potato could be described as “bangers and mash,” including tonight’s combination of Trader Joe’s Bavarian Bratwurst and Kale Mashed Potato with home-made onion gravy. A simple meal but a good one.

The onion gravy was probably the best thing on the plate.

• The bratwurst are $3.49 for the pack, or $1.75 per serve
• Potatoes were $3.21 or 54c per serve
• Baby kale was $1.69 for the pack, or 28c per serve
• Onion, stock and flour for the gravy adds about 30c.

Tonight’s dinner cost $2.87 per serve.

Lunch

We decided on our take on a quesadilla for lunch.

• One flatbread (half of two) costs 50c a serve
• Half a can of refried beans, shared across two halves: 26c
• A very generous serve of salsa is 20c per serve
• 2 oz of cheddar split between two is 50c per serve

Lunch today cost $1.46 per serve.

Dinner

Since we had dry aged ground beef we pulled two packs out of the freezer for meatloaf. This is the same recipe we cooked in a video a few months back.

The mushroom gravy is pre-prepared, but we sautéed some porcini mushrooms and added them to the gravy to amp the flavor up.

• 2 lbs of dry aged ground beef were $17.55 or $4.39 per serve.
• Onion and seasonings add 25c per serve
• Potatoes were $3.21 or 54c per serve
• Baby kale was $1.69 for the pack, or 28c per serve
• The mushrooms were $2.79 or 70c per serve
• The gravy was $1.69 or 43c per serve.

Dinner tonight was definitely a better meatloaf than we’ve had in diners, and only $6.59 for a bigger-than-normal serve.

Lunch

A repeat of yeros wraps.

• The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
• The flatbread is 50c per serve
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.50.

Dinner

The remainder of the pulled pork beckoned. We chose to go Cuban with black beans, rice and ceviche onion. The onion is a perfect foil for the pulled pork, bringing a fresh, crunchy crispness to the meal the other ingredients don’t have.

• The pork but was $20.77 or $3.46 per serve
• A can of black beans costs 99c or 50c per serve
• The onion cost $1.29 and the grapefruit $2.50 for 8 serves, or 48c per serve
• The rice adds 33c per serve.

Dinner tonight was very tasty and cost $4.77 a serve. Our home made pulled pork is definitely among the best we’ve tasted, particularly since it doesn’t get lost in a sweet, smokey BBQ sauce as we serve it only with the cooking liquid.

Lunch

A return to an old favorite from when we first started paying attention to the quality of our food, and wanted to drop some fat. This is an Alton Brown favorite.

• Onion bagel is 50c
• The sardines in olive oil were $3.29 for the can or $1.65 per serve
• The avocado was 84c or 42c per serve

Lunch today cost $2.57 per serve.

Dinner

A classic steak dinner: rib eye from our Prather Ranch delivery, crash hot potatoes and creamed spinach.

• 12oz of Rib Eye cost $20.22 or $10.11 per serve
• The pack of baby spinach was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve
• The whipping cream was $1.79 or 90c per serve
• Shallots were 99c for a pack of four and we used two, or 25c per serve
• The pack of potatoes was $3.99 but we used about 1/8 of the pack or 25c per serve.

Tonight’s steakhouse worthy dinner cost $12.51 per serve, which is a fraction of what you’d pay for the same meal in a steakhouse.