February was very much a stay at home month. We were only out for three evenings: a Super Bowl party, dinner with a friend and dinner and beers with some other developers.
The averages for this month:
- Lunch prepared at home $2.49 ($2.93 in January)
- Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $7.68 ($8.81)
- Dinner eaten at home: $5.86 ($6.36)
- Dinner eaten out: $28.00 ($12.36)
Our most expensive meal was dinner at Gordon Biersch at $28.00 per serve.
Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $215.04 per person in February. We actually spent $34.82 for lunches at home plus $92.13 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $126.95.
Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $784.00. We actually spent $146.62 for dinners at home and $28.00 for dinners out: $174.62.
We saved $697.42 by preparing and eating most meals at home, plus we have better control over what we eat. Over the month we prepared 16 different recipes for evening meals.