Month: April 2017

Apr 9: Quiche Lorraine; Baked Ham with Rice Pilaf and Strawberry Cucumber Salad

Lunch

We heated up, split and served one of Trader Joe’s Quiche Lorraine with a simple side salad.

The quiche is $5.49 or $2.75 per serve.

Dinner

Approaching Easter we always look to a baked ham, which we served tonight with rice pilaf and a strawberry, cucumber and balsamic vinegar salad that is a long term favorite. We shared the meal with a friend.

Ham at Easter and Christmas is about half price at Ralph’s/Kroger and we get a lot of meals from it. Tonight’s 10.42 lb ham cost $15.32 and we’ll get at least 14 serves.

  • Ham cost $1.10 per serve (approximately)
  • Brown rice, onion and seasonings add 95c per serve
  • The strawberries were $1.50 or 50c per serve
  • Persian cucumbers were 40c or 13c per serve
  • Add 10c for balsamic vinegar.

Tonight’s very generous and tasty meal cost $2.78 per serve.

Apr 8: Meatloaf Sandwich; Cioppino

Lunch

We still had some meatloaf left over, and took inspiration from Greg’s Patty Melt from yesterday. We grilled some onions to almost caramel and melted some cheese on one side of the toast. Yum.

  • Sprouted rye bread is 17c per slice, or 34c per serve
  • Half a serve of meatloaf each is $1.98
  • We used on onion, which was halved or 25c per serve
  • Add 15c for mayonnaise
  • The sliced yoghurt cheese is $4.79 a pack of 12 slices, or 40c per serve.

Today’s lunch was better than the patty melt, and cost $3.12.

Dinner

Although it really wasn’t soup weather, we cooked up the cioppino base and then added mussels, scallops and cod for tonight’s meal. Scallops and cod stayed in the soup, but only enough shrimp were added for tonight’s meal.

The cioppino base makes an enormous number of serves!

  • 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 $1.00 for each very generous serve
  • The pack of frozen scallops was $8.99 or $2.00 per 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.
  • Served with Simple Truth Ready to bake garlic bread – $3.49 for the loaf . We used about 1/2 for the meal, or 88c per serve

Dinner tonight cost $8.03 a serve with a very generous amount of broth left to cook up another meal or four, and much more generous servings of mussels, scallop and fish than a more expensive restaurant meal.

Apr 7: Bob’s Big Boy; Mushroom Pot Pie with Chicken Leg

Lunch

Lunch found us in the same outdoor mall as Bob’s Big Boy in Northridge, so that’s where we ate lunch. A Patty Melt for Greg, a Blue Cheese Burger for Philip, who thinks the In and Out Double Double is a nicer burger!

Lunch today cost around $14.75 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

For dinner we combined the remaining mushroom pot pie with the chicken legs (thigh and drumstick) from the supermarket chicken. The mushroom pot pie mix reheated strangely, losing structural integrity, which didn’t affect flavor.

  • The chicken is $6.99, so each leg is $1.75
  • The pot pie mix is $2.10 per serve, without the biscuits.

Dinner tonight was on the bland side, but not every meal is expected to be spectacular! It cost $3.85 per serve.

Apr 6: Chicken Wrap; Thick Cut Pork Chop with Apple & Onion Sauce

Lunch

Back to our routine chicken wrap.

  • The flatbread is 50c per serve
  • The roast chicken is $6.99 for the bird, but we used one breast, or 88c per serve
  • We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve
  • Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.38 per serve.

Dinner

Thick cut pork chops pressured cooked with apple and onion sauce. We swapped out garam marsala instead of cinnamon, which worked really well.

  • The thick cut pork chops averaged at $10.01 per serve
  • The apple cost $1.05 or 53c per serve
  • Onion and seasonings add another 45c per serve
  • Add another 35c for watercress and tomatoes.

The sauce was tasty, the salad a good balance, and the pork chops remained juicy. All for $11.34 per serve.

Apr 5: Meatloaf Sandwich; Mushroom Veggie Pot Pie

Lunch

What to do with leftover meatloaf? Meatloaf sandwiches, with an excellent sprouted rye bread from Trader Joe’s.

  • Sprouted rye bread is 17c per slice, or 34c per serve
  • Half a serve of meatloaf each is $1.98.

Today’s lunch was pretty tasty, and cost $2.32

Dinner

Because chicken contributes little in flavor to a chicken pot pie, we opted for a veggie version that featured mushrooms. The recipe makes four serves.

  • Organic celery was $1.89 per bunch, or 12c per serve
  • Russet potatoes were $1.12 or 28c per serve
  • Mushrooms were $2.29 or 58c per serve
  • Organic carrots were 26c, or 9c per serve
  • Whipping cream was $1.99 or 50c per serve
  • Buttermilk biscuits were $2.99 per pack, or 75c per serve
  • Add 30c per serve for onion and seasonings
  • Chives were $1.79 or 23c per serve.

Tonights meal was a decent pot pie for $2.85 a serve.

April 4: Swedish Meatballs; Meatloaf with Sweet Potato and Asparagus

Lunch

For lunch we met a friend at the new IKEA in Burbank and had Swedish Meatballs. Handy tip: do not go on Tuesdays when children eat free!

Lunch today cost $6.52 with tax.

Dinner

From meatballs to meatloaf! Tonight a mix of beef and turkey served with asparagus and roast sweet potato. The 2lb meatloaf makes four serves.

  • 1lb of dry aged ground beef was $8.95 or $2.23 per serve
  • 1 lb of ground turkey was $5.99 or $1.50 per serve
  • Onion and seasonings add 25c per serve
  • The asparagus was the other half of what we had on the weekend at 88c per serve
  • The sweet potato was $1.72 or 86c per serve.

Tonight’s excellent meal cost $5.72 per serve.

Apr 2: Avocado on Toast with Fried Egg; Soutzoukakia with Rice Pilaf

Lunch

Avocado on toast is almost a cliche. With Trader Joe’s Chilli Lime seasoning, and a fried egg on top we know why its so popular: it’s very good.

  • Sprouted rye bread is 17c per slice, or 34c per serve
  • A pastured egg is 45c or 90c per serve
  • An avocado was 99c or 50c per serve.

Lunch today was tasty and cost $1.74 per serve.

Dinner

The Soutzoukakia was such a success last time we had it, that we had to do it again. Instead of just adding canned crushed tomatoes, we used one can of fire roasted crushed tomato, and a can of Trader Joe’s Grecian Style Eggplant,Tomato and Onion. This is an excellent addition and it really elevated this dish. We cannot recommend it highly enough.

Tonight we served three.

  • Dry aged 85/15 ground beef $8.69 or $2.90 per serve
  • An egg is 45c or 15c per serve
  • 8 oz Panko breadcrumbs are $2.99 and we used half, or 25c per serve
  • Shaved Parmesan blend cost $2.99 but we used about 1/8  for this salad, or 13c per serve
  • 1/4 cup and a tablespoon of red wine – halved – is 34c per serve
  • Canned crushed tomatoes were $1.25 for the can, or 63c per serve
  • The eggplant, tomato and onion is $2.69 or 90c per serve
  • Onions, shallot and garlic adds 25c per serve
  • Parsley was $1.49 for the bunch, but we only used 1/4 or 13c per serve
  • Fresh mint came from our garden
  • Tomato paste comes in a 90c can, but we used 1/8 or 5c per serve
  • Add 30c for the spices
  • Rice adds 50c per serve.

Dinner tonight was excellent: even better than last time. The addition of the eggplant mix was a step up. Tonight’s meal cost $6.54 per serve.

Apr 1: Afghan Pockets; Lemon Butter Garlic Shrimp with Asparagus and Brown Rice

Lunch

Back to Skewers Halal as part of a shopping trip. We shared a beef wrap and a yeros wrap. Both were very good, with the beef taking the edge.

Today’s pockets were $9.60 each with tax.

Dinner

A simple meal of shrimp and asparagus done on a pan sheet with a lemon, butter garlic dressing. A simple meal to prepare and cook. The most difficult part was peeling the shrimp! We find that shrimp kept in the shell until the last minute have more flavor.

  • Asparagus spears were $3.49 but we only served up half, or 88c per serve
  • 1 lb of shrimp were $6.99, which makes a very generous serve for $3.50 each
  • Rice adds 50c per serve
  • Add 30c for lemon and garlic.

Tonight’s simple, but excellent, meal cost $5.18 per serve.

March 2017 Summary and Observations

March was another month mostly spent at home. Oddly, every meal average seems to be higher this month, possibly due to more smoked salmon, and an attempt to catch up with our Prather Ranch deliveries!

The averages for this month:

  • Lunch prepared at home $3.11 ($2.49 in February)
  • Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $9.80 ($7.68)
  • Dinner eaten at home: $6.81 ($5.86)
  • Dinner eaten out: $11.48 ($28.00)

Our most expensive meal was dinner at Gordon Biersch (again) at $17.95 per serve. It was the only restaurant dinner, other than pizza after LACPUG. We ate more lunches out than usual, with three trips to The Country Deli this month.

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $303.80 per person in March. We actually spent $46.62 for lunches at home plus $147.07 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $193.69.

Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $355.88. We actually spent $177.08 for dinners at home and $22.95 for dinners out: $200.03.

We saved $265.96 by preparing and eating most meals at home, plus we have better control over what we eat. Over the month we prepared 21 different recipes for evening meals.