May was an absolutely typical month with no travel and most meals at home.
The averages for this month:
- Lunch prepared at home $2.48 ($2.50 in April)
- Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $8.79 ($11.50)
- Dinner eaten at home: $5.13 ($5.51)
- Dinner eaten out: $8.97 ($21.75)
Our most expensive meal was lunch at The Country Deli at $21.50 per serve.
Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $272.49 per person in May. We actually spent $51.99 for lunches at home plus $96.67 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $148.66.
Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $278.07, which is artificially low because of LACPUG and Editor’s Lounge. We actually spent $123.01 for dinners at home and $35.89 for dinners out: $158.89.
We saved $243.01 by preparing and eating most meals at home, plus we have better control over what we eat. Over the month we prepared 22 different recipes for evening meals.