Month: June 2021

Jun 9: Chipotle Bacon Meatloaf on a Panini Roll with Coleslaw; Neapolitan Ragu with Truffle Porcini Ravioli and a Salad

Lunch

For lunch we defrosted some of the Chipotle Bacon Meatloaf and reheated it with the Panini Rolls and finished with Chipotle Aioli and a little Coleslaw mix.

  • The Panini Roll is 63c
  • The Meatloaf is $2.53 per full serve, or $1.27 per lunch serve
  • The Coleslaw adds 45c per serve
  • The Chipotle Aioli adds 30c per serve.

A pretty good lunch for $2.65 per serve.

Dinner

We still had some of the Neapolitan Ragu with Truffle Porcini Ravioli, which we reheated and served with Ravioli and a Salad.

  • The Ragu is $3.46 per serve
  • The Truffle Porcini Ravioli was $8.99 or $4.50 per serve
  • The Salad adds 60c per serve.

The Ravioli was extremely good, and the Ragu balanced out okay with the addition of more acid. A good meal for $8.56 per serve.

Jun 8: Delice de Bourgogne & Apple on a Panini Roll; 13 Bean Soup

Lunch

Since we had some

  • The Panini Roll is 63c
  • The Delice de Bourgogne was $5.38 and we shared 1/5, or 53c per serve
  • The Apple was $1.23 or 28c per serve.

A very tasty roll for $1.44 per serve.

Dinner

We defrosted some 13 Bean Soup for 94c per serve and added a slice of Dave’s Killer Bread as toast for a total of $1.18 per serve.

Jun 7: Hearty Pea Soup; Soutzoukakia with Feta and Olive Salad

Lunch

Today we had a Harty Pea Soup from Aldi, which was tasty enough, for $1.00 per serve, but could do with some freshness and texture variation.

Dinner

A return to a favorite: Soutzoukakia with Australian Lamb, tonight served with a Feta, Olive and Radicchio Salad.

  • Australian Ground lamb was $5.99 at Aldi or $2.00 per serve
  • An egg is 32c or 11c per serve
  • 8 oz Panko breadcrumbs are $2.99 and we used half, or 25c per serve
  • Parmesan is $3.99 for 8oz and we shared 2 oz or 50c per serve
  • 1/4 cup and a tablespoon of red wine – halved – is 34c 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
  • The Feta and Olive Salad was $3.95 and we used ¾, or $1.49 per serve
  • The Butter Lettuce adds 48c per serve.

The Soutzoukakia was excellent, as always for $5.30 per serve.

Jun 6: Ramen with Butter Soy; Scrambled Eggs on Toast with Guacamole

Lunch

We boiled up the Shin Ramen in it’s spicy broth as usual, then dumped the broth and finished with a Butter Soy dressing.

  • A pack of four Shin Noodle Bowl was $3.69 or 93c per serve
  • Butter adds 40c per serve
  • Add 20c for Soy Sauce (although it came from leftover packages).

There was enough of the spice from the broth left to give the resulting meal a little spicy interest. A good lunch for $1.53 per serve.

Dinner

The Foodies were socializing late in the afternoon and partially filled on snacks, so we swapped Meatless Monday to Sunday and had Scrambled Eggs on Toast with Guacamole.

  • Dave’s Killer Bread is 37c per slice
  • Pastured Eggs are 38c each or 76c per serve
  • Guacamole is 55c per serve
  • Add 30c for the Garlic Crunch.

A very tasty, and quick, meal for $1.98 per serve.

Jun 5: Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich with Fries; Beer Bratwurst with Wildbrine Beet and Cabbage and Apple

Lunch

We are officially obsessed with Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwiches, and will probably have to do a road trip to Nashville to discover the original, until then the Skewers version is our favorite for $8.75 per serve, with a shared Fries.

Dinner

Back to our home routine, Beer Bratwurst with Wildbrine Beet and Cabbage Sauerkraut that we augmented with half an Apple.

  • Beer Bratwurst were $4.49 or $2.25 per serve
  • The Apple was $1.23 or 28c per serve
  • The Wildbrine Kraut was 33c per serve
  • Add 30c for Dressing ingredients
  • Add 25c for Mustard.

While we felt the Wildbrine Kraut should have had more flavor for the ingredients, it was a satisfying meal for $3.41 per serve.

Jun 4: Prosciutto, Brie, Lettuce, Tomato, Balsamic Vinaigrette on a Toasted Sourdough Baguette; In and Out

Lunch

The Foodies visited Salt Lake State Park and Marina early, then continued our exploration of Salt Lake City at Wheeler Historic Farm, before heading up the very scenic “back way” into Park City where we found Backdoor Sandwiches.

The Prosciutto, is Prosciutto, Brie, Lettuce, Tomato, Balsamic Vinaigrette on a Toasted Sourdough Baguette, and seeing that on the menu made the Foodies Choice easy. Backdoor sandwiches is a great little shop with a strong personality, much like it’s (presumed) owner.

The sandwich was excellent, and gives us new ideas to work Brie into sandwiches. A perfect meal to top off our Park City adventure, for $13.80 with tip.

Dinner

After Park City, the Foodies decided they would cut the trip short by one night, and head home. We nearly made it through Las Vegas, when someone having a very bad day caused the freeway to be closed, just 20 seconds too early for our convenience!

After about half an hour it was obvious nothing was going to be resolved quickly so we maneuvered perpendicularly across four lanes of stopped traffic to exit conveniently near an In and Out Burger! Foodie Philip had his usual Double Double, Foodie Greg a Cheeseburger, and we both had a Chocolate Milk Shake we took with us, for $6.75 per serve.

The situation at the overpass wasn’t resolved until about four hours later, by which time we were much closer to home.

Jun 3: Creekside Cafe; Wagu Sirloin, with Mashed Potato, Gravy, Broccoli and Baby Carrots

Brunch

The Foodies were on the road again having left Keystone around 7am, we were ready for brunch in Steamboat CO, where we settled on the Creekside Cafe, which was – unsurprisingly – beside a swift flowing creek.

Foodie Philip had a Breakfast Croissant with local Ham and Home Fries, while Foodie Greg had a Florentine Benedict with a very good Hollandaise. The Croissant didn’t live up to the previous experience, but the local Ham was very tasty and served generously, for $19.52 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

If the menu for dinner sounds like a throwback, you’d be right. The Foodies were in Salt Lake City after a very long, but incredibly scenic, drive so we ate in Little America’s Coffee Shop. The ambiance was definitely 1950’s.

The Wagu Sirloin was part of a “complete meal” so Foodie Greg stared with a quite ordinary salad, while Foodie Philip’s Pea and Ham soup was tasty and filling. The Dinner Rolls were the whitest of white breads.

The Wagu Sirloin was a perfect medium rare, as requested for this cut. The Mashed Potato was good, and the Gravy was definitely more flavorsome than most. The steamed vegetables lacked character and flavor. A mixed meal, but overall we enjoyed it.

The desert took so long to come, after a long wait for our meal as it didn’t ‘fire’ the first time, that the Foodies took it back to our over heated room. (A kitchen ‘fires’ a meal at the point where it will be ready to serve a short time after appetizer dishes are removed.) A fairly disappointing meal for $33.78 per serve, one of the most expensive of the trip!

Jun 2: Sunshine Cafe; Dos Locos

Brunch

The Foodies and Friend had brunch at the nearby Sunshine Cafe, in Dylan CO. Foodie Greg had an excellent grilled Trout while Foodie Philip had a Cheese Sauce variant on Eggs Benedict for an average of $17.74 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

we finished our stay in Keystone as we started: with dinner at Dos Locos where both Foodies had some very good Chicken and Mushroom Enchiladas with a Chipotle Sour Cream Sauce, for $18.44 per serve with tax and tip.

May 2021: Summary and Observations

Our evening meals continue to be about 20% on last year, with a wider variety of protein! 

We ended the month with a road trip toward Keystone Colorado, which continued into June. Until the road trip, we’d had one evening meal cooked outside the home and eight lunches. On the trip we added seven lunches on the road, and seven evening meals from restaurants (although one was a take out salad we ate at our room).

The averages for this month:

  • Lunch prepared at home $2.25 ($2.52 in April)
  • Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $10.21 ($8.17)
  • Dinner eaten at home: $3.41 ($4.62)
  • Dinner prepared in a restaurant $20.42 ($17.27)

The variation is small and we continue to see reduced average evening meal costs having dropped our meat box delivery. 

Our most expensive meal of the month was the Flat Iron Steak at Ruby’s Inn (near Bryce National Park) at $30.17 per serve.

This month, lunches at home cost 22% of the cost of eating lunches prepared outside the home. Our evening meals prepared in the home are 23% of the cost take-out meals.

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $316.51 per person in May. We actually spent $35.98 for lunches at home plus $153.19 for lunches purchased or eaten out:  $189.17 per person in total.

If every evening meal cost us the same as our one this month, it would be $633.02. We actually spent $112.16 for dinners at home and $142.93 for three dinners out, or $255.09 per person in total.

While our meals prepared outside the home is up a lot because of the travel, we still saved a little over $500 by preparing most of our meals at home.