The first third of May was most atypical as we were vacationing in Italy. Some of our meals were included in the vacation, some where not, so it was easiest to leave them out of the calculations. We didn’t splurge to the level of a Michelin Star, but we ate some very good food in some very nice restaurants. Our typical evening meal out on the trip that we paid for separately averaged around $55.00.
The averages for this month were all over the place, but within our range of “normal”. We did have more lunch take-out than typical.
- Lunch prepared at home $2.36 ($2.07 in April 22)
- Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $12.11 ($9.43)
- Dinner eaten at home: $4.97 ($5.43)
- Dinner prepared in a restaurant $16.61 ($20.99)
The variation is usually small month to month and May was within our normal range.
Our most expensive meal of the month (again) was The Country Deli for $16.68 per serve, because we returned to sharing a single Entree.
This month, lunches at home cost 20% of the cost of eating lunches prepared outside the home. Our evening meals prepared in the home are 30% of the cost of take-out meals.
Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $242.20 per person in May. We actually spent $42.45 for lunches at home plus $36.33 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $78.78 per person in total.
If every evening meal cost us the same as our average this month, the total for evening meals would be $332.20. We actually spent $94.35 for dinners at home and $33.22 for our two dinners from a restaurant, or $127.57 per person in total, excluding the Italy trip.
We saved about $367 per person by preparing almost all our meals at home and we have a lot more control over what we eat.
