July was a productive month at home, with no travel plans.
The averages for this month:
- Lunch prepared at home $2.41 ($2.82 in June)
- Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $10.29 ($8.13)
- Dinner eaten at home: $5.29($5.15)
- Dinner eaten out: $12.01 if averaged with the $5 pizza, otherwise $19.01 ($18.02)
These averages are proving to be fairly consistent month to month, with the primary variable on evening meal averages is whether or not the $5 pizza after LACPUG is included or not. Including it reduces the average quite significantly. Our most expensive meals were two lunches at The Country Deli at $21.55 per serve across both trips.
Meals out tend to cost about three times meals at home.
Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $318.99 per person in July. We actually spent $48.21 for lunches at home plus $102.94 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $205.35.
Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $589.31. We actually spent $153.29 for dinners at home and $24.01 for dinners out: $177.30.
We saved $526.65 by preparing and eating most meals at home, plus we have better control over what we eat. Over the month we prepared 23 different recipes for evening meals.
And the food is beyond delicious!!!