June 1019 Summary and Observations

June was such a fairly “normal” month, although a couple of product demonstrations took us out of home at night more than we normally would. In each of those cases someone else paid for our meal.

The averages for this month:

  • Lunch prepared at home $2.73 ($2.30 in May)
  • Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $10.10 ($13.6)
  • Dinner eaten at home: $4.77 ($6.52)
  • Dinner eaten out: $10.42 (NA).

Our lunches at home average in a fairly narrow band and this month is only a few cents per serve up from last month. We had a couple of lunches out of home because of visitors and traveling, but the average was down a little.

We ate only eight meals prepared outside the home (either mostly take out for lunch). Our most expensive meal for the month was brunch in San Diego at $21.55 per serve.

Our most expensive at home meal was the NY Strip Steak and Salad at $11.16 per serve.

This month, lunches at home cost 27% of the cost of eating food prepared outside the home.

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $303.00 per person in May. We actually spent $62.72 for lunches at home plus $60.61 for lunches purchased or eaten out:  $123.33 in total.

Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $312.6 per person. We actually spent $119.21 for dinners at home and $31.25 for dinners out, or $150.46 in total.

This month’s savings from preparing most of our food at home is $341.81 and we had a lot more control over what we eat.

Over the month we prepared 21 different recipes for evening meals.

Jun 30: Turkey, Tabouleh & Béarnaise Sauce Sandwich; Taco Salad

Lunch

We each had a sandwich of Roast Turkey Breast, Tabouleh and Béarnaise Sauce on Dave’s PowerSeed bread.

  • The bread is 66c per serve
  • The turkey is $3.49 and we shared ⅓ or 58c per serve
  • Tabouli was $2.69 and we used about ½ or 67c per serve
  • The Béarnaise sauce was $3.29 and we used about ⅓, or 55c per serve.

A decent sandwich for $2.46 per serve.

Dinner

Dinner tonight was an experiment with a Taco Salad – essentially a taco without the shell. We substituted Cotija cheese for Cheddar because it tastes better and doesn’t get gloopy in a salad.

  • The ground beef was $8.45 and we’ll got four serves from that, or $2.11 per serve
  • Power Greens were $3.29 and we used half, or 83c per serve
  • A bag of four avocados was $6.99 and we shared one, or 88c per serve
  • Grape tomatoes cost $2.49 or $1.25 per serve
  • Add 40c for Cotija cheese
  • Taco Seasoning was 79c and we used ¼ or 10c per serve.
  • Add 30c for other ingredients.

This was much better than we expected. The flavors blended well and we didn’t miss the Taco shell at all. A good meal for $5.47 per serve.

Jun 29: Char Siu Fried Rice; Thai Steak Salad

Lunch

Our last meal from Thursday night’s Chinese BBQ left overs! We took the remaining Rice and Char Siu Pork, to which we added onion, carrot, egg and peas.

  • The rice and pork are $5.61 per serve
  • A Pastured Egg is 51c or 26c per serve
  • Add 60c for the other vegetables and butter.

A very generous serving of a great Fried Rice for $6.47 per serve.

Dinner

A nice night for a grill or salad. Why not combine them into a Thai Steak Salad with Peanut Satay Sauce.

  • The top sirloin from the Prather Ranch delivery was $12.36 or $6.18 per serve
  • The red pepper was $1.49 but we shared half, or 38c per serve
  • Power Greens were $3.29 and we used half, or 83c per serve
  • Limes were 33c or 16c per serve
  • We used about 1/4 of the $6.99 pack of Chili Lime Cashews, or $1.17 per serve
  • The cucumber was 36c or 18c per serve
  • Mint came from our garden
  • Add 70c for dressing and marinade ingredients.

While the concept sounded good, the Peanut Sauce made the greens “gloopy.” We think it would have been more successful in a traditional Salad with Steak and Peanut Sauce. Still it tasted great for $9.60 per serve.