Author: Philip

Lunch

Foodie Philip was driving near a Popeye’s at lunch time, so we picked up some Fried Chicken with Red Beans & Rice.

• Each piece of Chicken was $1.50 with tax, and we had five piece in total, or $3.75 per serve
• The Red Beans and Rice was $2.20 with tax.

It’s a guilty pleasure for $5.95 per serve.

Dinner

Since we had recently added a new Ham Bone to the freezer, we pulled out the oldest and made Ham Stock from it, as the basis of our Split Pea Soup. We diced the remaining half serve of ham into the soup.

The recipe makes six serves.

• The Ham is $1.11 per serve, and we shared half, or 28c per serve
• The stock has no real cost
• The pack of split peas was $1.59 or 27c per serve
• The frozen peas is 99c a pack, or 16c per serve
• Add 10c for Worcestershire Sauce.

As always this soup is kicked up a notch or two with a dash of liquid smoke, which amplifies the ‘hamminess,’ one pound of frozen peas blended in at the end, which adds a fresh edge, and a generous dash of Worcestershire Sauce for a little acid. A great soup for 81c per serve.

Lunch

Once again with the melted sandwiches on a cold, rainy day.

• Dave’s Killer Bread is 66c per serve
• We shared half a serve of Ham or 28c per serve
• Swiss slices are 12 for $3.99 or 34c per serve
• Five Kumato were $3.49 and we shared one, or 35c per serve
• The Tuna pouch is $1.00 or 50c per serve
• Add 40c for capers, mustard and Garlic Spread.

Good sandwiches for $2.53 per serve.

Dinner

A welcome return to Beef Massaman.

• The beef was $8.84, or $4.42 per serve
• The curry is $3.38 per can or $1.69 per serve
• Coconut milk is $1.69 per can or 85c per serve
• Peanuts were $2.99 but we only used half, or 75c per serve
• Peal onion adds 20c per serve
• Brown rice adds 33c per serve.

This is probably our favorite curry for $8.24 per serve.

Lunch

The Foodies were in the West end of Simi Valley for some shopping, so we explored the food nearby and decided on Cienfuego’s Cuban Cafe where we had an excellent Cubano sandwich for $13.78 per serve including tax and tip.

Dinner

With rain and cold weather all around, we returned to a favorite: Bacon and Black Bean Chili. We will probably get more than the four serves used to calculate the cost.

• The ground beef was $10.34 or $2.59 per serve
• The beans are $1.00 per can and we used two, or 50c per serve
• Canned tomatoes were $1.29 or 32c per serve
• Tomato paste was 79c or 20c per serve
• Bacon is $4.99 for the pack and we used 40%, or 50c per serve
• Add 30c per serve for seasoning
• The avocado was four for $2.99 and we shared one, or 38c per serve
• The labne adds 20c per serve
• The cheddar is $3.99 a block and we used 1/2 or $1.25 per serve.

Definitely a warming and filling chili for $4.99 per serve.

Other than three nights away for a conference and Thanksgiving, November was a very normal month for the Foodies

The averages for this month:

• Lunch prepared at home $2.51 ($2.46 in October)
• Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $10.94 ($15.53)
• Dinner eaten at home: $5.43 ($5.93)
• Dinner eaten out: $16.73 ($13.29).

Our lunches at home average in a fairly narrow band and this month is only a few cents up serve down from last month.

We ate twelve meals prepared outside the home (mostly because we were traveling). Our most expensive meal for the month was the strange seafood vegetable stew at Riva in Santa Cruz for $30.55 per serve.

Our most expensive at home meal was the Flat Iron Steak /Pork Chop with Spinach, Blue Cheese & Pomegranate at $13.53 per serve.

This month, lunches at home cost 23% of the cost of eating lunches prepared outside the home. Dinners at home cost 32% of those prepared outside the home.

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $328.20 per person in November. We actually spent $55.21 for lunches at home plus $87.50 for lunches purchased or eaten out:  $142.71 in total.

Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $501.90 per person. We actually spent $130.29 for dinners at home and $66.90 for dinners out, or $197.19 in total.

This month’s savings from preparing most of our food at home is $490.20 and we had a lot more control over what we eat.

Over the month we prepared 20 different recipes for evening meals. We had our first introduction to Birani, which was good and goat tastes like lamb! We also had some great Pho near the conference venue in Cupertino.

Lunch

We defrosted and reheated some of the French Onion Soup for $3.63 per serve.

Dinner

As our Thanksgiving was postponed until Saturday, we baked a Ham and served it with the remaining Choucroute.

This time we abandoned Alton Brown’s two step recipe as we were not glazing the ham, and followed the instructions on the packet!

• The Ham was $17.72 for 10 lbs, but assuming 2 lb is bone, that’s 16 generous eight ounce serves, or $1.11 per serve
• The Choucroute is $2.20 per serve.

This was one of the most tender Baked Hams we’ve had, leading us to believe the two step cooking was lightly over cooking the ham. Another warming meal for $3.11 per serve.

Lunch

Since we had some of the Spanish Style Meatloaf left over beyond our expected four serves, we reheated it in the oven with the Panini Rolls.

• The Panini Roll is 63c per serve
• The Meatloaf has been accounted for in the four evening serves.

This meatloaf didn’t really work as a filling for the roll, but still okay for 63c per serve.

Dinner

As we plan on having Choucroute with our Baked Ham tomorrow, we prepared the Choucroute today and topped with Trader Joe’s Bavarian Bratwurst.

• The Bratwurst were $3.99 or $2.00 per serve
• Carrots were $1.99 or 50c per serve
• Sauerkraut was $4.99 or $1.25 per serve
• Rosé was $1.00 or 25c per serve
• Add 20c per serve for other ingredients.

The Choucroute was excellent and a perfect complement to the Bratwurst. A great cold weather meal for $4.20 per serve.