Author: Philip

Lunch

We were on our way back from a home improvement store trip, so we stopped in at The Country Deli for lunch. Philip had his usual marinated skirt steak, eggs over easy and home fries, while Greg had a pastrami on rye with steak fries.

The minimum wage improvement put prices up a fraction, so the average was $21.57 per serve.

Dinner

Because we’d had such a generous lunch, we decided to swap out day around and have “lunch for dinner,” i.e. mixed sandwiches.

We had half the pastrami on rye to share (included in the lunch costing) and added a heirloom tomato and mayonnaise sandwich, and a egg salad with watercress sandwich that we shared.

• The sprouted rye bread is are 39c per two slice serve
• Mayonnaise dressing is $2.29 or 12c per serve
• The heirloom tomato was $3.59 and the sandwich took about 1/3, or 60c per serve
• Egg salad – two eggs and mayonnaise – costs $1.12 but we only used half, or 56c per serve
• Watercress adds 20c or 10c per serve.

Dinner tonight was satisfying, with a nice variety of flavor between the sandwiches, and cost $1.77 per serve.

Lunch

We needed to go to IKEA to pick up some tiles for our latest outdoor project, so naturally we made a food ‘adventure’ out of it and shared lunch there with a friend, who paid for our meal.

Dinner

Who’d have thought that roasted eggplant with a red pepper relish would be so delicious. The eggplant was buttery smooth inside, and the relish added a piquant and flavorful note to the meal, especially since we used half an heirloom tomato as the base. The relish would also be good on fish. An orange pepper substituted for the red, as there were no red available.

We ended up throwing out a third serve.

• The eggplant was $2.04 pr $1.02 per serve
• The – rather large – heirloom tomato was $3.59 or 90c per serve
• The bell pepper was 99c or 50c per serve
• Add 25c for chia, onion and red wine vinegar
• Brown rice vermicelli was $2.49 for the pack and we used under half or 63c per serve.

Dinner tonight was very tasty, had a good combination of texture and taste for $3.30.

Lunch

Another pair of mixed sandwiches. Today we took a (sadly not heirloom) tomato with mayo to make a sandwich with the other being cream cheese, capers, shallot and smoked salmon. Both were good, although the regular tomato lacked flavor. The smoked salmon worked well on a sandwich.

• Smoked salmon $5.99 for the 4oz pack or $3.00 a serve
• Two slices of bread are 39c
• The cream cheese is $2.99 for the 8oz block and we shared 2 oz, or 38c peer serve
• Add 15c for capers and shallot.
• Mayonnaise dressing is $2.29 or 12c per serve
• A tomato is 60c or 30c per serve.

Today’s sandwiches cost $4.04 per serve and was worth every penny.

Dinner

A rib eye from our Prather Ranch delivery, combined with Caesar salad is probably a perfect steak dinner. Instead of croutons we used Trader Joe’s baked cheese bites, which provide the crunch needed from the crouton, as well as meeting the need for cheese in a Caesar. It’s a good combination.

The Caesar dressing uses a hard boiled egg and has never failed to emulsify correctly with the stick blender.

• The steak was $20.99 or $10.50 per serve
• The cheese bites were $2.49 or $1.25 per serve
• An egg in the dressing is 50c or 25c per serve
• Organic romaine lettuce was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve
• Add 50c for the other dressing ingredients.

Tonight’s meal was a relatively expensive $13.50 per serve, but was the equivalent of a much more expensive meal in a steakhouse. Tonight’s steak was cooked a little further than our normal ‘bleu’ because the rib eye was nicely marbled and I wanted to make sure that the fat liquified to lubricate the meat.

Lunch

We had a new ‘sardines in oil’ to try, and an almost perfect avocado, so we made sardine and avocado sandwiches, which worked way better than when we used to put the same combination on an English muffin. The sprouted wholemeal bread seemed to blend better.

• Two slices of bread are 39c
• Smokey sardines in oil is $1.69 per can or 85c per serve
• The avocado was $1.29 or 65c per serve.

Lunch today cost $1.89 per serve.

Dinner

Time to finish the Popeye’s fried chicken from Monday, along with some canned Cuban beans and white rice.

• 10 pieces of dark and spicy chicken is $15.25 or $3.05 a serve
• Canned Cuban beans we 99c or 50c per serve
• White rice adds 30c per serve.

Dinner tonight was satisfactory for $3.85 per serve. The Cuban beans were quite tasty, although next time we’ll probably add some Worcestershire sauce to add umami and a little acid.

Lunch

We still have pulled pork? Let’s warm it and put it in a hot bread roll fresh from the oven. So we did.

• Par-baked roll is 63c
• We shared one serve of the pulled pork, or $1.90 per serve
• Add 5c for ceviche onion.

Lunch today, as it always is with this combination, was delicious for $2.36 per serve.

Dinner

A little while back we had a pot sticker stir fry, where the store-bought dumplings were the best part of that meal. Greg decided to create a soup version so the pot stickers wouldn’t stick!

Take some chicken broth, add some soy sauce, bok choy, rice wine vinegar, garlic and other seasonings and heat the pork dumplings. A combination that allowed the dumplings to shine, with a flavorful background in the broth.

• The dumplings were $2.99 or $1.50 per serve
• Organic chicken broth was $1.99 and we used half, or $1.00 per serve
• Baby bok choy is $1.99 and we used 1/3 or 33c per serve
• Add 15c for other seasonings.

Dinner tonight had good flavor from both the broth and dumplings, for just $2.98 per serve.

Lunch

Since Philip’s day was re-organized part way through, a stop at Popeyes seemed like a good thing to do.

• 10 pieces of dark and spicy chicken is $15.25 or $3.81 a serve with tax, because Philip had three pieces.
• Half the Large Red Beans and Rice is $2.17 with tax, per serve.

Lunch today cost $5.98 per serve.

Dinner

Another hot day, so we took the remaining corn, black bean, red pepper and avocado salad, and added some cooked and chilled shrimp. It turned out very well.

• 1 lb of shrimp is $6.99 (on special), but we only used half, or $1.75 per serve
• The salad, as per yesterday’s report, is $1.28 per serve.

Tonight was an excellent meal, with perfectly cooked shrimp and a salad with great textural and flavor diversity for $3.03. It would be more if the shrimp were not on a regular special.

 

Lunch

We picked up a baguette, heirloom tomato and liverwurst from Jon’s over in Simi Valley, and made lunch out of that.

• The heirloom tomato – probably the most tomato tasting tomato we’ve had in years – was $1.79 and we pretty much finished it over lunch, or 90c per serve
• The liverwurst is $4.55 and we used about 1/3 for lunch, or 76c per serve
• The baguette was $2.69 and we used 5/8 for lunch or 84c per serve
• Add in 30c for mayo per serve.

Lunch today was $2.80 per serve.

Dinner

Our meat box once again had a Boston Butt included so pulled pork it is! The salad is a new one, built on mostly fresh ingredients, that made five serves.

• At $20.50 for just over 2 lbs it makes at least six good serves, or $3.41 per serve
• Onion and garlic for the pork adds 25c per serve
• Chicken stock adds 14c per serve
• For the corn we used Trader Joes Fire Roasted frozen corn to get grill flavor, which cost $2.49 for a pound, and we used half a packet for the five serves or 25c per serve
• The black beans were 79c or 16c per serve
• Two avocados went into the salad costing $2.58 or 52c per serve
• The bell pepper was $1.26 or 25c per serve.

Tonight’s pulled pork ended up with a more caramelized flavor than usual, due to some slight dehydration of the bed of onions, but that smokey overtone, offset a little with some apple cider vinegar that also added moisture, worked well with the pulled pork. The pulled pork was $3.80 per serve, the salad $1.28, making a very satisfying meal for $5.08 per serve.

Lunch

We were going to experiment with a cream cheese, chicken, bell pepper, spring onion wrap each, but came up with only one wrap left! So that became a sandwich to share and the chicken, hummus and tabouli wrap was halved.

• As usual, a chicken wrap with hummus and tabouli comes to $2.33 per serve, but we split it, or $1.67 per serve
• The chicken in the sandwich is 88c or 44c per serve
• Two slices of bread are 39c but shared 20c per serve
• The neufchâtel cheese is $1.49 for the pack, and we used less than half, or 19c per serve
• Bell pepper and spring onion add 15c per serve.

Lunch today was a nice variety and the sandwich worked well, for $2.64 per serve.

Dinner

We served the remaining roast chicken with a Vietnamese mint salad, which otherwise would be a Vietnamese chicken salad if we’d chopped the chicken! We made three serves of salad.

• The chicken thigh and drumstick was $1.75 per serve
• The shredded green cabbage was 42c for the pack, or 14c per serve
• The ingredients for the sauce add another 35c per serve
• Mint cost 50c and we used half, or 8c per serve
• The bunch of carrots was 89c but we used half in this dish, or 15c per serve
• The limes for the dressing were 19c each (bargain) and we used four, but only about half the juice was used, leaving the rest for a later Gin and Tonic – 13c per serve.

Dinner tonight was good, partly because of the better quality chicken from Jon’s and partly because the cabbage (also from Jon’s) was particularly tasty, all for $2.60 per serve.

Lunch

Returning to familiar territory, today we had a chicken wrap. The difference is that this roast chicken came from Jon’s in Simi Valley (just over the hill) and is a vastly superior product than slightly more expensive chicken from the local Ralph’s. It was juicy and not overcooked, or over seasoned.

• The wraps are 55c per serve
• The chicken was $6.99, and we shared a breast, or 88c per serve
• We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve.

Lunch today was $2.33 per serve, and definitely better than our regular chicken wrap.

Dinner

With the hot weather we’ve been having, it was a welcome return to a favorite: Nigel Lawson’s watermelon, feta and black olive salad. It’s a summer regular and very, very good.

We made three serves from a small watermelon. This time we were able to get Valbreso French feta, which is definitely superior in flavor and texture than the lesser feta from more local sources.

• The watermelon was 99c, or 33c per serve
• The Valbreso (French) feta comes in a $9.99 tub and we used a quarter, or about $1.25 per serve
• Pitted olives come in $2.99 jars and one quarter was used, or 25c per serve
• The red onion is 52c or 17c per serve (there is left over onion)
• Mint cost 50c and we used half, or 13c per serve
• Olive oil and seasonings add another 20c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $2.33 per serve. It’s an excellent dish and every time we serve it for someone, they want the recipe.

Lunch

Today we finished the roast beef in a shared sandwich, and used another server of the Tuna and Rice in a wrap. The tuna and rice, even boosted with some capers, is still boring, and in a wrap, a little too carb heavy.

• The sprouted wholemeal is $3.49 a loaf with 18 slices, or 18c per two slice shared sandwich (one slice per serve)
• The top sirloin was $5.99 per serve, but we used about 1/4 of a serve and shared it, or 75c a serve
• The garlic mustard aioli is $2.49 for the jar, and we used 1/8 or 17c per serve
• Tabouli is $2.69 but we used 1/8 or 17c per serve
• A wrap is 50c or 25c per serve
• A serve of the tuna and rice salad is $2.34 and we used half a serve, split or 59c per serve.

Lunch today was half good, half boring for $2.11 per serve.

Dinner

We seem on a quest to find as many ways to interpret an Australian hamburger, so tonight we re-interpreted the burger as a Cobb Salad, with beef substituting for chicken; pickled beetroot for avocado; and a cheddar with caramelized onion instead of blue cheese. If an Australian burger had cheese, it would be cheddar.

The steak component was a rib eye from our Prather Ranch, kicking the dish up a notch. The pickled beets – found in Trader Joe’s – were perfect. We served on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce, as that would be traditional for an Aussie burger (or salad).

• The rib eye was $19.74 or $9.87 per serve
• A pastured egg is 50c (only on special)
• The cheddar with caramelized onion was $4.41, and we used about 1/4 or 55c
• Bacon end pieces were $3.99 and we used less than 1/4 or 50c per serve
• Beets in vinaigrette were $1.69 and we used 1/3, or 28c per serve
• The kumatos (black tomato) are $3.49 for six, and we used two, or 39c per serve
• Add 20c for shredded iceberg.

Every element of dinner was perfect and the combination was very reminiscent of an Aussie burger, but the stand out was the cheddar with caramelized onion. We would normally steer clear of flavored cheeses – cheese is a flavor – but wanted to bring the grilled onion element of a burger to the plate. All up the meal cost $12.29 per serve, largely because of the quality of the protein.