Author: Philip

Lunch

A rare sunny day so we toasted an onion bagel each, and filled it with cream cheese, capers and smoked salmon. Delicious.

• An onion bagel is 50c
• Salmon was $5.99 or $3.00 a serve
• Cream cheese and capers add 40c.

Lunch today was generous and delicious for $3.90 per serve.

Dinner

Having decided that we were not being inventive enough with our pound of ground pork that comes in our Prather Ranch box each month, and somewhat constrained from dairy because of Philip’s sensitivity, Greg decided on a pork version of Tom Kha Gai with the pork substituting for chicken.

This version has a lot more flavor from the crisp-fried pork than any chicken version we’ve had. A success. The combination of flavors are exceptionally well, although we felt we could add a little heat. A little research supported that: tom kha gai is served with a chili oil!

The recipe made four serves, and we served with naan bread. Nothing like breaking down cultural barriers!

• The dry aged, ground pork was $8.69 for 1 lb, or $2.17 per serve
• Lemon grass was 27c or 7c per serve
• The ginger was 16c or 4c per serve
• Limes were $1.95 or 49c per serve
• The coconut milk was $1.69 or 43c per serve
• Sliced crimini mushrooms were $2.29 or 57c per serve
• A four cup carton of stock is $2.39 and we used four cups of chicken, and two cups of mushroom broth, or 90c per serve.
• A pack of four naan are $1.99 or 50c per serve.

Including the naan, tonight’s really tasty meal, cost $5.17 per serve.

Lunch

Another cold and rainy day pushed us toward something warm for lunch, so we did our version of a quesadilla made with flatbread, and added half a chicken breast to it.

• The chicken breast cost $1.25
• One flatbread (half of two) costs 50c a serve
• Half a can of refried beans, shared across two halves: 26c
• 2 oz of cheddar split between two is 50c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.51 per serve.

Dinner

We had Beef Short Ribs remaining from an earlier Prather Ranch delivery and the weather made having an oven on for a long time very attractive.

Once again, we paired them with a goat’s cheese polenta mix and served with steamed sugar snap peas.

• Two pounds of Short Ribs cost $17.03 with bones, or $8.52 per serve
• The 10 grain ‘hot cereal’ is $5.99 for a 25oz pack, but we used about 1/8 or 38c per serve.
• Two carrots cost 61c or 31c per serve
• 4oz of goat’s cheese cost $3.99 or $2.00 a serve
• A cup of red wine costs 80c or 40c per serve – 11.61
• The pancetta is $3.29 for the pack, and we used what was left after the Pea and Ham soup, or $1.10 per serve
• The peas were $2.99 or $1.50 per serve, although we didn’t finish all of them.

Dinner tonight cost $14.21 for a very generous serve.

Lunch

Time for another supermarket chicken of which we used half of a breast. We used the remaining salad from two nights ago in the wrap.

• Wholemeal wrap is 50c
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• The salad kit was $2.49 but we used half, or 63c per serve
• The chicken is $9.99. Divided into four portions or $2.50 each, one breast is split into two serves, or $1.25 per serve.

Lunch today was $2.71 per serve.

Dinner

Winter weather calls for a return to warming winter food: tonight bacon, black bean and beef chili. The chili is great and makes four serves.

• Bacon cost $6.99 for the container, but this recipe used about 1/3 of that, or 58c per serve
• Onion and garlic – about 5c a serve
• The beef we used is expensive – pasture raised, dry aged ground beef from our monthly meat delivery – at $9.04 or $2.26 a serve
• Spices – about 12c a serve
• Diced fire roasted tomatoes are $2.19 the can, or 55c per serve
• Tomato paste was 89c or 23c a serve
• The beans were 99c a can, or 50c a serve
• Cheese was 55c per serve
• Instead of sour cream we used guacamole ($2.99) mixed with a tiny amount of sour cream. We used half the guacamole across two serves -75c – with about 10c per serve of sour cream, or 85c per server

All up dinner cost us $4.84 for a very filling serve. We served with an English muffin, which adds 50c per serve to bring the total to $5.34 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch today we finished the Quinoa Chowder with the addition of bratwurst and it was the best the soup had tasted. We mostly absorbed the full cost of this soup in other meals.

Lunch today cost less than $4.00.

Dinner

When we thought about doing meatloaf we were deciding between a meatloaf and the Australian rissole. We decided to do the meatloaf using a traditional rissole recipe, which worked fairly well.

We used half of the Trader Joe’s Kale and Broccoli salad kit, while the ground beef came direct from the farm in our Prather Ranch meat delivery.

• Dry aged 85/15 ground beef $8.69 or $4.35 per serve
• 8 oz Panko breadcrumbs are $2.99 and we used half, or 75c per serve
• A pastured egg is 50c or 25c per serve
• The onion is 6c per serve
• The organic cauliflower gave us three serves for $3.60 and we split one of those serves tonight, or 60c per serve
• The salad kit was $2.49 but we used half, or 63c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $6.64 for some very, very generous meatloaf serves.

Lunch

For lunch we headed to The Swinging Door Texas BBQ Restaurant with a friend. We’ve been here before and back then there were some inconsistencies in the meals, but today everything was great: mac and cheese, baked beans, collard greens and the tri tip, pulled pork and brisket all excellent.

All for a very reasonable $15.00 per person with tax.

Dinner

For dinner we decided to finish last week’s supermarket chicken by heating the leg and thigh portions we had left. We served with roast cauliflower and a mushroom gravy.

Frankly, it was all a bit bland other than the cauliflower, which was tasty and a bit interesting.

• The chicken was $2.50 per serve
• The organic cauliflower gave us three serves for $3.60 or $1.20 per serve
• The mushrooms were $3.99 or $2.00 per serve
• The gravy base was $1.79 or 80c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $6.50 per serve.

Lunch

As we had to head down Topanga Canyon Blvd to Lowes, we decided to stop in at The Country Deli for lunch on the way. Foodie Philip had his usual marinated skirt steak, eggs and home fries, while Greg had a hamburger with egg – almost Australian style!

Lunch at The Country Deli averages $21.00 with tax and tip.

Dinner

Greg decided to try something new: Quinoa Chowder with Spinach, Feta, and Scallions without the cilantro. Instead of spinach we harvested stunning nettles from our yard. I have to say, buying a bag of organic greens is way less effort than harvesting and then separating leaves from the nettle.

The soup was okay. Definitely not a world beater but also not horrible. WE found we needed to add salt to the result. We served with par baked roasted garlic bread.

• The nettles were free
• We purchased about half a pound of quinoa for $3.01 but used the 3/4 left, or 75c per serve
• The jalapeño pepper was 10c or 3c per serve
• The potatoes were $1.01 or 25c per serve
• The feta was $3.99 or $1.00 per serve
• Add 30c for spices and other ingredients
• The roast garlic bread was $2.50 or 63c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $2.96 per serve.