Author: Philip

Oct 7: Popeye’s Fried Chicken; Kale, Sausage and Lentil Skillet

Lunch

Since Foodie Philip was in Burbank around lunch time, he picked up some Popeye’s Fried Chicken to take home.

  • Eight pieces of dark and spicy chicken are $9.99 plus tax, or $2.72 per serve
  • A large Red Beans and Rice side is $3.99 plus tax or $2.18 per serve.

Lunch today cost $4.90 per serve. It seems a little out of balance that the protein – from a previously living animal – is only slightly more expensive than a bean dish.

Dinner

The advantage of a skillet meal is that there is only one cooking pot to wash up. Or when it does a double meal, none to wash up today!

Even with the good French lentils and Trader Joe’s Octoberfest Bratwurst, the Kale, Sausage and Lentil skillet was an average meal that didn’t live up to the flavor potential.

  • The Oktoberfest bratwurst was $3.49 for 4, or 88c per serve
  • One and a half cups of red wine costs $1.20 or 30c per serve
  • Organic baby Kale was $2.99 or 75c per serve
  • The French lentils are $5.98 for a two pack, or 25c per serve
  • Add 25c for onion, garlic and seasoning.

Dinner tonight was nutritious and cost $2.43 per serve. For the repeat, we’ll be exploring flavor enhancements.

Oct 6: Turkey, Cheese & Apple Bagel; Asian Fusion

Lunch

For something a little different we had an onion bagel with turkey breast slices, melted cheddar, mustard and apple. Delicious.

  • An onion bagel is 50c
  • The turkey breast was $3.50 or 88c per serve
  • The envy apples were $2.79 for two but we used about half of one or 35c per serve
  • The cheddar cheese was 55c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.28 per serve

Dinner

We ate between a planning meeting and a premiere at Wokano in West Hollywood. A decent meal of Asian Fusion: nothing was bad, nothing was outstandingly good either.

Our meal was paid for, so once again the Foodies ate for free.

Oct 5: Yeros Wraps; Deli Sandwich Picnic

Lunch

A repeat of yesterday’s lunch.

  • The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
  • The flatbread is 50c per serve
  • Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
  • A box of Persian cucumbers was $2.49 for five, and we used half, or 13c per serve
  • We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.43.

Dinner

As we were heading for the Cindi Lauper concert at the Greek Theater, we had a picnic in the park near the venue, featuring deli sandwiches our companions had purchased.

Great sandwiches and free to the Foodies. The concert was a lot of fun as well. Cindi Lauper sure can sing!

Oct 4: Yeros Wraps; Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Lunch

A return to the gyro meat wrap, and again with cucumber because it adds a nice, wet crunch to the wrap.

  • The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
  • The flatbread is 50c per serve
  • Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
  • A box of Persian cucumbers was $2.49 for five, and we used half, or 13c per serve
  • We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.43.

Dinner

Once again we had Emeril Lagasse’s Stir Fried Beef and Broccoli using our Prather Ranch ‘fajita’ beef. This is a very simple dish, but very tasty. We upped the garlic and ginger in the sauce and replaced the honey with sweet chili sauce. We don’t mind a bit of spicy heat!

  • The broccoli florets where $2.99 or $1.50 a serve.
  • The beef came from our farm-direct meat delivery as ‘fajita steak’  for a fast cook at $9.93 or $4.97 a seve.
  • The ginger and garlic was 28c or 14c per serve
  • Pressure cooked red rice 92c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $7.53 per serve.

Oct 2: Supermarket Sushi; Beef Short Ribs with Goats Cheese Polenta

Lunch

For lunch today we had supermarket sushi from Whole Foods, which was pretty good.

Lunch today cost $9.34 per serve.

Dinner

We had Beef Short Ribs remaining from an earlier Prather Ranch delivery. We’d been postponing cooking them because a braise usually means an oven, and an oven means heat. Finally it was cool enough to give them a try.

We paired them with a goat’s cheese polenta mix and broccolini for some green.

  • Two pounds of Short Ribs cost $17.12 with bones, or $8.56 per serve
  • The broccolini cost $2.50 or $1.25 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
  • Bacon ends cost $4.99 for the container, but this recipe used about 1/2 of that, or 50c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $13.40 for a very generous serve.

Oct 1: The Country Deli; Chicken Leg with Quinoa Pilaf

Lunch

We decided to eat out and The Country Deli was our choice, particularly because Foodie Philip wanted the skirt steak. Again. Foodie Greg had a Reuben.

With tax and tip The Country Deli works out at around $22 a serve.

Dinner

The remaining roast chicken from our supermarket chicken formed the protein component of the meal. We accompanied the meat with a quinoa pilaf, which was okay. The recipe made at least three serves.

  • The BBQ chicken was $6.99 or $1.75 per serve
  • We purchased about half a pound of quinoa for $3.01, but we only used around half or 50c per serve
  • The bell pepper was 99c or 30c per serve.
  • White wine adds 40c per serve
  • The stock adds another 24c per serve
  • The mint came from the garden
  • Of the pack of eight cucumbers costing $2.48, we used one for this meal or 16c per serve
  • The almonds are $6.99 a pack but we used 1/10th or 23c per serve.

Dinner tonight was $3.58 per serve. It had a variety of textures and flavor but the quinoa does not make as good a pilaf as does the classic of white rice.

September Summary and Observations

This month we  ate a lot of food outside the home, largely because we spent 18 days traveling in Europe: Amsterdam for IBC, Geneva for a presentation and Copenhagen to meet with clients. During that trip all meals were outside the home, although not all were expensive.

The averages for this month:

  • Lunch prepared at home $3.66 ($2.52 in August)
  • Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $12.72 ($10.60)
  • Dinner eaten at home: $5.86 ($5.30)
  • Dinner eaten out: $26.28 ($15.82)

Our most expensive meal was the Signature Evening with Höst at approximately $103 per person. The two meals at Höst were among the best meals of our life, and well worth the cost.

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $381.60 per person inSeptember. We actually spent $32.97 for lunches at home plus $254.35 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $287.32.

Had we purchased every evening meal out and prepared none at home, it would have cost us $788.72. We actually spent $58.62 for dinners at home and $446.76 for dinners out: $505.

September is always going to be atypical, as we traveled most of the month.

Sep 30: Smoked Salmon Bagel; Chicken Quesadilla with Eggs

Lunch

Wild caught smoked salmon, with cream cheese, cucumber, capers and thinly sliced red onion on an onion bagel. What’s not to like.

  • Smoked salmon $5.99 for the 4oz pack or $3.00 a serve
  • The pack of six onion bagels is $1.99 or 33c per serve
  • Cream cheese is about 60c a serve
  • 1 lb of Persian cucumbers was $1.99, of which one went into this meal, or 12c per serve
  • Add 5c for capers.

Lunch today cost $4.10 a serve.

Dinner

Another variation on our flatbread-based Quesadilla, tonight with the addition of shredded chicken. A little chili lime added a nice enhancement to the eggs.

  • The shredded chicken is $7.59 for the pack, or 95c per serve
  • One flatbread (half of two) costs 50c a serve
  • Half a can of refried beans, shared across two halves: 26c
  • A very generous serve of salsa is 20c per serve
  • 2 oz of cheddar split between two is 50c per serve
  • Each egg is 50c or $1.00 per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $3.41 per serve.

Sep 29: Roast Chicken Baguette; Peruvian Meat Sauce with Rice Noodles

Lunch

We still had chicken and baguette so we repeated yesterday’s lunch.

  • The BBQ chicken was $6.99 but we shared one breast, or 88c per serve
  • The baguette was $2.69 and we shared half, or 68c per serve
  • The jar of sun dried tomato is $3.70 but we used only 1/4 or 46c per serve
  • Add 10c for the arugula.

Lunch today cost $2.12 per serve.

Dinner

It was time to revisit the Peruvian Meat Sauce, a.k.a. Red Curry and Pink Peppercorn Meat Sauce, we had on June 18th. This time with rice noodles.

Again we found that the recipe makes for three generous serves, particularly with the side salad.

  • 1lb of Prather Ranch ground pork is $9.30 or $3.10 per serve
  • Limes were $1.56 and about half went into the dish, or 26c per serve
  • The can of coconut milk was $1.99 or 66c per serve
  • Red curry paste is $3.69 a jar and we used 1/4 or 31c per serve
  • The soy adds 42c per serve
  • Add 35c for the toasted coriander, pink peppercorns, rice wine and cornstarch
  • Rice noodles are $3.56 per 14oz box, we used about 1/2 of the box, or 60c per serve.

Dinner tonight was, again, amazing. Definitely the best “spaghetti with meat sauce” ever, and it cost $5.70 per serve.