Fresh ingredients, simple techniques and great food.
Lunch
We had plenty of Coleslaw left from Mr Fish & Chips, so we made Ham & Coleslaw sandwiches.
A pretty decent sandwich for $1.96 per serve.
Dinner
Tonight we had a simple meal of reheated Caribbean Flavored Bone Broth Black Bean Soup from Aldi for $2.79 per serve, which was pretty good.
Lunch
We took the remaining Soutzoukakia and heated it with Panini Rolls. We spread one half of the roll with Garlic Spread, and the other got the Sauce drizzled on. A layer of semi-dried Cherry Tomatoes finished the roll.
A very tasty, and messy, roll for $3.89 per serve.
Dinner
Foodie Greg found some frozen Bacon Wrapped Scallops, which interested us as a throwback to Scamander (Tasmania, Australia) in December 2018. We served them on Japanese Fried Rice.
While the Bacon Wrapped Scallops were good, they weren’t as good value as their regular Giant Scallops. Still a very tasty and enjoyable meal for $5.45 per serve.
Lunch
For lunch we purchased Heuvos Rancheros from La Fiesta for $10.54 with tax and tip.
Dinner
We decided we would like a change from our Asian inspired Duck and Yakisoba Noodles, and Foodie Greg found a Duck L’orange sous vide recipe and served with French Lentils and a Blackberry Salad.
The Duck was excellent and the sauce, made from the marinade, was bursting with flavor. An excellent meal for $11.55 per serve.
Lunch
We decided to repeat the Chorizo, Smokey Cheddar and Roasted Bell Pepper melt.
It was just as good as two days ago. The flavors blended to create something completely new and unexpected, in a good way, for $3.77 per serve.
Dinner
Our Fishy Friday dinner tonight was an Aldi Caesar Salad Kit and Grilled Flounder. It was our first time with the Flounder. As thin as it is, it cooked in our Griddle/Panini press in one minute.
The Flounder was pretty bland and without a lot of texture. It’s not bad, just boring, for $2.30 per serve.
Lunch
A nearby shopping trip once again put us near Mr Fish & Chips. We stuck with the Fried Scallops, Fries and Coleslaw and ordered extra Coleslaw.
This is a meal for one that we shared -adding extra Coleslaw – making it $5.19 with tax and tip.
Dinner
Tonight was our week for take-out and it was time to revisit Skewers Halaal. Last time we both agreed that, even though the Lamb Kebab was very good, the Chapli was better, so that’s what we enjoyed for $14.22 per serve, with tax and tip.
Lunch
Foodie Greg found some Chorizo Salami on special so we added half to our sandwiches, and topped with Smokey Cheddar and Roasted Bell Pepper in a melt.
The flavors blended to create something completely new and unexpected, in a good way, for $3.77 per serve, but felt a lot more expensive!
Dinner
For dinner we returned to the Chile Verde for $4.15 per serve.
Lunch
In an Avocado, Smoked Trout & Sprout sandwich, the Trout provides flavor, the Sprouts crunch, and the Avocado becomes a dressing.
A quite decent sandwich for $3.55 per serve.
Dinner
Having acquired Ground Lamb for a good price at Aldi, we decided on Soutzoukakia again.
We’ve enjoyed this every time we’ve had it, and tonight was no exception. A very good dish for $6.12 per serve.
Pandemic isolation continues, and this month we did two take-out meals. A repeat of Gus’s BBQ and Japanese Take-out from Maru.
The averages for this month:
The variations month by month are quite small.
We ate nine lunches and two dinners, of 60 meals in the month, that were prepared outside the home.
Our most expensive meal of the month was the Gus’s BBQ at $21.62. Our evening meal average cost is slightly above our long term average
Other than Maru, we order an entree for one, and split it, which keeps costs, and food consumption, reasonable.
This month, lunches at home cost 32% of the cost of eating lunches prepared outside the home. Our evening meals prepared in the home are 27% of the cost take-out meals.
Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $284.70 per person in November. We actually spent $67.30 for lunches at home plus $75.91 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $143.21 in total.
If every evening meal cost us the same as our one this month, it would be $590.10 We actually spent $151.31 for dinners at home and $39.33 for dinners out, or $190.64 in total.
We saved about $540 by mostly eating at home, and we have a lot more control over what we eat.
Over the month we prepared 21 different recipes for evening meals.
Lunch
Foodie Philip scored some still-warm Homemade Sourdough Bread from a neighbor and it was so good we shuffled our lunch plans a little.
The Sourdough was extremely good. The crust was firm but not too hard, the crumb was tight and had an excellent “chew” that we enjoyed. It made a very good sandwich for $1.04 per serve, and a little extra with butter as a snack!
Dinner
We took the remaining Chicken Leg and Thigh and heated them in a Tikka Marsala Simmer Sauce.
A quick and easy meal for $4.66 per serve.
Lunch
Once again we had some homemade Sourdough from a neighbor, so we sliced and toasted it before topping with Giant Baked Beans, Fried Eggs & Bacon.
A great brunch for $2.59 per serve.
Dinner
A new recipe for us: Quick Green Chili, which makes four serves. We blended in a can of White Beans for extra fiber.
This turned out better than the White Chili from earlier in the month because it had a lot more depth of flavor from the roasted Peppers and Tamatillos. Thanks to the Peppers it had an enjoyable heat to it. Pretty decent for $4.15 per serve.
