Category: Of interest

March Summary and Observations

March was our consolidation month into our new home.

The averages for this month:

  • Lunch prepared at home $2.95 ($1.98 in February)
  • Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $6.02 ($8.16)
  • Dinner eaten at home: $5.29 ($4.83)
  • Dinner eaten out: $17.34 ($18.70)

Our most expensive meal was a working dinner with another software developer at Gordon Biersch at $24.02 a head (with tax and tip).

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $186,62 per person in March. We actually spent $50.12 for lunches at home plus $72.20 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $122.32.

Had we purchased every dinner out at the same average it would be $537.64 each, compared with $111.07 for meals prepared at home and $104.06 for meals out, or the $215.13 total.

That’s just working on the average. Several of the meals we had would have been well over $30 a serve in a restaurant.

Cook for yourself!

When more than half of Americans eat “ultra processed food” it’s time to relearn basic cooking skills and cook “from scratch”. It’s much better for your overall health and longevity.

We were distressed to read that:

More than half of Americans’ calories come from “ultra-processed foods,” according to a new studypublished in BMJ Open.

As we prove daily, eating a varied diet from mostly cooked-at-home meals isn’t hard. What is even more important is that cooking from scratch is finally being taught to doctors.

One of the easiest and best ways to improve your health and avoid disease is to eat real food; cooking your meals from scratch using whole ingredients, ideally organic, to avoid chemical additives and contaminants like pesticides.

February Summary and Observations

Compared to last month we’ve eaten a lot more lunches out of home, largely because we were in the process of moving during the month.

The averages for this month:

  • Lunch prepared at home $1.98 ($3.17 in January)
  • Lunch eaten or purchased outside the home: $8.16 ($10.08)
  • Dinner eaten at home: $4.83 ($5.59)
  • Dinner eaten out: $18.70 ($12.00)

Our most expensive meal was Commonwealth Restaurant at $47.00 a serve, but absolutely worth it for food that we would never cook ourselves. Eight of our home cooked meals this month I would consider ‘restaurant quality’ with most expensive being the NY Strip steak on February 18.

We ate dinner in a restaurant four times in February, but lunch was at home only 11 days in the month, half what it was in January. Again, attributable to moving to a new location 25 miles away.

Had we purchased every lunch and prepared none it would have cost us $236 per person in February. We actually spent $21.79 for lunches at home plus $138.72 for lunches purchased or eaten out: $160.51. So, although we ate more lunches out our overall spend in February was less than January. I suspect because fewer lunches were at the Country Deli!

Had we purchased every dinner out at the same average it would be $542.30 each, compared with $115.81 for meals prepared at home and $74.80 for meals out, or the $190.61 total.

That’s just working on the average. Several of the meals we had would have been well over $30 a serve in a restaurant.

There are no healthy foods!

There are nutritionally valuable foods but health is a state of being.

A recent Washington Post article No food is healthy. Not even Kale. has a slightly clickbait headline (as does this post). The point of the article is that no food is – in and of itself – healthy. Eat only one food and you will not remain healthy. We need a balance of nutrition from a variety of food.

What is important is the nutritional value of the food. Our philosophy is to eat a variety of real food, minimally processed.

Healthyish and the value of home-cooked meals.

A couple of blog posts that caught our eye – because we mostly agree with them!

From the Huffington Post: The Undeniable Health And Social Benefits Of Eating Home-Cooked Meals which is one huge infograph on the benefits of home cooking and how to go about making it happen for yourself.

The other article that caught our eye was In Defense of Food and the Rise of ‘Healthy-ish’ which summarizes a new PBS documentary and Bon Appetit’s January issue which tackle the question of “healthy eating.” That’s essentially our approach: real food (minimally processed), a good variety of food and not worrying too much.