Meal Costs

[Iggy aka IG]

So, some of us post what we pay for stockpile items, HBAs, and/or groceries, but have we ever had a thread with meal cost breakdowns?  I was so excited last night during supper, I found myself reiterating to DH what I'd paid for the yummy supper:

Pork tenderloin, bought as a Manager's Special with a coupon:  $2.99
Bacon, bought on sale with a coupon:  $3.49
Frozen cauliflower in cheese sauce:  .99, regularly $2.49
Green beans:  Sam's Club 12 pack

How about you? 

[Deleted]

How many people did that feed?

Last night I fed myself and the girls with;

half a rotiserrie chicken $5
salad ~ $4
Potatoes ~ $1
about $1 worth of butter and salad dressing
and we all drank water last night for some reason

So 3 of us for about $11

[Iggy aka IG]

Nov 26, 2013 12:18:19 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

How many people did that feed?

2, with leftovers.  And I should note the bacon cost above was for the entire package, and I only used about 1/4 of it. 

[jeep108]

Made Ratatouille

Italian Sausage $2.99 for a package.

Eggplant $1.50

Zucchini 4 For $1.00

Onion .20

Garlic I forgot what I paid for that.

Bell Pepper 2 for $1.

Grape Tomatoes package $2.00

 

[Artemis Windsong]

I figured out that buying dry soup mix like Shore Lunch works out to about 40 cents per generous serving while a can is $1 if bought on sale and serves one.

My mind is on this dry soup because I got a store coupon for $1.50 on two and they are on sale for 2/$3.  Grabbing my purse and off to the store I go. 

Bad me, I'm buying potato chips, too.  My weakness.  Next to chocolate.

[kittensaver]

Wow - this is really interesting for me to actually sit down and try to calculate .

Last night's dinner was a saute of broccili rabe with sausage and potato (spuds instead of the traditional pasta) and a green salad.

The Italian sausage was $6.92 (one lb, organic); the rabe came out of my community garden plot (I think the seedling six-pack cost me $2.99?, so 50 cents?); the potatoes came from a gardener friend (so $0), the onion was 25 cents or so; garlic and spices - a few cents each.

The baby greens also came out of the garden plot (the "ready" leaves picked off of numerous plantings, so maybe 50 cents or $1?); handmade dressing was a traditional vinagrette of garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a smidge of mustard, salt, pepper, all from the pantry (cost - - ? ?, again probably a few cents worth). Oh - and parmiggiano-reggiano fresh grated from a block in the frig - a few cents worth of that on top of the salad.

Maybe/probably just around or just under $10 for the two of us?

[chiver78]

your grocery store is open on Thursday? ours all close Wed. night, the 24-hr places close at midnight. we also have some pretty strict blue laws though, none of the retail places can open until midnight for Black Friday either.


tomorrow, I'm going to break in the new slow cooker with some black bean pulled chicken. I have never stopped to figure out how many servings there is in the batch, because I use it in so many different ways (and quantities) that it's kind of tough to calculate. with this batch, I will have tacos tomorrow night, make some savory Grands turnovers to include with brunch on Thursday, and freeze the rest in 1.5c containers.

that said, here's what I will have spent on the ingredients:
$4 1.5-2lbs chicken breast @ $1.99/lb
$2 16oz salsa
$1.50 2 cans of low salt black beans

so, $7.50 for a 6-qt crock of pulled chicken. that doesn't suck

[pepperdoo]

Tomorrow's lunch and dinner, so the price is total for both:

Spaghetti with homemade Italian bulk Sausage and Garlic Herb Bread

1 pound spaghetti 48 cents a box  ( bought as an in store special, 10 for $4.80) I got 20 

1 pound homemade bulk Italian Sausage $2.49 ( price per pound of pork I ground myself)

1 jar Prego Sauce, $1.18 from Wal Mart

1 loaf French bread $1.28 ( I'll make the whole thing) 

1/2 stick melted butter and 1/2 cup olive oil for the bread, $1.00

1 bunch parsley and 1 head garlic for the bread 50 cents

1 wedge of Romano cheese for the spaghetti, and some for the bread $2.50 ( 2 for $5.00)

This will feed 2 for lunch, then I will take the leftovers except the bread, add 1 beaten egg and make a casserole for dinner that will also feed two very well

[pepperdoo]

I'm a little taken back that our stores are open on Thanksgiving Day too. Shizzle..........

[ses]

I will start by saying I am a bit of a numbers nerd.  The past few years I have been keeping very close track of my grocery spending.  I even figure detailed averages.  I frequently have a "food stamp" month where I live on the food stamp allotments or a "eat from the pantry" month.  These are some of my figures.  Lowest breakdown is daily--never figured per meal.  I seem to be getting better at watching my budget, or planning my menus.

                                                            October
Year       Annual         Monthly         USDA/mo     Weekly        Daily
2010 (4th QTR)     

            $607.21        $202.40        $147.30        $46.70     $6.60

2011 $2018.40       $168.20         $158.00        $38.82     $5.53

2012 $1934.08       $161.17         $158.20        $37.19     $5.30

2013 (not yet figured--so far averages about $5.15 daily)

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I don't do math.

But I will say that the restaurant steak dinner we enjoyed tonight was delightful, decadent and delicious.

[marvholly]

I have MANY times broken down my per meal and per day costs for food, even including my junk food treats. I have basically stopped buying chicken breasts at all because I can get 7-8 servings from a whole 4.5 lb ish bird. I batch cook things like soups, chili, lasagne........

What would you all think of a "Whats for lunch/dinner tonight thread for the new year? If yes should it include a cost breakdown? Recipes?

Personally, I tend to eat my major cooking meal at lunch-get tired and/or lazy by dinner. Often eat from the freezer for dinner.

[Deleted]

Is it bad that I really don't want to know...

[Iggy aka IG]

Nov 27, 2013 7:26:56 GMT -5 marvholly said:

I have MANY times broken down my per meal and per day costs for food, even including my junk food treats. I have basically stopped buying chicken breasts at all because I can get 7-8 servings from a whole 4.5 lb ish bird. I batch cook things like soups, chili, lasagne........

What would you all think of a "Whats for lunch/dinner tonight thread for the new year? If yes should it include a cost breakdown? Recipes?

Personally, I tend to eat my major cooking meal at lunch-get tired and/or lazy by dinner. Often eat from the freezer for dinner.

Holly, do you mean a new thread dedicated to it?  I think that's a fantastic idea! 

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2013 7:40:50 GMT -5 oped said:

Is it bad that I really don't want to know...

I'm with you.....I buy what we like to eat and the cost is usually irrelevant (I just spent $30 on a pound of lump crab to make crab cakes - that fed 3 of us for dinner and I had one the next day for lunch and 18 year old DS had the last one for a snack).

[marvholly]

Nov 27, 2013 12:02:11 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Nov 27, 2013 7:26:56 GMT -5 marvholly said:

I have MANY times broken down my per meal and per day costs for food, even including my junk food treats. I have basically stopped buying chicken breasts at all because I can get 7-8 servings from a whole 4.5 lb ish bird. I batch cook things like soups, chili, lasagne........

What would you all think of a "Whats for lunch/dinner tonight thread for the new year? If yes should it include a cost breakdown? Recipes?

Personally, I tend to eat my major cooking meal at lunch-get tired and/or lazy by dinner. Often eat from the freezer for dinner.

Holly, do you mean a new thread dedicated to it?  I think that's a fantastic idea! 

That is EXACTLY what I am suggesting.
I would be happy to start it in Jan.  Where shoud we put it?  Here? YM-Off topic?  Elsewhere?
Should we add recipes/  Cost analysis?

[Deleted]

Last night was chilli.

Hamburger on sale - $3
spice packet    - $1
Canned tomatoes - $1.67
Kidney beans - $1.27

$6.94 for three of us for supper and someone gets lunch today

[dancinmama]

Nov 26, 2013 12:35:14 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Nov 26, 2013 12:18:19 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

How many people did that feed?

2, with leftovers.  And I should note the bacon cost above was for the entire package, and I only used about 1/4 of it. 

That's why it's hard for me to break down cost per meal.  Some package of ingredients may be partially used and almost always (for us anyway) there are leftovers.

I am taking sweet potato souffle and a green salad to my sister's for today's dinner.  I figure the ingredients for the sweet potato souffle cost me $2 and the makings for the salad were $6.50, but I will have enough salad fixings left to make at least four more single serve salads for us.

[Deleted]

Last night I made a nice chicken noodle soup. Well actually I enhanced the packaged stuff.

2 packets of soupl ~ $1
Rest of the chicken from Tuesday ~$5
2 carrots ~ $0.50
buns ~ $1.50

$8 for 3 of us with lunch for today for the girls

[Deleted]

I like doing this because it keeps me motivated to cook at home rather than do fast food. Up her I can't get McDonald's for the 3 of us for less than $25. And it's not nearly as tasty as the stuff I've been making.

[Anne_in_VA]

Last night we had turkey rice soup.  I got the carcass along with some of the meat from SIL who cooked dinner on Thursday.  Cooked the bones in a stock pot with salt, pepper, bay leaves, a couple of carrots and stalks of celery.  I added a couple of cups of rice after I strained the bones and meat out and added a couple of packages of frozen mixed veg. 

So - maybe $3.60 or $3.75 for the pot of soup
       turkey - free
       carrots and celery - maybe $.50?
       spices - a few cents
       rice - maybe $50 (probably less since I got a 5 lb bag for under $3).
       Veg - $3 (got on sale)

I gave a big container of it to SIL, another to DIL and we have enough for at least another couple of meals although I'll probably freeze most of it for quick meals since we're moving to the new house this month and I don't want to keep getting take-out.

[ses]

This will be a challenge.  Usually I keep track of the cost of monthly groceries then calculate the daily average so doing a daily tally will be new.  It will be interesting to see what I come up with.

Breakfast
cold cereal and milk                                          .68


Lunch
Pumpkin soup (yummy gift from neighbor)      free
2 dinner rolls (Thanksgiving leftovers)            .10
1 serving apple cobbler (3.54/6serv)              .59

Lg iced tea                                                         .20

Dinner
Round Steak in Mushroom Gravy (7.47/6)    1.25
Glorified mashed potatoes (3.55/18)               .20
Green beans almondine  (2.97/6)                     .50
Dinner roll (.98/21)                                            .05

Daily total                                                        3.57


Cooking from scratch and Thanksgiving leftovers make a difference!  The yummy free soup helped!
 

        


               

[cronewitch]

Tonight I had a yam and a tablespoon of butter so maybe 50cents then a hot dog at 12/79cents, bun was free, skipped condiments so well under a dollar for me. ISO had three hot dogs, condiments and free buns so about 50 cents for him. I might have an apple later and he has some satumas and we have other fruits like pears so maybe with snacks we will total over a dollar each but I don't make real meals most of the time we just eat random foods. I have left over beans and chicken breast soup I should have eaten.

[Deleted]

Tonight is going to be an expensive in home night.

$9 for wings
~$3 for salada

and that will only feed 2 of us. I take comfort that a comparable meal at a restaurant would be about $40.

[ses]

This is interesting.   I have never calculated by the meal/serving before and this is an eye opener.

BREAKFAST
Breakfast roll  .37
Juice                .25


LUNCH
Turkey sandwich  .20
Turkey soup         .27


DINNER
Denver omelet                 .90
"Leftover" potato cakes  .12     


Large Iced Tea         .20    



Total                2.51

Holiday leftovers sure help the budget!




                                            

[Iggy aka IG]

ses, I was thinking the same thing regarding the leftovers.

Last night's supper:  Cranberry jelly and corn sides for DH.  Tonight I'll make a chicken stir fry using leftover broccoli from a veggie tray a friend brought over for last weekend's pot luck.  DH has been packing some of the leftover veggies in his lunches.  I've been eating leftover dip from Thanksgiving at Mom's and the pot luck veggies for snacks.    And, about the leftover desserts we've been indulging in? 

[kittensaver]

The carcass from our turkey made 6 pints of stock. Off to the freezer - woo hoo! Have you SEEN the price of stock in cans and aceptic boxes? ? ?

[chiver78]

I didn't roast a bird for my gathering this year, but I did leave Saturday's meal with a stash of stuffing and some veggies that went straight into the freezer so they'd keep until I could get to 'em. tomorrow I'll pick up a rotisserie chicken (which I'll strip and make stock from) and some potatoes to mash. I've got some mushrooms in the fridge that I'm going to make gravy with (along with some stock I thawed out from the freezer) tonight so it's ready to go tomorrow as well.

so for costs, the roti chicken will be $5, a few potatoes will be another dollar or two, and then whatever I spend on the wine I'll open.

[Deleted]

Dec 4, 2013 15:37:24 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

The carcass from our turkey made 6 pints of stock. Off to the freezer - woo hoo! Have you SEEN the price of stock in cans and aceptic boxes? ? ?

$2.49 for 32 oz at wegman's...and that's for veggie, thai and chicken

[chiver78]

Dec 4, 2013 17:22:08 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I didn't roast a bird for my gathering this year, but I did leave Saturday's meal with a stash of stuffing and some veggies that went straight into the freezer so they'd keep until I could get to 'em. tomorrow I'll pick up a rotisserie chicken (which I'll strip and make stock from) and some potatoes to mash. I've got some mushrooms in the fridge that I'm going to make gravy with (along with some stock I thawed out from the freezer) tonight so it's ready to go tomorrow as well.

so for costs, the roti chicken will be $5, a few potatoes will be another dollar or two, and then whatever I spend on the wine I'll open.

this wasn't really worth the work tonight lol..... but I will say that having Brussels sprouts 'n pancetta twice in one week (well, three times, because there's a ton left from tonight) is just awesome. totally going to have to do that more often. I'm putting serious thought into finishing out the year on a Paleo "cleanse" once these leftovers are gone - which will be tomorrow.

I ended up roasting the red potatoes I picked up instead of mashing them. forgot I'd be re-using the pot I parboiled the sprouts in for the stock from the chicken carcass, and it wouldn't be available for boiling taters. I used enough pots and pans tonight, no need to dirty another one. the glass baking dish goes straight into the dishwasher!

oh, and FYI for those that might be interested - basil on roasted potatoes isn't half bad. I grabbed the wrong canister out of the spice cabinet, I was looking for rosemary. didn't notice until I already mixed it in.