What did dinner cost?

[jodi]

I thought it might be interesting - and enlightening - to dissect a meal and look at the cost. For example, I made beef vegetable soup today for lunch.
stew beef - $3
bag of frozen veggies - $1.50
2 potatoes - $.25
28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes - $.50
frozen green and yellow beans from garden - free
1 can tomato juice - $.25
buillion cubes, water, salt and pepper - cost next to nothing
Total cost = $5.50
Approximately 8 servings = $.69 per serving

Now the cost of dinner would be much higher...
1 ham (not sure of the cost, my mom bought it - I would guess about $15??) - but we will get a lot of use out of it. We fed six adults and two children tonight and did not even use half - so I will estimate $.75 per serving
Mashed potatoes - app. $.20 per serving
Corn - grown on the farm and frozen - free
Store bought rolls - $.40 each
Cabbage - $1.50/head, so approximately $.25 per serving
Milk - $.18 per glass
So about $1.78 per person, compared to $.69 for lunch!

Maybe I'm the only person who will find this interesting...but I thought it would be a neat way to see what other people's food costs are and get some ideas for cutting back.

[markio26]

great post... we had leftover rice, seasoned with cinnamon and sugar with milk poured on top.. for breakfast..
for supper we had crockpot scalloped potatoes, (one of my free
items from shopping at ge, betty crocker pouch) we added more milk than the recipe called for and added leftover green
beans, made toast ( the bread was free) and put left over skinless, boneless, chicken
on top , then the potato mixture on top of that.
for dessert later, we had pepperidge farm coconut cream cake
i got free from ge......the cost was very cheap for meals today.
drinks were coffee(paid $1 for a whole can at wag). soda, will be free when i receive the rebate, plus, we used a $2.50 off coupon from topps, when we purchased it.

[jodi]

Ok, I'm going to take another crack at this to see if anyone is interested...I still think it's a neat idea and I might just start doing it regularly as a "check" on food prices.
I made jambalaya tonight.
1/2 bag rice = $.50
1/2 kielbasa ($3.89 BOGO) = $.97
leftover ham = $1 worth
frozen diced peppers from garden = free
onion = $.20
Cajun seasoning = free in a gift pack
two ribs celery = $.20
Hot sauce, olive oil = maybe a few cent's worth
2 cans tomatoes, 1 can broth = $1.17 total after coupons and rebates
So that would be $4.04 for a meal that serves about 8. That comes out to just over $.50 per serving. I like this game! And I will certainly put this meal on the menu more often, if I can keep finding good deals on the meat.

[markio26]

jodi:
i really enjoy your meal cost entries... thanks.

[PrincessPerky]

I think it is very cool, but I am a bit to lazy to do it myself .

[frugalfarmwife]

Dinner tonight was french toast (bread was .25 cents at thrift store) eggs free, a bit of milk, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon.

Scrambled eggs for hubby (free)
sunny side up for me (free)
coffee (2.99 a can)

It was a cheap night for us

Tomorrow Prime rib (home raised .27 cents a lb processing cost) so about .81
potatoes maybe .40 cents
beans (home grown)
rolls (.50 cents for 18 at thrift store) so about .17 cents for those

kj

[Lemony]

Dinner last night was pasta & meat sauce, with a side caesar. These figures are all in Canadian Dollars.

Whole Wheat Pasta: 1.50
tomato basil sauce: 0.99
leftover taco meat: 0.66
romaine heart: 0.66
bacon bits: 0.25 est.
caesar dressing: 0.25

Total = $4.31 CDN ($3.73 US)
makes 4 large servings = 1.07/serving (0.92US)

[Ima saver]

Can someone tell me what BOGO is? I have seen this word used a lot.
I had dinner out, hamburger and pasta for me, chicken finger salad for dh with garlic rolls. About $16 for both plus tip.

[frugalfarmwife]

BOGO is buy one get one free

kj

[Ima saver]

Thanks, frugal, I will catch on eventually!!!

[jodi]

Tonight's menu: scalloped potatoes with ham, peas with mushrooms, and salad.
4 potatoes = $.40
leftover ham = maybe $1 worth
milk, flour, onion = maybe $.50 worth
6 servings = $1.90, or .34 per serving

half bag of peas = $.50
half can of mushrooms = $.25
3 servings = $.25 per serving

lettuce = $.25 per salad
tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, olives, croutons, almonds, price per salad = $.50
1 serving = $.75
Adding in a few cents for the cost of butter for cooking and milk, we came in at about $1.50. Seems like we could do better...especially since the main dish was so cheap. But we might have to sacrifice some freshness to do it - it was nice to have all those extras in the salad.

[CJsoccerchic]

Wow, I never realized how cheap dinner could be when you break down how much you spent on the few items it takes to make a complete dinner...
I'm lazy - the local eatery - $15 for two and I THOUGHT that was a good cheap date!

[DivaJen]

I'll play along...

Tonight's dinner was breaded and pan-fried soy "chicken" strips, brown rice, frozen asparagus and orange slices.

Soy "chicken" was $2.50 for a bag, and I used about 2/3 of the bag: about $1.67
Bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, spices, olive oil - hardly anything there
Brown rice - I used 3/4 of a cup out of a box whose price I don't know.
Asparagus - used about a cup or so, out of a frozen bag whose price I don't know
Orange was free from my mom

OK, so I'm not very helpful after all. But it was a pretty cheap, easy and healthy meal.

[Ima saver]

I ATE AT HOME!!!!! I am catching on. Ok, I bought porkchops (2 big ones) on sale for $2.22, the macaroni and cheese I like is only 33 cents a box and cranberry sauce was about 69 cents a can. Total cost $3.24 or about $1.62 for each of us. My husband is having turkey sandwiches every day for lunch. The turkey was free for spending at least $40 a week at Ingles for 6 weeks. We always do that anyway.

[PrincessPerky]

Go you!!!

[rob62521]

Our grandparents were smart in using leftovers to save money, weren't they? Of course it probably was out of necessity for many of them. I love counting how much each meal cost when I make it at home and seeing how reasonable. We recently went to Florida and stayed at Disneyworld -- I had a conference there. The first night we ate at a restaurant that wasn't fancy -- a step above Long John Silver's -- and the cheapest thing on the menu was $16.95 before tax and tip. It was a grilled chicken breast, portion of mashed potatoes, some veggies, a little bread and oil and then the iced tea was over $2.00 a glass. We spent over $40 for a very bland meal! We were shocked at how high these prices were and that if you didn't rent a car to leave the Disneyworld area, you were basically going to pay through the nose or do without eating. Yikes!

[Ima saver]

Gosh we can eat out here for $16 for both of us. Our restaurant lets us bring our own drinks to mix, so no cost there.
I bought cube steak on sale for supper tomorrow night. Total cost $2 for 4 cube steak. I will cook it in the crock pot to get it really tender. Probably have some rice which is really cheap too.

[markio26]

we have a new mcdonald's that opened... our son has ate 6 times. using the coupons, buy a chicken sandwich and get the fries and beverage free... now, this week he is eating the fish
value meal which is under two bucks... he always uses coupons for pizza and restaurants... he shopped for us at giant eagle 3
weeks ago using coupons.. he is a big believer in deals and coupons now.. the rest of my family is eating from our stockpile.

[mom-from-missouri]

last nights was free--went to a finiancial seminar with the company i have my retirement with (we get invited to a thank you dinner once a year). the girls and i had enough left over to doggie bag for tonight. Plus, they had 7 people not show, so they drew names for their dinners. We won 2 of them--actually, instead of getting the dinner, we got a gift card for the price of their dinner ($12 for each dinner), and if i use these during the lunch hour, that will feed my 3 kids and me at least 2 more meals!!