Food bill

I've seen a number of posts on the personal finance blogs I read about how to spend less than $20 or 30 a week on groceries (or claims to that effect), and I just don't see how it's possible. A lot of this based on timing coupons with sales (in the marketing cycle, store discounts are often four weeks after the release of a coupon, meaning you combine discounts by holding onto coupons for a month), and then using a lot of coupons to stock up. Still, coupons don't cover produce, most meat, some dairy and what not.

Not that it's representative of anything, but my tab this afternoon at Costco came in under $180. Granted, a lot of that will last more than a week, but it's definitely not 6 weeks worth (or 3 weeks, since there's two of us). That's actually pretty good, as my normal Costco tab is north of $200. But this might be the first time I only got food. It broke down like this:

• $50: meat (ahi tuna, leg of lamb, shrimp, sandwich turkey)
• $42: produce (blueberries, rainier cherries, asparagus, spinach, carrots, kiwis, bananas, potatoes)
• $29: grains (2 cereals, bread, waffles)
• $29: snacks (dried fruit, crackers, frozen fruit cups, fiber one bars)
• $25: other (oregano, soup, naked blue machine)

There's some splurge there (ahi, shrimp and cherries weren't cheap), but still, $20-30 a week? Really?

My other issue with costco shopping (or really food shopping) is that I tend to think of the items I like and if the price is right, I buy them, regardless of how many other similar items I'm getting. This is particularly an issue with produce. The last Costco trip, I purchased kiwis and plums--packages of 12 and more than 12 I think. And fruit doesn't exactly last. So we had like 2 of each every day, sometimes 3. A rational person wouldn't have bought both (or maybe they would, if they are better than joanne and me about eating fruit), but when my previous purchase of plums was very, very good, and the kiwis were the largest I had seen in a while. But I digress...

I got the leg of lamb because the Streits were coming over for dinner. Myra is 4 days older than Owen, but will generally be 3 days older (born Feb 28th).



And Tim and Evelyn outside:



I always have the vision of having friends over and having it be completely casual, no big thing, but it always turns into a production. Tonight was no exception.



I guess that pic doesn't really do it justice, but it's the only one Joanne took. I got the leg of lamb without really knowing how I was going to prepare it. The package said it could be grilled, and that was enough for me. Joanne called and told me before I left Costco that leg of lamb is often used for kabobs, but I wasn't about to buy a 10 pound bag of onions at Costco, and I didn't forsee another shopping trip in my future.

When I got home, I reviewed my options. The two grilling books were not as helpful as one would hope (marinades that required too much time), but, as usual, How to Cook Everything didn't let me down--I went with the Grilled Butterflied Lamb with Coconut Milk (the book tends not to use fancy names). As written, the recipe called for:

• 1 leg of lamb, 3-4 pounds
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric or a few threads of saffron
• 2 medium onions
• 1 T. fresh ginger or 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
• salt & pepper
  

I had to improvise a bit since we didn't have cilantro or regular onions. But the turmeric and/or saffron? Not a problem. In place of the onions, I used our remaining shallot and some green onions we had on hand. I didn't worry about the cilantro, as I'm not a big fan. And I didn't go "or" on ingredient 3--I used both. Funny thing about that--I assumed saffron, for whatever reason, was like a vanilla bean. A strand would be some long skinny thing. The saffron was in an envelope in the container, and when i pulled it out, the threads were, at most, a quarter inch long. So I used a little more than "a few" threads, making the marinade a very bright yellow (you blend ingredients 2-6 and then marinade for an hour or two, which fit our schedule).

In cutting the fat off the leg of lamb, I ended up making into four smaller cuts so that it wouldn't take as long on the grill. And for one of the very few times, I actually cooked a piece of meat right--I have a tendency to overcook out of fear of undercooking. In carving it for dinner, it had a very nice pink color. The recipe recommended medium rare. I'd call it a little more cooked than that, but not medium. I lucked out there.

The verdict? Tim, Sarah and Joanne all said it was very good. I thought so too, but my enthusiasm for it was tempered a bit because it tasted a lot like Tasty Kabob (a questionable name from a marketing perspective, but it is truth in advertising--they make kabobs and they're tasty), so it was not a new taste bud experience for me. Still, I was happy to discover what might be their secret--an overabundance of saffron.

When I mentioned this to Joanne after dinner (me not being "wowed" by the lamb), she was surprised. I explained my view that since it was something I was accustomed to, it isn't a "wow" thing. Like me, she gets the same dish at TK (she gets the filet kabob; I get the lamb), so I asked her if she is wowed by they filet, or if it's something she knows she'll like, and she agreed, that the "wow" comes when she hasn't had it in a while. I went twice in June, so...

Actually, what I made might be better than TK, because it wasn't overcooked--I would say the tendency of the lamb there is to be cooked past medium, so it isn't always tender. Tonight it was very tender. The Victorinox slicier went through it so easily.