Cook At Home: Valentine’s Day Dinner For 1/3rd The Cost
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, which for many traditionally includes going out for dinner to celebrate. I’m not much of a fan of going out to eat period, but even less so on holidays. Which is why yesterday my wife and I decided to have a special Valentine’s Day dinner at home. We didn’t sacrifice quality, and we certainly saved money.
On my way home from work I stopped at Walmart to pick up some ribeye steaks. I walked out the door with just one steak, and a smile on my face. This one steak was going to feed my entire family of three, and I got a fantastic deal.
The steak was a 1.65 pound thick cut ribeye, larger than any one person needs to eat in one sitting. Once at home, I took it out of the package and cut the thickness of the steak in half resulting in two steaks half as thick. I then cut each of those two steaks right down the middle leaving me with four steaks, each weighing about 6.5 ounces.
I fired up the grill, and started putting together the rest of the pieces of the meal. Here’s the complete makeup and cost breakdown of the meal:
- Bag of Romaine lettuce : $2.98
- Baby Carrots: $1.99
- English Cucumber: $1.67
- Steak: $12.09
- Half a bag of Large Shrimp: $3.00
- Bob Evan’s Mashed Potatoes: $2.98
- Steamable bag of corn: $1.00
- Bottle of Robert Mondovi Merlot (Purchased on sale earlier this month): $8.99
Total Valentine’s Day Meal Cost: $34.70
*Note: Nominal cost of salad dressing already at home not included
Here’s the estimated cost had we went to a restaurant to have the same meal:
- Ribeye and Shrimp Dinner (salad, potatoes and vegetable included): $20 x 3 people = $60
- Bottle of Wine: $25
- Tax (6.5%): $5.50
- Tip (20%) : $17
Estimated Restaurant Price: $107.50
By making our dinner at home our Valentine’s Day dinner cost 1/3rd the price of going out to a restaurant. It saved us money, we didn’t have to wait to be seated, and the service was excellent.
How about you, Clever Friends, how did you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Did you go out to eat, or cook at home?
Brought to you courtesy of Brock
Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.
Great idea! We did the same – I picked up some lobster tails, shrimp and crab ravioli, made some green beans and garlic bread, and a homemade black forest cake. Delicious dinner, no crowds, and much cheaper than getting that meal out on a holiday.
Ha for the first time we went out for Valentines Day. Hubby got home at 1:00 I was working from home so it allowed us to walk to our fav Italian Restaurant and get the lunch menu. We rarely go out to eat much and this was a nice treat. Seafood appetizer, pasta dish and fresh fish dish, they server very fresh excellent food. BYOB so we had about 2 inches of wine I brought-don’t drink much and never during the day. No dessert. Cost $40.00 + tip. Rarely get appetizers. Enough leftovers for another meal. Nice break for me to not cook, during the lunch hour place was pretty crowded but we got seated right away. When we eat steak at home we often buy 1 small steak and split it. I thought I would post something opposite to your staying at home which we usually do. Ours was not planned just happened we both were home in time from work to go out for lunch. It was fun for a change