Dinner tonight was the aforementioned Greek salad, servings 3 and 4; leftover lentil stew from several days ago, servings 5/6 at nominal cost, and a few tortilla chips (a few cents). Later I’ll probably have a piece of fruit (~75 cents).
I live in the Chicago suburbs. I think Chicago qualifies as a major city
I purchase wild-caught Alaskan or Pacific salmon in the form of frozen fillets. In our household a serving portion is approximately 4 oz, so that $2 piece is 1/4 of a pound, implying that salmon is selling for $8/pound. Actually, it’s not quite that much, I was just being honest that sometimes we eat more than just 4 oz if we’re particularly hungry. These are not whole-side-of-the-fish fillets, they’re about 4-5 oz each and are probably trimmed from larger pieces that either go on to be those long fillets or for whatever other reason they might have a small piece of the whole. Being frozen doesn’t hurt the nutrition and evens out the seasonality of the fish. So we save a bit because we’re OK with deep freezing and aren’t looking for the prettiest slab of fish.
If you insist on never-frozen yes, it will cost more especially if you live in the middle of a large continental mass and your fish comes in by airplane. Copper River Salmon, which is highly seasonal, goes for $24-30/pound in this area but, needless to say, it exceeds our budget.
Bottom line, my salmon and your salmon probably are pretty close in cost, but I might well be eating a smaller portion than you are. I believe did mention something upthread about being middle-aged and possibly smaller than average portions.
OK, here is what is going down tonight. Paprika Chicken. All prices shown represent the everyday price where I shop.
One one-pound frozen leg quarter, 59c.
1.5 pounds onions, 75c
One poblano pepper, 30c
Fresh garlic cloves and Hungarian paprika, a little oil and butter, about 35c.
That’s $2.00. This will make four meals, so 50c a meal.
Nokedlis, made from one egg, a cup of flour, water, 40c. That’s enough batter for two meals, so 20c a meal.
4 oz frozen green peas, about 30c.
Total, 50 + 20 +30 = $1.00 for dinner. No drink, no dessert.
One day last week, we bought a rotisserie chicken at the market. It cost, I think, $11.50 ($10 plus 15% tax because it was prepared). That was the basis of four dinners for me and my wife. First night with cole slaw, off the bone. Second night part of a dinner salad, most of the rest was lettuce from the garden. Third night I made a pot of pasta salad. One pound of pasta, one cup of olives cut up, five scallions, two bell peppers (one red, one yellow for color), a couple large scoops of hot banana peppers, diced, a couple Tsps sweet relish and 3 heaping Tbsps mayonnaise, divided into four portions. First two nights cut up the rest of the chicken and last two nights, cut up a pound of frozen shrimp (a half pound each night). I really have no idea what this all cost, but it is not expensive. Taking one look at all the basil going to seed in our garden, my wife will make pasta al pesto tonight. Aside from the basil, there will be pine nuts, olive oil and grated parmesan. Again it is hard to estimate the cost. And dinners are dearer in the winter. I forgot to mention that I made a quart of chicken broth from the bones. Some night, we will want a light dinner and just cook up some rice and put some left over chicken (or broil up a chicken breast) in it.
Once a week dinner will be hot oatmeal with dried berries and raisins or birchermuesli, consisting mainly of raw oatmeal, yogurt, grated apples, and nuts. Very cheap.