Comments on: Homemade Provençal Rack of Lamb

By: centsandthecity

centsandthecity — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:09:16 +0000

Oh this looks great! I’ll definitely be trying this soon.

By: NateUVM

NateUVM — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:24:25 +0000

Looks good! Gotta try that one!

By: jennifer

jennifer — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:37:32 +0000

hmmm….I don’t think you got the point on this topic. I think most people see Valentine’s Day as a special night out and end up spending quite a bit. Most of the people who posted showed how they made a similiar meal for a lot less money, and it was still special because the point is to spend quality time together, right?
So, I doubt Jim nor the readers of this blog are eating out every night…after all, we are all trying to save money or make our dollar go just a little further.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:43:05 +0000

So, does this mean you eat out for all your other meals? Not very frugal for a blog pushing finacial prosperity, is it? We both work, but still manage to cook ALL out own meals. We only go out once a week, on Saturday for a cheap meal out. Been doing that for years.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:06:15 +0000

I don’t like to eat out much because 3 hours later I swell up from the salt. It makes me wonder, was that good food I just ate, or mediocre food that was seasoned to an extreme to make it taste good. So, we go to Costco and get steaks. We can always get a good California Cab for around $10 and a couple of potatoes to bake, salad for maybe $2. We both eat for between $20-$25. The best part, my husband grills, I do nothing. Now that’s a good celebration meal!

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:36:44 +0000

I wish they would sell wine in the Costco’s in Maryland but they don’t… such a travesty!

By: Bill in Houston

Bill in Houston — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:35:09 +0000

I can say this… my produce is cheaper than yours. I shop a Korean market in west Houston and regular tomatoes are 79 cents a pound. Potatoes are 69 cents a pound.

On the other hand, I always buy meat and wine at Costco. I LOVE that place.

I could have saved a whole buck

By: Belinda

Belinda — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:34:48 +0000

Yum! We’ve been wondering how to make seared tuna at home and I printed your recipe. That dinner sounds fabulous.

By the way, we started a tradition several years to have lobster tails on Christmas Eve.

By: saladdin

saladdin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:19:23 +0000

Best wine name ever.

saladdin

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:01:50 +0000

I’m pregnant, but may I recommend my favorite red wine–Menage a Trois ($8) 2nd runner up Rex Goliath Cabernet ($8) or any of the Rex Goliath collection. I can’t wait to have a glass again one day

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:58:46 +0000

We have snow crab legs every year on Valentine’s. They are so expensive and I like to eat a lot of them! My husband started doing this when we were really struggling and we will continue to do this for years–I am sure. I made roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli. We invite my mother in law over sometimes because she is single and I don’t want her to feel lonely. It’s fun to eat and we only do it once a year, so we love it!

I started cooking at home regularly and wow–what a difference in our credit card statements! Try it for one month, just to see how much you spend…it’s truly unbelievable.

By: Felix

Felix — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:24:17 +0000

My wife and I started with brie ($3) and Manchego cheese ($3) with pear, apple, dried apricot and crackers. Then we seared sesame encrusted tuna with a wasabi ponzu sauce ($20 - sushimi grade) with stir fried veggies over jasmine rice. Those course were matched with a light Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc. ($8) For dessert we made gooey chocolate brownies with homemade vanilla bean ice-cream. ($5). Total cost ~$40. There is no way we could have done that for less than $100 at a local restaurant, and we didn't have to put up with the crowds.

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:08:57 +0000

Ah well – there’s always the opposite side of the coin. Being single, I’ve found that I can’t say “I only used 1/3rd of the bag, so what’s that $1.50?” I have to count the whole thing used because there’s pretty close to a 100% chance that the rest will get thrown out unused. I wish it could be stated any other way but the truth is – for me at least, preparing meals and eating on my own is just not as satisfactory as going out and at least being among people. And the savings just isn’t truly there when you’re one anyway because of buying one offs or more than you need and tossing the rest. When I buy a cheese I enjoy and would like to keep around the house, my enjoyment of it goes in phases so way I’ve moved on way before it’s gone bad – so that $8 hunk of cheese? Only about $2 or $3 of it got eaten! No sour grapes – just the facts sir!

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:07:18 +0000

Last year my fiance and I did homemade fondue and almost burned the house down in the process. It’s been a fond memory, even if it was more hilarious than it was romantic.

This year my wife and I didn’t do Valentine’s because I’m in Japan on business travel I did send flowers though…

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:51:32 +0000

This year our special meal was cheese fondue. We spent $6 on a bottle of sauvignon blanc (some of which went into the fondue and the rest of which we drank) and about $8 worth of nice European cheese. Add about $1 worth of kirsch, $2.50 for a baguette from a local baker, and about $5.00 for a green salad with almonds, and dried cranberries and then $5 for Trader Joes’ frzen chocolate souffles (which I highly recommend) the total cost for the food and wine was was about $27.50….and we had enough fondue and bread left over that it made up a good part of our meal the next night!