What's a "cheap meal" to you?

[eliza61]

We ended up walking out with $40 of snacks, fruits, veggies, etc. I just about died. (especially since I footed the bill)

Granted it was for 4 of us (my friend, myself, and my 2 kids). But I just about had a bit of a heart attack watching her merrily going through the grocery store grabbing stuff. I should also add my friend is in a very tight financial situation - to the point where she didn't have access to cash for a few days. At this point though, I think we both thought she would be footing her share of whatever she bought so I figured she would be careful with her money.

Her idea of a cheap meal to eat in the room was:
Kielbasa and cheese pitas.
Kielbasa - $7
Baby bell cheese - $5
Mini pitas - $3
TOTAL= $15
er....I could take us all to McDonald's for their cheap burgers and spent $8 for the 4 of us.

Am I the only weirdo to think of food costs in those terms?

To me it felt like she THOUGHT we were saving money buying that but I kept a running total in my head and I KNEW we weren't.

Then there was a case of clementines, a bag of grapes, a carton of strawberries, and a carton of cut up veggies. I had no problems with the fruits and veggies. It was good to have fresh fruits and veggies. although we bought way more than I would normally have bought.

*EDITED TO ADD* What I am trying to ask is: what is a "cheap meal" in your head and how do you calculate it? I tend to add the whole meal up in my head and compare it to other meals. example above or I will say to myself, I can fry up a half dozen eggs for $2, add a carton of strawberries on sale for $2 and there's breakfast for 4 for $4. Or else I will tell myself to find a place to eat that's about $10 pp. Does anyone else add up food costs this way?

Wait, you can feed 4 people at Mcdonalds for 8 bucks? seriously How? In my area a cheeseburger is 1.30 add fries etc.

Ok, so my idea of a cheap meal is
1) every body has to have their own meal. None of this buying 1 burger and dividing it 4 ways. and every one gets enough to eat.
2) drinks are included in my cost.

So in you're example above eggs and a few strawberries would not be a meal for me. Maybe if I added in the drink and some toast I would call it complete.

Even cereal in the morning comes with orange juice and milk and bananas to top.

breakfast at cracker barrell we usually budget 12 buck a person. If I eat in my villas. lets see. all prices are general. I'll buy a pound of bacon $3.50, a box of pancake mix $2.00 bucks, a gallon of milk $3.50, a dozen extra large eggs $2.50 and a lb of butter for $3.00 bucks, a 64oz orange juice 4 bucks. so for under twenty bucks I've got some breakfast of pancakes and bacon for 4.

 

[David Brent]

regardless of how much you spent, it's rude of her to just grab whatever she wanted, knowing she had NO money to contribute to you.

my question is....if she had no funds at the time.....why is she even going with you to WDW?!? i guess you're paying for everything..

 

[amykathleen2005]

Wait, you can feed 4 people at Mcdonalds for 8 bucks? seriously How? In my area a cheeseburger is 1.30 add fries etc.

Ok, so my idea of a cheap meal is
1) every body has to have their own meal. None of this buying 1 burger and dividing it 4 ways. and every one gets enough to eat.
2) drinks are included in my cost.

For around $10 you could get a grilled chicken wrap each, a couple bags of apple dippers with low fat caramel dip and a glass of water for each person. Healthy (at least as far as fast food is concerned, 370 calories, just don't look at the salt content ) and cheap.

 

[nchulka]

I am just like the OP. I am extremely cheap with food. When I take my kids to McDonalds we do it for 6 bucks. Dollar burger and fruit and yogurt parfait with a free cup of water for everyone (DH is typically not with us if we're eating out). Usually I am too cheap even for this and go by Little Ceasers where we can get a 5.00 pizza instead. We hardly even eat out at all considering I can pick up a box of generic mac and cheese for 50 cents. I have a grocery budget of about 75.00 a week for 4 people and an eating out budget of 50.00 per month. Most of the eating out budget ends up getting allocated elsewhere so we actually spend far less than 50 a month. We just came back from a trip to Branson for my DD's birthday. She got to bring a friend, DH stayed home. For 1 adult and 3 children I had an eating dinner out food budget of 20.00 for 3 days. I brought a 2.00 pack of pop-tarts for breakfast and some bread, pbj, for lunches. Eating out dinner every night was a treat! First night I spent 9.00 at Taco Bell, second night I spent 8.00 at Wendys, and the third night I spent 6.00 at Arbys. I went over by 3.00 for getting each kid a value frosty on the Wendys night, but hey, it was my DD's birthday

I do splurge sometimes, I'm not always cheap! I did pay for the hotel with indoor waterpark in Branson, and I shelled out 121.00 for our family of 4 to eat at Chef Mickey on my DS's birthday in Disney

 

[badblackpug]

It's all perspective. I just spent $329 at the grocery store, and that was after $50 in coupons. $40 for 4 people for 4 days seems cheap to me.

 

[eliza61]

For around $10 you could get a grilled chicken wrap each, a couple bags of apple dippers with low fat caramel dip and a glass of water for each person. Healthy (at least as far as fast food is concerned, 370 calories, just don't look at the salt content ) and cheap.

Ok, so I think the definition of cheap would also have to include "how" a person eats. for me and my kids a chicken wrap and some apple slices would leave us hungry again in say 30 minutes.

I think for me food is probably the one place I'm not cheap in because its a quality of life issue for me. (not implying any thing else for any one else) and because I grew up in my families restaurant.
We're big breakfast eaters so pop tarts for breakfast would be cheap sure, but no one would be satisfied and the rest of the morning my kids would be cranky cause they were hungry. not to mention my husband.

Generally if I'm eating out, I know that healthy is taking a bit of a back seat but it's usually a treat for us. So if I go for pizza, I tend to go for a pizza parlor experience with toppings.

Op is totally on point though that her friend should have definitely asked about the cost.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Sounds to me like you were driving. (Assuming, since your friend is broke, how would she afford the airfare ...)

So, the broke friend, who knew she didn't have money to help pay for the groceries could have made muffins, boiled eggs, cut up veggies and thrown them in a cooler before the trip to have some healthy cheap options to eat for breakfast.

We usually grab instant oatmeal, I always make muffins, some cheese, fruit and veggies, yogurt for fast and cheap meals. So $40 for breakfasts for 4 days in the room is more than I would have spent as well.

Sorry, I just don't get the mindset of someone like this. If it were me (and it wouldn't, because I would never allow someone to pay for all my stuff on a trip) I would not be so bold to put whatever I wanted in the grocery cart expecting someone to pay. I would even eat olives if someone else was nice enough to feed me!

 

[teacup princess]

My idea of a cheap breakfast doesn't include meat (since that's often the most expensive part. Cheese and PB or nuts are great breakfast proteins as far as I'm concerned. (I've never heard of Kielbalsa for breakfast and would never think to add such an expensive item to someone else's bill.)

Our usual cheap breakfast fare includes: bagel with cream cheese and a bananna, pbj on toast with fruit and milk, cereal and milk, oatmeal and fruit with a handful of nuts, cheese quesadillas and some fruit, ect....

I think it's a nice gesture of you to foot the bill for your usually broke friend, but I get the feeling that nice gesture got taken advantage of more than once on this trip .

 

[dntd]

Before you went you should have told her she would have to pay back 50% of what you spent, that way no one feels cheated!

 

[maggiew]

We just came back from a trip to Branson for my DD's birthday. She got to bring a friend, DH stayed home. For 1 adult and 3 children I had an eating dinner out food budget of 20.00 for 3 days. I brought a 2.00 pack of pop-tarts for breakfast and some bread, pbj, for lunches. Eating out dinner every night was a treat! First night I spent 9.00 at Taco Bell, second night I spent 8.00 at Wendys, and the third night I spent 6.00 at Arbys. I went over by 3.00 for getting each kid a value frosty on the Wendys night, but hey, it was my DD's birthday

I do splurge sometimes, I'm not always cheap! I did pay for the hotel with indoor waterpark in Branson, and I shelled out 121.00 for our family of 4 to eat at Chef Mickey on my DS's birthday in Disney

Wow. I'm interested in what 4 of you got at Arby's for $6!! You mention you got each of the kids frosty's, so $1 each for those ($3 total). So 4 of you ate your meals for $3?? Plus there was tax.

Basically your kids had 1 pop tart for breakfast, a PB&J for lunch and maybe a arby's roast beef for dinner. Plus a birthday treat of a frosty?

Maggie

 

[abcboys]

Wow. I'm interested in what 4 of you got at Arby's for $6!! You mention you got each of the kids frosty's, so $1 each for those ($3 total). So 4 of you ate your meals for $3?? Plus there was tax.

Basically your kids had 1 pop tart for breakfast, a PB&J for lunch and maybe a arby's roast beef for dinner. Plus a birthday treat of a frosty?

Maggie

Ha Ha! I was thinking the exact same thing...how do you eat at arby's for $6 for 4 people? I'm guessing 1 $1 thing a piece plus maybe 1 fries to share? I'm pretty cheap when it comes to eating fast food, too but even that is stretching it to me. The 5 of us ate at mcdonald's on sat. and I think we spent $12 but we also had a coupon.

A cheap meal to me fixing it at home would be $5 or less for my whole family. That would be cheap. An average meal would be $5-$10. I don't consider $15 a cheap meal but on vacation where everything is more expensive I probably would.

 

[Marionnette]

We just came back from a trip to Branson for my DD's birthday. She got to bring a friend, DH stayed home. For 1 adult and 3 children I had an eating dinner out food budget of 20.00 for 3 days. I brought a 2.00 pack of pop-tarts for breakfast and some bread, pbj, for lunches. Eating out dinner every night was a treat! First night I spent 9.00 at Taco Bell, second night I spent 8.00 at Wendys, and the third night I spent 6.00 at Arbys. I went over by 3.00 for getting each kid a value frosty on the Wendys night, but hey, it was my DD's birthday

If I had to eat like that for 3 days in order to take a trip, I would just stay home.

 

[nchulka]

I didn't HAVE to eat like that, I choose to eat like that so we could do more things. We stayed in an awesome resort with an indoor waterpark, went to Silver Dollar City two days and visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder home.

We ate for 6 dollars at Arbys by each kid getting 1 sandwich off the dollar menu (ham melt or arby melt) and me getting 2 sandwichs off the dollar menu. 5 dollars plus tax, we all got water to drink.

When I said we had pbj for lunch, it's not like 1 sandwich each was all anyone got. We also had a can of pringles and a box of granola bars. The kids were actually quite excited because we normally don't eat "junk food" at home, and we rarely go out to eat, so fast food 3 days in a row was a big treat.

 

[Marionnette]

I didn't HAVE to eat like that, I choose to eat like that so we could do more things. We stayed in an awesome resort with an indoor waterpark, went to Silver Dollar City two days and visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder home.

We ate for 6 dollars at Arbys by each kid getting 1 sandwich off the dollar menu (ham melt or arby melt) and me getting 2 sandwichs off the dollar menu. 5 dollars plus tax, we all got water to drink.

When I said we had pbj for lunch, it's not like 1 sandwich each was all anyone got. We also had a can of pringles and a box of granola bars. The kids were actually quite excited because we normally don't eat "junk food" at home, and we rarely go out to eat, so fast food 3 days in a row was a big treat.

I would never CHOOSE to eat like that just so I could do more things. I would stay home until I had saved enough to do what I wanted AND eat what I consider to be a healthier diet for the 3 days.

 

[robinb]

I would never CHOOSE to eat like that just so I could do more things. I would stay home until I had saved enough to do what I wanted AND eat what I consider to be a healthier diet for the 3 days.

Meh. It's vacation. My objection to her dinner menu is there is not enough food for our family.

 

[mhsjax]

Meh. It's vacation. My objection to her dinner menu is there is not enough food for our family.

Same here. No where near enough food. Even my DD that eats pretty light would want more than a sandwich and water.

To each his own, and my oldest DS does this, so I feel like I can say it without judging, but water with a sandwich, YUCK. I love water, but with sandwiches, pizza stuff like that, it isn happening

I see her son is only 6. Just wait until he is a teenager. That will go out the window. The amount of food that is.

 

[Marionnette]

Meh. It's vacation. My objection to her dinner menu is there is not enough food for our family.

Quantity is a contributing factor to healthy eating as is the quality of the food. No fresh fruits or vegetables for 3 days? A bag of apples isn't much more expensive than a can of Pringles, is more filling, provides more fiber and more vitamins. Now me, I would have had both with my PB&J because I love Pringles but won't have them in the house (because I LOVE Pringles!) And no milk for 3 days? Really? If not cow's milk then soy or almond? You're right that the amount of food is really lacking but there is no way that I would invite another person's child to go with us on a trip and then feed them such a poor diet.

BTW, robinb - I miss your daughter's smiling face in your signature.

 

[neatokimmo]

OP, I think your meal was expensive for what you got. I have two people in my family.

For breakfast we eat eggs or steel cut oats. This morning DD and I ate 4 eggs total and she had a kid sized yogurt I got on sale for 20 cents. Eggs were $2 for 18 so breakfast was 70 cents or so with tax. The steel cut oats are $1.29 pp for organic and there is no way we eat a pound of that stuff dry.

Lunch, we are having BBQ chicken on whole wheat bread rounds. The no HFCS bread rounds are 10 cents each, we'll eat 2 of them and 1/3 of a pound of chicken ($1.31 pp if I debone it myself). I am not sure of the BBQ sauce cost, it was pretty low. So about a buck.

We'll have some sort of fruit or cut up veggies for snacks. I am not sure how to figure the cost here, the bananas are 50 cents pp and strawberries are 1.88 pp. No more than a buck total.

Typical dinner for us is starch, half a pound of meat (normally chicken, I don't really like beef) and half a pound of veggies fixed stir fry like with a sauce or seasonings. I am working through all my 70 cent a pound organic carrots in the freezer (froze in half pd batches). I got rice for $7 for 25 pounds. (sometimes I'll make a meal soup heavy on beans with meat, veggies etc)

4-5ish bucks per day here is pretty typical when you add in milk.

On vacation I'm good with value meals but we often room cook and bring stuff from home. Food costs on vacation can mean the difference between taking 2 trips or 3 trips a year. So I don't go nuts on it.

 

[nchulka]

Quantity is a contributing factor to healthy eating as is the quality of the food. No fresh fruits or vegetables for 3 days? A bag of apples isn't much more expensive than a can of Pringles, is more filling, provides more fiber and more vitamins. Now me, I would have had both with my PB&J because I love Pringles but won't have them in the house (because I LOVE Pringles!) And no milk for 3 days? Really? If not cow's milk then soy or almond? You're right that the amount of food is really lacking but there is no way that I would invite another person's child to go with us on a trip and then feed them such a poor diet.

WOW! I think you are skipping the part where I said these types of foods were a treat and we never eat like this at home! Our bodies are not going to fall apart from lack of milk, fruits and veggies for 3 days. My kids eat way more fruits and veggies than any other kid I know. In my son's class at school the kids are allowed an afternoon snack. He is bummed because all the other kids are bringing cheez-its and fruit snacks and I send cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, oranges, apples, etc. I don't even buy junk food ever for our home. I only buy pop-tarts, chips, granola bars, etc. for special events like our trip was. And as for my DD's friend, she barely eats anything. After every meal she was throwing some away, she is an extremely light eater and has been her entire life.

 

[Marionnette]

WOW! I think you are skipping the part where I said these types of foods were a treat and we never eat like this at home! Our bodies are not going to fall apart from lack of milk, fruits and veggies for 3 days. My kids eat way more fruits and veggies than any other kid I know. In my son's class at school the kids are allowed an afternoon snack. He is bummed because all the other kids are bringing cheez-its and fruit snacks and I send cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, oranges, apples, etc. I don't even buy junk food ever for our home. I only buy pop-tarts, chips, granola bars, etc. for special events like our trip was. And as for my DD's friend, she barely eats anything. After every meal she was throwing some away, she is an extremely light eater and has been her entire life.

Nope. Didn't miss the part where you said that this was a treat. My point is that this is no where near my idea of a *treat*. Living on Poptarts and water for breakfast, followed by more carbs and fat for lunch and then a single sandwich and water for dinner is not what I consider a decent diet even when it's a treat. And especially not for 3 consecutive days.