Nothing quite brings these two topics closer together than going out to eat. If you’re familiar with me and my writing I like cheap food. And more than that, I just like being cheap period. I highly dislike spending money for no reason at all; and for me “fancy food” gets really darn close to “no reason at all.”
As a picky eater, I like burgers and fries and sugar free Jell-O. I’m exceedingly easy to please for six bucks. In fact, the fancier (and by that I mean “weirder”) the food gets, the less I like it. Ironically, this is the food that also costs the most, so for me it’s a no brainer: a cheapskate isn’t going to spend more money on something he actually highly dislikes. I can see if you really, really liked that stuff, then you could easily justify spending more for the gastronomic experience. For me it’s like someone saying, “Here, I’m going to stick you with this pin. Oh, and by the way, you owe me a hundred bucks for the service.”
Plus, the practical person in me knows that my tummy doesn’t realize how much the food costs. If I spend $5 for a meal or $50, I’m not actually buying (or eating) ten times more food. An hour or two later, I’m still going to be hungry again and have my fist in a bag of sour cream and cheddar Ruffles. Except I know I’ll be out an extra $45 which will certainly drive this miser to several additional and wholly unnecessary handfuls of chips.
The moral of the story? Take me to Long John Silver’s for some chicken planks, of course. I thought it was obvious…
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Leave a Reply. All the cool kids are doing it.
May 28th, 2009
Last week I asked for some help on this whole blogging thing, and boy did I get it. First up, thanks for all the comments. Really, really. Comments are how I know real, live human beings are showing up every day and not just two hundred scammers trying to sell fake watches and cheap pharmaceuticals. […]
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20 Comments »
May 27th, 2009
I didn’t get a chance to write a post last night. I got up early to try and write one this morning, but that didn’t work out. I now have four minutes. It’s do or die time. Write a post or skip yet another day. Okay, just as an experiment, let’s see what I can […]
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9 Comments »
May 26th, 2009
At times there are foods so spectacularly good, I alone cannot find the words to properly describe them. Though I do not speak of Pringles as often as other foods around here, this does not diminish my love of this well-formed, duck-billed potato crisp. So let us turn to the works of prose of the […]
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9 Comments »
May 25th, 2009
I’d write more, but I gotta start making burgers for grilling. (In other words, I’m taking the day off. Hopefully you can too!) But speaking of burgers, check this out: Click on the image for more. I wants me one of them!
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6 Comments »
May 22nd, 2009
First of all, thanks for all the comments yesterday. I will respond soon. In the meantime, here’s the promised Friday Fun! I’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed, but my blog’s logo kind of looks like the Back to the Future logo. (Ha ha.) If you’ve ever seen that movie, then you already know Tom […]
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3 Comments »
May 21st, 2009
I created this Thursday category, “No Help Here” in order to provide you, the cool kids, with any sort of dieting-related “advice” my warped mind could come up with. Every once in a while it works out that way, most other times I simply try to write a joke or two, or even review a […]
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29 Comments »
May 20th, 2009
Sarah, just finishing up her sophomore year in high school, brought home her yearbook yesterday. I flipped through it for perhaps a quarter hour, marveling at how the more things change, the more they stay the same. While the hair and the clothes and the number of pages printed in full color have changed quite […]
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4 Comments »
May 19th, 2009
Two hundred and ninety five days ago, when I embarked on this latest quest, my main goal was to get blood sugars back to reasonable levels. This was when I decided to focus on low glycemic foods and not worry so much about calories. It didn’t take long, however, (two hours?) for me to realize […]
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14 Comments »
May 18th, 2009
I took a day off last Monday so this week you get double the pleasure, double the fun. (But no Doublemint gum. Well, unless you just go buy some on your own.) Anyway, before telling any stupid jokes or making obscure movie references or rambling on as I typically do, I want you to check […]
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10 Comments »
May 15th, 2009
About a week ago we visited a new restaurant called Johnny Fins. (Well, the restaurant itself isn’t new. It was just new to us.) A soon-to-expire twenty-five dollar off coupon drove us there. If you’re not familiar with the area around Lake Travis in Austin, to get to anywhere around the lake (by car) you […]
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4 Comments »
May 14th, 2009
You know the routine by now. Flip the channel, open a magazine, or click a link and you’re confronted with yet another in-depth piece of journalism talking about how horrible fad diets are. “Don’t eat a diet solely of grapefruit for the rest of your life,” they wisely tell us. Um…okay. This is obvious, obvious […]
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6 Comments »
May 13th, 2009
Back in February and March, I took five of my Leftovers posts in a row to go through Twenty-Five Odd Facts and Figures You May or May Not Already Know About Me. Of course, no one has just twenty-five things about them and I found it difficult to narrow my life down to just that. […]
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8 Comments »
May 12th, 2009
You probably know the song Love and Marriage by Frank Sinatra. In fact, there’s maybe even a fifty-fifty chance you know it without ever having seen Married: With Children. It’s a classic song, but in our house, it goes something like this: Soup and sandwich Soup and sandwich Go together like … something witty that […]
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19 Comments »
May 11th, 2009
Takin’ a day off. Double the results next Monday!
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2 Comments »
May 8th, 2009
If you’re not eating out at a restaurant and you’re not ordering in and you’re not at a friends house, yet you’re still not eating your own food, well, then you must be on a cruise. A little over five years ago the family decided to go on a cruise. The kids were a bit […]
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5 Comments »
May 7th, 2009
I’ve got some new diet tips for you today. And by that I don’t mean “diet tips that are brand new,” but instead, “tips for starting a new diet.” If you’re like me, and you probably are given the subject matter of this blog, you’ve had more than a few days in your past that […]
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9 Comments »
May 6th, 2009
I got my first (and, so far, only) iPod just a couple years ago. (I’m the type of person who’s fairly late catching up on trends, which means I’m at least four years away from even thinking about an iPhone.) Upon receiving my shiny new iProduct, like most people I ripped a few of my […]
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9 Comments »
May 5th, 2009
Everybody has a perfectly decadent little treat that they save for rare occasions, such as a birthday, the installation of a new pope, or a sunrise. It’s something you want to indulge in, but you know you shouldn’t—mostly because Oprah told you not to. I have several items in this category, of course (pizza and […]
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10 Comments »
May 4th, 2009
Last week I asked the hopeful question, “Back on Track?” This week I answer it with an emphatic, “No.” The reasons are clear as sugar free Jell-O. I’m still eating too much. Want a donut? Sure! How about a package of cookies? Why not! Here’s a forty-seven inch pizza, interested? Let me get my bib! […]
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5 Comments »
May 1st, 2009
About six weeks ago, a friend of mine posted this little “game” on Facebook. It’s an Album Cover Generator and it works remarkably well. To be fair, though, calling it a “generator” is a bit of a stretch. It’s more of an algorithm. You have to do all the work, but that’s what makes this […]
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7 Comments »
. . .
on May 29, 2009 at 7:57 am
I’ve found I really like impressionist paintings (not to eat), especially certain works of Monet and Renoir. I have spent thousands of dollars in travel and lodging expenses just to see their work. Once you leave the gallery, all you have is a memory.
I could look the works up on the internet, check it out in an Art book, or even buy posters of particular works. However, it just isn’t the same as actually seeing the real deal. In fact, there is really no comparison. But I can’t afford to buy Renoir’s Onions.
Food can be Art. It can stimulate all five senses. It can evoke emotion.
It can make you cry when you see the check.
on May 29, 2009 at 8:39 am
What I find annoying is that buying fresh veggies and fruit is more expensive than buying myself some instant pizza.
I used to prefer instant pizzas to fruits and veggies. But then I stopped eating pizza and started eating fruit and veggies, and after a few months I found I didn’t crave instant pizza anymore.
Then one day, I ate an instant pizza and realized that I didn’t like it anymore.
It made me feel blechy.
So you could train yourself to like expensive foods. But the questions is…would you want to?
on May 29, 2009 at 10:44 am
Ha – loved John’s comment!
I don’t know how we are related Charlie! I love to go out to eat – I believe the most expensive mean Tony and I had was at a place called Marche in Chicago.
We went with another couple, had a couple drinks each with dinner (no bottles of wine), each had an appetizer and entree.
The bill without tip? $400!
I believe you would pass out if you got a bill like that! 😀
Happy Friday Chowlee!
on May 29, 2009 at 10:58 am
I love going to a place where things are all fancy and the servers aren’t popping gum while they take your order and there are linen napkins and candlelight and all that crap – on top of really yummy food that’s pretty. But I get huge shell shock when the bill comes, so it’s usually not worth it to me. I make the exception to go out and get a really nice steak about once a year, and maybe once every few months I’ll splurge on a dinner that’s about 15-20 bucks a head. Most of the time though – take me to the salad bar or a sammich shop if I’m not eating at home.
on May 29, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I’ve never had a $50 meal, so I can’t really say. I love burgers and fries, onion rings…I’d better stop, I feel a craving coming on!
on May 29, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Agreed. It bugs me to go out and spend a fortune for the same amount of food I can get much cheaper. I just don’t get it. I also don’t have the money to go out and do it so maybe that’s the key…
on May 29, 2009 at 12:44 pm
The only thing is, and I know from my own experience, because I can much the same with food and money, is this way of life can fall in line with “penny wise and dollar foolish” because the food options chosen are against what is healthy for the body. Although money has been saved with burger and fries, down the road those cost saving measures come out in medical costs for all those nasty health things like heart, diabetes, cholesterol…. You get the idea. So, when considering the food options, cheap is best, but healthy may be better. However, don’t look at me to be a great example of this quality!
on May 29, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I must be your polar opposite! I can’t stand cheap restaurants – burgers & fries especially! YUK!!
Give me good food, good wine, good company and hours of time and I’m at my happiest 🙂
Tusc 🙂
on May 29, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Tusc,
You made my day 🙂
on May 30, 2009 at 6:54 am
I’d like to add my frustration with linteater. I hate the fact that “healthy food” costs so much. It’s cheaper to buy hostess cupcakes than a bunch of grapes. I actually like hostess cupcakes better than grapes, but that’s besides the point…. trying to eat healthy [like fresh fruits and veggies- and not growing them]on a tight budget is very hard.
on May 30, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Cheap food ftw. I miss being a “diners and dives” kind of girl. This healthy lifestyle thing is slowly sucking the life out of me. =P
on May 31, 2009 at 5:26 pm
a). I wish I had your frugalness, as I can justify spending money on just about everything!
b). If I go to a restaurant I usually order the same thing because I hate ordering something and paying for something that’s gross!
c). I’d go to LJS too!!