Another one of our most Frequently Asked Questions is, “How do you ever afford to go out to eat?”
In general, we do not like to eat out very often but let’s face it, sometimes we need to get a quick bite and other times we just don’t feel like cooking. So, it’s going to happen and in this post I’ll share how we do it relatively cheap. Most of the time I can feed our whole family (12 of us, not including our new baby Riehlin) for under $25.
Right at the start, I want to say that our happiest out to eat meals do not include happy meals. Our kids don’t really even ask for them anymore. They know we won’t buy them most of the time. We found out pretty early on that Happy Meals are false advertisement. They really don’t make for a very happy meal at all. Instead they make for a frustrating meal. The kids immediately want us to open their “toys” and many times there is some assembly required. There are often decals and stickers to put on, pieces to fold or snap together, and we find that we put more time into assembling the toy than or kids actually play with it! Ok, before you go calling us un-American for not letting our kids ever have a happy meal, I want you to know that we have (and do) buy them, however, it is a rare and special occasion when it happens.
Now that I’m past my Anti-Happy Meal rant…here’s my out to eat ordering strategy:
The first thing I do when we enter a restaurant is help all of the children sit down (it isn’t always easy to find seating for 13). Seating the children first allows for less chaos at the cash register. I also do this so the children are not tempted to ask for extras like desserts or other expensive menu items. After everyone is seated I take everyone’s order at the table. I do this at the table so that I can calculate how much of each kind of food we really need. I also don’t like holding up a line of customers. I rarely take a child up to the cash register with me. When children are present cashiers often assume that my order of chicken nuggets means I am wanting to buy a happy meal. You would not believe how many cashiers are trigger happy about pushing the happy meal and value meal buttons. Also, we do not get the most expensive sandwiches on the menu. We usually stick to nuggets and basic burgers. My smaller ones don’t really even know there are more items to choose from!
Another saving secret is that no one in our family gets their own value meal. Let’s be honest, most of the portion sizes in America are way too big. So, when we order a value meal it is usually split between two big kids or 3 to 4 little kids. We can spread a 10 piece chicken nugget box pretty far. Most of the time we have water to drink. If we do get value meals with drinks to bring home, we often split a large soda into smaller cups (serving about 5-6 kids). In general we do not buy soda for the kids so it is a real treat when they do get to have it.
One of our favorite places to eat out is Panera Bread Co. We eat there on occasion and my kids love the Broccoli Cheddar soup. When we eat at Panera our meal cost is a little closer to $40. I always get “soup for a group”. It is not often listed on the menu board because it’s mostly a carry out / catering type of order. It is meant to feed 4 adults but most of the time we can feed 6-8 children with it. When you purchase “soup for a group” you are offered 4 sides of bread, but they are often kind and give us extra bread to accommodate all the children. The soup for a group comes in a tall “paper” bowl and so we always ask for the smaller disposable paper soup cups to go with it. I use these bowls for two reasons. The first reason is that twelve ceramic bowls are heavy to carry to the table. The second reason is that the paper bowls are smaller than the ceramic bowls so to the children feel like they are getting more! Along with our soup we always get cinnamon crunch bagels to share. I am always sure to ask the cashier to put them in the bread slicer. In the bread slicer the bagels are cut into little pieces and it makes it easy to share one bagel with 3-4 children.
On bigger occasions (like Birthdays) we do often eat at a sit down restaurant. Even then, we only go to the ones that I have a coupon for a free kid’s meal with the purchase of an adult meal. We often receive coupons through our kid’s schools or as a promotion in the mail. Don Pablo’s and Texas Road House are among our favorites and offer a number of deals. At the bigger restaurants we often have 2-3 kids eat an adult meal and then get a kids meal that we can split among two little ones. At a bigger restaurant we can usually feed our 12 for about $55 and that includes tip!
And that is how we eat out! I will talk about how we do groceries in another “how to” post. Please write back and share your ideas about how to eat good, cheap, quick and easy!
“Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.”
~ Luke 9:16 ~