Lots of nutritionists recommend that you carry a snack with you so you never get starving. It keeps you from unhealthy food binges. . .

I find that eating fish in Portland at a restaurant is often cheaper than buying the fish at the store, then the ingredients, and cooking it all yourself.

A few tips to eat well at fast food from my family experience:

1. Don’t finish your plate. (The $3 dirt cheap meal Cindy mentioned above can be splited to two)
2. Water for drink, not soda.
3. Enjoy time saved.

That means we are usually eating the least expensive items (French fries, side salad, soup, etc) on the menu simply to stave off hunger until we can get home to some REAL food.

At home, we can eat like royalty for less than $1.00 per meal.

Think not? Whip up the Mushroom and Barley soup from the recipe found at http://harvesteating.com and serve with a dark bread and soft beverage. In Detroit, the ingredients cost about $2.00 and will make about 6 servings. Beverage, bread and fresh fruit completes the picture. Good for your health, too. If you like wine or beer, a robust glass of it with your meal would only double the price … still a bargain.

The slow-cooker is your friend. I almost always have something simmering in mine. Something cheap, nutritious, filling and tasty.

My wife and I may eat while we are out … but we almost never leave the house just for the sake of eating at a restaurant.

Another thought that works for us is to entertain ‘home style’ rather than meeting friends at restaurants. The food is better at our place, the waitress is in no hurry to clear the table, the guy in the booth behind doesn’t want to discuss the fungus on his toenail and the women at the table 3 feet away aren’t asking for an ashtray in their no-smoking seats. Plus, we end up with someone interesting to talk with and get to know better.

In turn, we find that the friends tend to invite us to their homes, too. That gives my wife and I TWO nights out for about what we’d pay for a single meal for ourselves.

If you’re trying to live the frugal life, “restaurants = bad, home-cooking = good”.

Bill

So I really like good food. I would rather eat-out once a year at a nice place than every day at cheap places. unfortunately, my wife is the opposite and likes really bad food. I can’t even make “good food” at home because no one will eat it.

There are so many good places to eat here that it’s surprising that a place like that can survive - but it’s probably the airplane gimmick that keeps it going.

The Bomber? The Bomber? Arghhhhh.

Where is this new Thai place?

I did see a new Thai place called the Thai Frog behind The Ranch Tavern, but I don’t think that is the one you are talking about?

For future reference: http://portland.citysearch.com/find/section/portland/restaurants.html
Enter your address and you can get a list of places, by category, and their distance from you.

Marc
West Linn

it’s totally true. a cheap meal is expensive when you think of the real conseqences behind it.

when i was working as a starving americorps volunteer who received a very very modest stipend (think $3/hour at 50 hours per week and the rent is $350, and this was in 2003) and worked an additional waitressing job to help paying the bills, i lived in poverty. and when i went to grocery store, choices were simple. whatever was the cheapest won. hmmm 50-cent crappy lettuce or 2-dollar nicer lettuce? 50-cent crappy lettuce with black holes and interesting things on it….

i also ate fast food across the street from my office almost every day. it was dirt cheap and quick. $3 for giant fried chicken wings, cole slaw, soda AND potato? awesome! i started to feel heavy 1 week into that diet, started to huff and puff every time i had to walk up the stairs. all those money that i “saved” by eating poorly, i paid it with unhealthy weight-gain and self-confidence.

i am all for homemade lunches now!

cheers,

cindy