$100 dollar dinner

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

I’m not a big Twitter user, but I recently saw a tweet that said, “Y’all been to the store lately? Everything a hundred dollars!” And while that is a bit of an exaggeration, it’s a pretty good statement on how expensive everything has gotten recently, especially food.

And that’s a problem, because in my family, we like to eat like every day. Thursday night after my daughter’s softball game, she and I went to Mi Pueblo with my son and his wife. Mexican food, historically, has been one of our go-to restaurant meals because it’s pretty cheap. I say “historically” because these days, nothing is pretty cheap.

Our bill, for the four of us came out to $88 and change, so with the tip it was $100… for Mexican food for four people. And no, we didn’t have any margaritas and the only thing we “splurged” on was a bowl of cheese dip for the table to share.

And I’m not singling out Mi Pueblo. It’s like that everywhere from the steakhouse to the drive-thru window. I got a Dave’s Double Meal Deal from Wendy’s the other day and it was almost $13.00… that’s a fast-food burger, fries and a drink… $12.68 after taxes. I love Wendy’s burgers

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but for that kind of money I can just make my own burger at home. Actually, I did the math, and for $13.00 I can actually buy enough ground beef, buns and cheese to make eight cheeseburgers. A bag of crinkle fries is less that $5 and so for 20 bucks, I can feed my whole family and still have leftovers.

It’s ridiculous. I don’t mean to sound like an angry old man but it was not that long ago that the idea of spending a hundred bucks on dinner for four better have included steak and lobster or all-you-can-eat crab legs or something. Not burritos, rice and beans and some chips and salsa.

There was a time when I thought a place like Red Lobster or Longhorn Steakhouse was the pinnacle of fine dining. And even then, we didn’t spend $100 to eat dinner…

When my wife and I were raising our kids (two are grown now, one’s a high school junior) we might go out to eat a couple of times a week and every year it would cost a little bit more to order the same meals for the five of us. Ten years ago, a trip to Applebees or Colton’s might run $60 tops. Last time my wife and I went out to a steak house, it was $60 for just the two of us.

I don’t have a solution to this crazy inflation situation ro anything, I guess I just needed to rant or something, but I can’t help but think of the toll this is having on low-income families and families with lots of kids. I mean, I see a Happy Meal at McDonald’s is $5 these days. That’s basically $6 after taxes.

You have three kids, that’s $18, plus another $10 each for yourself and your spouse, and we’re at $40… for McDonalds! I’d say just buy food from the grocery store, but everthing there a hundred dollars!