a new reason to ditch the restaurants

Today, Miss B and I joined my parents, sister and nephew for lunch after church. We got 3 separate checks. As we were ordering, Miss B was not sure what she wanted- only sure she wanted soup- but she lit up at the mention of the ham dinner that several of us were ordering. So, I offered to share my meal and just order an extra cup of soup. She was happy with this and I was happy at the prospect of cutting down the cost of our meal by splitting the more-than-generous-portioned meal (after we ate, we still brought home enough leftover ham for DH to eat some ham for lunch and still have enough to put in his salad for dinner!). When I got the bill, it was not bad, but still more than I expected. That's when I noticed the new reason that we should eat out less. I already knew that restaurant food is not generally prepared in a healthy manner and that portion size was outrageous, leading to the consumption of lots of unecessary calories, fats, cholesterol, sodium, and just about anything else that's bad for you. And, I already knew that eating out was not really budget-friendly. But I did not know that there is almost a 10% sales tax on restaurant food (9.75% to be exact). That's like adding 25% on top of the menu prices (when you add sales tax and the tip)! YIKES! I had no idea the tax was so high! With that motivation, I'm off to plan my menu for the week.