Would you like a To Go Box????

to go box

Growing up we did not go out to eat very often.  We ate  fast food maybe once a month, and always ordered off the dollar menu.  As for a  family restaurant, we went maybe once  year.  Every year at Christmas my Grandma would give our family $100 to got out to eat.  My Mom and Dad would let us vote if we wanted to use the money to  eat, or if we wanted to split it up and each get a little spending money. Normally we picked to go out to eat.  Being that we only did this once a year it was a big event, we planned it weeks ahead of time.  Mom had us put on our nicest clothes, and really made it a special day.

We always went to a restaurant called North Chuck Wagon, it was an all you could eat buffet.   Mom always told us to use our manners, don’t talk with food in your mouth, don’t cut in line, etc. She let us fill our plate as many times as we wanted BUT we had to eat everything on our plate before we could get more.  We were not allowed to waste food just because we were eating out…which was not a problem we were happy to gobble it all up.

So you can image how awkward it was for me the first time a boy took me  to a nice sit down restaurant with a “real menu”, and I had no idea how to even order my food.  Of course I ordered water and the cheapest thing I could find on the menu…and I ate every last bite.  My date  however, only ate about a 1/3 off his food. When the waiter asked if he wanted a to go box he said, No.  I think my jaw must have hit the floor.  I could not figure out why he would pay $15 for a meal only to toss most of it in the trash.  He had been raised much different that me, and his family went out to eat often.  He told me he hated left overs, so why bring it home if he knew he would not eat it.

So now I am the Mom, trying to teach my family the value of a dollar and what it can buy.  The other night we went out to eat, and yes we got a to go  box for our left over nachos.   The next day I heated them up, added a little fresh cheese, sour cream and the Girls and I enjoyed them for lunch.  Feeling good that I was still doing what my own Mom taught me, not to waste my food!

My question for all of you, when you go out to eat do you get a to go box?  And if you do, do you really eat it?  Or am I just weird?

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