Okay so I admit it. Sometimes I am a bum of a mum and have no lunch/dinner for my kids planned. This tends to happen we are out somewhere and run over on time, which is just about every time we are out somewhere. So rather than go home, rush through making a meal, argue with my overly tired children to eat their pea’s please so that they can take a nap, I’ll do drive-thru dinner. There is never an objection to this one. Ignoring the mom guilt of feeding my kids garbage I at least have the satisfied feeling of not breaking the bank.
Rule #1: Water is a treat.
Yes you got that right. No juice. No Milkshakes. You get water. Ohhhh you get water in a big kid cup with a straw! That’s not something we get to do at home. So there is your nice free water with your awesome free straw. I have never had one objection to this. Perhaps your kids already know that the place with the big yellow M serve more delicious options. My proposed solution: lie. “Oh no. Their chocolate milkshake machine is broken. But look at the super big straw they gave you for your water!! And they made a cup in just the right size to fit in your cup holder, how cool.”
Rule #2: No Happy Meals.
But they won’t get the toy. Nope, they won’t. And they will be a-okay. If your kids don’t know that there are toys well that’s easy…the pictures of the toys are just that, pictures. They don’t actually have toys there. That would so silly! They have FOOD there! I am sure my kids are not the only ones who have a bazillion, trillion toys and do not need another that they will likely destroy/misplace/grow bored with in the next 12 hours.
If your kid already knows about the toys, this is where you again lie. “Ohhh too bad, the toys are all gone. But we have lots and lots of toys at home.” You may be confronted with some whinning, but that is just because they are used to getting toys. They’ll learn the new way of food without toys quickly and there won’t be an issue. If you are overcome with mother guilt that you are not providing your kid a toy when they are expecting one (I will not judge you on this one! I feel guilty for lots and lots of things I shouldn’t!) you can offer your little the change from your purchase that they can put into their bank, save up, take to the store and buy a toy! Woo-hoo!! I don’t mean a $20 bill, I mean a quarter, a dime or even a penny. Money is money and saved with other money you can buy cool stuff. I firmly believe it is never too early to start teaching this lesson.
Ordering off the value menu instead of a happy meal solves two issues. The first, portion size. A Happy Meal is much too much food for a toddler whose appropriate burger size is ¼ of what is served. That means that I can buy one value nugget and feed both of my kids with some leftover. I also can order one value fry for them to split. Second, I have now spent $2.12 (see I added the tax, that is how mathematically in tuned I am to the drive thru pricing) instead of $11 to feed two kids.
But they won’t get the fancy Happy Meal box. L That’s right they won’t. You know what they will get…their own bag! YEAHHHH!! Your own bag! When I get to the window where they give me my food I politely ask for two small bags to divide their food. Each person gets their own food carrier as a bag and not a box and you know what it cost me…nothing. It isn’t like they are going to become smarter, sweeter, faster, or more talented for having a box instead of a bag. Either way it gets thrown away.
It should be okay to do drive-thru dinner when you need to and not have to totally blow your budget out of the water.
