When I first made out a tentative budget for the trip to Spain, I left out food expenses. My reasoning was that "hey, we have to eat anywhere we live" so that food costs would not be an extra expense. I knew that food would cost more in Barcelona than in Murray but I was hoping that our savings on utilities, etc would cover the extra food costs.
Two episodes have dispelled that notion. The first episode was when we ate at KFC. Yes, KFC. It was late in the day and the children wanted to eat at a place with "Kentucky" in the name and I was hoping that it would be easier to order there than at a traditional Barcelona restaurant. (It wasn't.) So for the first, and only, time we ate an American restaurant. We ordered one (1) children's meal ("Boxie"), nine pieces of chicken, whatever Deborah wanted (a sandwich, I think), one fry (large), and one orange drink (large). Price: 28 euros = $39!! I was, uh, surprised. We did have one or two pieces of chicken left over, which was nice.
The second episode was this past Sunday. We went with another expatriate family to a family-style (their words) restaurant for "lunch". I use the word lunch in quotes because it was after 3:00 pm when we got to the restaurant and after 4:00 before we got our food. Because it was late and loud and everyone was tired, both families just combined into one order to save time. We ordered three rotisserie chickens, some potatoes, salad and drinks to feed 11 people (4 adults, 1 teenager, 6 children). No food was left over. Final total = 104 euros = $145! We split the bill with the other family which made our share over $70 - for rotisserie chicken, fries and salad. And this is the affordable restaurant!
2 comments:
Eat like the natives. It's probably healthier, definitely more culturally enriching, and cheaper.
Actually, we have been eating "like the natives". Deborah cooks most meals at the apartment, and when we eat out we eat at Spanish restaurants. And unless they are raising their rates to take advantage of us as Americans, it is not cheaper.
But the biggest problem with eating out has been that most menus are in Catalan. Consequently we are somewhat clueless what is being offered.
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