Crappy kids meals...

[TwinFoxes]

Why is it that restaurants, even nice restaurants make crap and call it a kid's meal? We were at a restaurant last night, and got a $7 bowl of Kraft Mac and Cheese as the kids meal. WTF? I expected home made (fool that I am) because it's not the type of restaurant that serves crappy processed foods for the adults. (It was Clyde's for any of you curious DC mamas.) At least fresh fruit was included as a dessert...with lots of grapes. Sigh.

[truly scrumptious]

ITA. Even the nicest restaurants here assume kids food has to be:
- breaded
- deep-fried
- smothered in cheese
Not even options for healthy sides.

[HIU8]

I hate that. At least if they serve that, it should not be $7. You can get the same thing at a bagel place for $3. I prefer diners around town where kids can get real mac n cheese at least. I'm also sick of hot dogs and fries. Burgers I don't have as much of an issue with. I can't remember what DS ate the last time we were at Clyde's.

[Melaine]

They also seem really small for the prices. My kids do much better health-wise and money-wise splitting an adult meal. Once in awhile it is convenient to have twins!

[egoldber]

I actually do the splitting an adult meal thing a lot for my kids too. By the time you add in 2 beverages and an adult meal, it isn't always cheaper than buying 2 kid meals though. But sometimes it is. I often pack in 2 kids beverages for just this reason though. :p

[crl]

That's really pathetic.

We almost never ordered off the kids menus for DS, partially for this reason. The menus are so full of junk, even at nicer restuarants. Plus, now with his milk allergy, it's impossible. The kids meals are always full of cheese or fried things that I'm afraid they will have dipped in milk or used breadcrumbs with milk products in them. . . . Sometimes an appetizer as his meal works out. Or he gets some of ours. Or we just order off the adult menu for him and take some of it home. Or we just ask for pasta with olive oil and a side of veggies with no butter--not ideal but he'll eat it.

Catherine

[Naranjadia]

I always wondered why restaurants did that until the kids turned into toddlers. Now I understand that they've totally got my kids' number. Their favorite foods: mac'n'cheese, chicken nuggets/sticks, cheeseburger with fries, grilled cheese - I mean, what the hell??! Of course it's all the fat and salt. But the restaurants probably know that it's reliably guaranteed to get a few nibbles at minimum.

[truly scrumptious]

I always wondered why restaurants did that until the kids turned into toddlers. Now I understand that they've totally got my kids' number. Their favorite foods: mac'n'cheese, chicken nuggets/sticks, cheeseburger with fries, grilled cheese - I mean, what the hell??! Of course it's all the fat and salt. But the restaurants probably know that it's reliably guaranteed to get a few nibbles at minimum.

I don't have a problem with them offering it - esp for kids who are very picky eaters. But offering NO other options? That's what gets me.

[TwinFoxes]

These ideas are helpful to me. We are still fairly new at taking the girls out to eat. In my head I imagined a child's sized portion of home made mac and cheese, not a bowl of Kraft! It never crossed my mind that Clyde's would even have a box of Kraft!

The ordering appetizers idea is a good one, as is splitting an adult plate. As it was I ended up giving them my food anyway since they wouldn't eat their "kid's" meal (my DH was happy to eat polish off their leftover mac and cheese though :rolleyes:)

[DrSally]

Yep. We were out of town this weekend, and DD ate a lot of $4 Kraft Mac and cheese at restaurants. At least ours was $4, but they couldn't at least make homemade or even Annies (what we eat at home)?? A lot of times we'll order something, and DS won't even eat it. I tried to order the grilled chicken breast and cut it up and make it into "nuggets" with dip, but he wouldn't eat it. What a waste. The chicken fingers they serve at some restaurants are just so, so deep fried and breaded, they can't even get their teeth in to take a bite. And, they always come with a drink, so DS drank juice or lemonade more times this weekend than prob all year. They both don't drink milk, usually just water. I ordered an iced tea for DD and just drank it myself.

[DrSally]

I like the idea of splitting an adult entree for the kids. They really don't need a drink, except water. I just order it b/c it's included. I totally know how hard it is to eat out with a milk allergy. We did pretty well at a local place, with an open kitchen. The cook was the owner and really friendly. I would talk to him about not cutting his sweet potato fries with a knife that touched cheese, etc.

[HIU8]

We will also order an adult meal and split it. We also have to order something extra to go with it. My kids are big eaters when we go out.

[deborah_r]

These ideas are helpful to me. We are still fairly new at taking the girls out to eat. In my head I imagined a child's sized portion of home made mac and cheese, not a bowl of Kraft!

You'd be amazed how many restaurants have served Kraft mac & cheese as the kid's meal. I was shocked and disappointed, but have come to expect it. I think Macaroni Grill had real mac & cheese, like big shells, that was quite yummy. I'm thinking Olive Garden does too, but I'm not sure.

One restaurant included a Mott's apple sauce cup that was moldy when we opened it. Gross.

[Dayzy]

I can't stand that either! Especially since DS won't eat any of that stuff. I was lucky however to find a local Italian place that serves half portions of anything on the regular menu to be served as a kids meal. DS is very happy now eating pasta and grilled chicken in pesto.

[lovin2shop]

We have a nice restraurant here that the menu actually says "Yes, it's Kraft!" on the kid's menu. I joked about it with the waiter and he said that they used to offer homemade, but most kids wouldn't eat it so they just switched. He also said that it is more of a PITA for them to offer the Kraft than to make it from scratch since they would already have the ingredients on hand.

I have an extremely picky eater, so I can understand. I probably wouldn't bother ordering a homemade mac n cheese, so the Kraft does make things easier...

[WatchingThemGrow]

I'm just going to say that at least *I* don't have to cook it and clean it up though. We're trying something new on the nights DH isn't home for dinner. We're meeting him out and trying all the "kids eat free" places. Last week one kid ate cole slaw for dinner, another ate fries. They both enjoyed the ice cream. How's that for nutritious? Tonight's pick has a Kid's Garden Salad and Turkey Sandwich. I'll try them and won't feel badly if they go to waste.

[vonfirmath]

We have a nice restraurant here that the menu actually says "Yes, it's Kraft!" on the kid's menu. I joked about it with the waiter and he said that they used to offer homemade, but most kids wouldn't eat it so they just switched. He also said that it is more of a PITA for them to offer the Kraft than to make it from scratch since they would already have the ingredients on hand.

I have an extremely picky eater, so I can understand. I probably wouldn't bother ordering a homemade mac n cheese, so the Kraft does make things easier...

For my son, too, if it isn't Kraft, he isn't likely to eat it. So I appreciate it that restaurants use actual Kraft (We'll go to Burger King just to get the Kraft mac and cheese instead of a different fast food that doesn't have it)

[crl]

The ordering appetizers idea is a good one

The other good thing about ordering appetizers is that they usually come out really fast. When DS was little and waiting for the food was really hard, we sometimes ordered appetizers and salad for all of us.

Catherine

[MamaMolly]

Oh I hear you. I get annoyed buying $4, $5 and $$$$ plates of plain pasta for DD. On top of limited choices because of food allergies, she doesn't like any sauce, not even olive oil. So I pay through the nose for about 25 cents worth of pasta. :irked: Which she very likely won't eat more than 2 bites of.

[DrSally]

The other good thing about ordering appetizers is that they usually come out really fast. When DS was little and waiting for the food was really hard, we sometimes ordered appetizers and salad for all of us.

Catherine

Good point about the appetizers. See, my kids actually prefer a homemade mac and cheese--the creamier, the better. They love the stoffer's frozen mac and cheese--it's like half cheese. But, I can see that a lot of kids will only eat Kraft. DH and I were joking this weekend that Kraft really has the corner on the restaurant Mac and cheese.

[arivecchi]

We normally order from the regular menu for DS1 and DS2 and take the leftovers home. We usually bring drinks for them.

[AnnieW625]

There are very few places I'll order off the kids menu for DD so therefore we are picky about where we eat out. The last chain that was a hit for us was BJ's Brewery. DD wanted spaghetti (no meat, just plain marinara) and got really good spaghetti and garlic bread. I also always notice when they don't charge us for two sodas if we don't order a soda/juice/milk (DD does soy milk) that comes with the kids meal. We've also had good luck at eating at more ethnic places like Mexican for DD, which is easy because she just gets a bean and cheese burrito (which is smaller, but the price is still less than $4 so no biggie). We also eat at few middle eastern places and she'll just eat off our plates with no problem at all!

[LarsMal]

I'm surprised that Clyde's served Kraft mac-and-cheese. Chili's- yes, Clyde's- no!!

We take the kids' food with us, but that's mostly because of DS's allergies, but also because they just don't eat much these days. It would be a total waste of money for us. We do let them order a drink, but we take their food. If the fries happen to be safe, we'll order a side of fries, but that's about it. DD1 doesn't have food allergies. The couple times I've taken her to a restaurant without DS I've cringed at what we pay for a kids' meal. It's crazy!

[TwinFoxes]

I'm surprised that Clyde's served Kraft mac-and-cheese. Chili's- yes, Clyde's- no!!



My point exactly! We try to go places that DON'T serve processed food, so when a place like Clyde's serves it as a kids meal it's annoying. I understand if you're at a fast food restaurant, Kraft, as opposed to generic, is a good thing. But my kids have never had Kraft M&C at home, I certainly don't want to pay for it at Clyde's! (For non-DC moms, Clydes isn't super fancy, but it's a nice place...hard to describe.)

[ett]

I don't have a problem with a restaurant serving Kraft's mac and cheese, as long as they label it as such. If I order mac and cheese from a restaurant, I'm assuming it's not from a box. There are only several restaurants where I order the kids meal. DS1 has a huge appetite, so the kid's meal portion at a lot of restaurants won't fill him up.

I'm surprised to hear how many kids will only eat Kraft's mac and cheese. My kids will eat mac and cheese no matter where it comes from!