Hint Mama

The Big Blog of Hints: Sharing hints to make parenting easier, cheaper and a bit more humorous

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Share a Hint
  • Gear
  • Preparing For Baby
  • Toys
  • Childproofing
  • Traveling
  • Mealtime
  • Activities & Classes
  • Parties & Entertaining

Today’s Hint: Don’t Order a Meal for Your Toddler

June 17, 2014 By Hint Mama

Until recently, whenever we ate out, I would consult the menu (or children’s menu if there was one) and order my 22-month-old daughter a meal of her own, say grilled chicken, a chicken burrito or beans and rice.

However, more often than not, she would barely touch her plate, taking no more than a few bites, and would clamor for whatever my husband or I were eating. So, lately, I’ve hit on a trick for cutting the cost of eating out that is today’s hint.

The budget-saving strategy: I no longer order my toddler her own meal when we’re eating out. Instead, my husband and I share our meals with our daughter, a variation of a cost-saving strategy we’re already employing at home.

It turns out that proper toddler portions are actually pretty small – in fact, recommended toddler serving sizes are about one-fourth the size of an adult portion. So, giving our little one a small part of each of our restaurant meals actually adds up to a full toddler-sized meal.

Not only does this approach help us keep our eating out bills a bit more reasonable, it also helps us cut calories, since restaurant portions tend to be too big for one person. And it enables our little one to try more food than the bland pasta and chicken fingers on most kids’ menus.

Finally, whatever is on her parents’ plates is really what my daughter makes clear she wants anyway (whether we’re at home or in a restaurant), so by giving her our food from the get go we’re potentially avoiding some public temper tantrums as well.

To be sure, I’m not the first parent to advocate sharing restaurant meals with small children. Parents commenting over at Chow.com and bloggers at Magical Childhood, Let There Be Light at Fill Your Money Box suggest it, and I love how Kristen, who blogs at When at Home, puts it “Anyone less than three does not get their own meal” in a post on “How to Eat Out for Less Than $20.”

Of course, some little ones may be very voracious eaters who aren’t satisfied with a shared meal (in that case, an additional side dish or two may do the trick). And some kids have allergies or special diets that require they get their own meal. Still, for most parents, the money saving share-a-meal strategy is at least worth a try.

What are your tips for eating out for less, and for eating out in general, with babies and toddlers?

Follow Hint Mama on Facebook and Twitter, and read more about her and her disclosures.

Share Button

More Hints

  • Today’s Hint: 6 Tips for Dining Out with ToddlersToday’s Hint: 6 Tips for Dining Out with Toddlers
  • Today’s Hint: 3 Ordering Tricks for When There’s No Kids’ MenuToday’s Hint: 3 Ordering Tricks for When There’s No Kids’ Menu
  • Today’s Hint: 3 Tricks for Losing the Baby WeightToday’s Hint: 3 Tricks for Losing the Baby Weight
  • Today’s Hint: How to Talk to Little Kids About Alexa (and Robots)Today’s Hint: How to Talk to Little Kids About Alexa (and Robots)
  • Today’s Hint: Hint Mama’s Top Halloween Hints (Plus a New Halloween Hint)Today’s Hint: Hint Mama’s Top Halloween Hints (Plus a New Halloween Hint)

Filed Under: Mealtime Tagged With: children's menus, Chow.com, Chowhound, eat out for less, eating out for less, eating out with a toddler for less, Fill Your Money Box, Hint Mama, kids' menus, Let There Be Light, Magical Childhood, recommended toddler portions, restaurants, When at Home

Drop Me a Hint

Contact Hint Mama

Trackbacks

  1. Today’s Hint: The Best of Hint-Sharing Day – Hint Mama says:
    October 15, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    […] Toothpicks (and toothpick-like utensils) can be great mealtime props for kids old enough to use them. Shari Wargo Stamps of Savvy Every Day shares this tip: “I’ve just discovered that cutting up food and using toothpick-like utensils for kids makes mealtime easier.” And I like this hint she shares too: Order a kids’ meal and share it with your kid, because kids’ meals can be cheaper and smaller versions of adult options (I’m a fan of doing the same with adult meals at restaurants). […]

  2. Today’s Hint: 3 Ordering Tricks for When There’s No Kids’ Menu – Hint Mama says:
    March 10, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    […] (or wants to charge too heavily for it) and we can’t really leave, or when we have that feeling our child isn’t going to each much no matter what we order for her, we order food for the whole family to […]

  3. Today’s Hint: 6 Tips for Dining Out with Toddlers – Hint Mama says:
    March 20, 2016 at 7:01 pm

    […] -Ask for something that’s not specifically on the menu. For example, the kitchen staff might make your child a cheese sandwich, or give you a plate of olives and pickles (which you’ll carefully slice, of course), or a bowl of cooked carrots. In other words, if you ask, you often can get the simple, basic foods that are the ingredients in more sophisticated dishes. Or follow this tip from Hint Mama. […]

aaa

SEARCH HINTS

[instagram-feed]

Advertise Here

You can find more information about advertising on HintMama.com, month- and quarter-long sponsorships, guest posts, press relations and disclosures here.

Find a Hint

  • Activities & Classes (96)
    • Potty Training (10)
    • Preschool (18)
    • Story Time (4)
    • Storytime (3)
  • Baby Registry (24)
  • Bathtime (10)
  • Birthday Parties/Entertaining (43)
    • Baby Showers (11)
  • Childproofing (28)
  • Decorating (32)
  • Diapers & Related Products (21)
  • Exercise (13)
  • Gear (172)
    • Bibs (5)
    • Bottles (11)
    • Car Seats (18)
    • Clothes (24)
    • Hair Accessories (2)
    • Strollers (12)
  • Help (18)
  • Helpful Tech (61)
  • Holidays (60)
  • Loveys (4)
  • Mealtime (81)
  • Play (56)
  • Pregnancy (16)
  • Preparing for Baby (97)
  • Recording Memories (16)
  • Safety (36)
  • Saving for College (2)
  • Savings (63)
  • Shoes (4)
  • Sleep (26)
  • Staying Organized (37)
  • Taking Time for Yourself (44)
  • Top Hints (19)
  • Toys (88)
  • Traveling (71)
  • Uncategorized (5)

Shop: Hint Mama’s Picks

At Hint Mama's Amazon.com store, you'll find the select products Hint Mama recommends as well as those mentioned in Hint Mama's posts. Read Hint Mama's disclosures here.

Old Hints

  • December 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • September 2017 (3)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (10)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (2)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (1)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (7)
  • August 2015 (7)
  • July 2015 (9)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (9)
  • April 2015 (11)
  • March 2015 (11)
  • February 2015 (11)
  • January 2015 (18)
  • December 2014 (17)
  • November 2014 (14)
  • October 2014 (23)
  • September 2014 (21)
  • August 2014 (20)
  • July 2014 (22)
  • June 2014 (21)
  • May 2014 (21)
  • April 2014 (21)
  • March 2014 (21)
  • February 2014 (19)
  • January 2014 (22)
  • December 2013 (21)
  • November 2013 (21)
  • October 2013 (23)
  • September 2013 (21)
  • August 2013 (8)

Before entering the corporate world, Jennifer Saranow Schultz (aka Hint Mama) was the lead writer for The New York Times “Bucks” personal finance blog and a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Read More…

300x250 Mom Break POPSUGAR Select Moms USFamilyGuide.com

RIGHTS RESERVED

Hint Mama™ is a trademark of the author of this blog. Unless otherwise indicated, all text, images and (sometimes humorous) hint sharing were created and produced by the author of this blog. Rights reserved. So please enjoy (but do not reproduce without permission).

From the Blog

Today’s Hint: A Solution for Missing Puzzle Pieces

Today’s Hint: How to Talk to Little Kids About Alexa (and Robots)

Today’s Hint: Hint Mama’s Top Halloween Hints (Plus a New Halloween Hint)

Today’s Hint: What to Do With Old Coloring Books

Today’s Hint: 5 Outside-the-Box Bath Toys

Advertise, Sponsor, Press Relations, Disclosures

You can find more information about advertising on HintMama.com, month- and quarter-long sponsorships, guest posts, press relations and disclosures here. Google+

Find it Here

Copyright © 2014 · Hint Mama · Design by Anchored Design on the Genesis Framework