What is your idea of a payday meal?

[vitauta]

i look back at those lean years of my youth, when twelve dollars an hour (social worker pay) and my husband's teacher's pay had us struggling and pinching pennies....but then along would come PAYDAY and all bets went out the window--then it was a trip to the crab shack for a couple dozen extra large maryland steamed crabs dredged in old bay seasoning, and a couple of six packs of mickey's beer to wash it all down nicely.....

other paydays were spent on thick steaks for bar-b-ques--no less than a pound per serving, and lots of good friends bringing much beer, wine, baggies, and their carnivorous appetites to the backyard grill....

a special meal at my favorite french restaurant was another one of my special payday treats.....

are payday meals still happening today? what is your favorite payday meal?

 

[kadesma]

i look back at those lean years of my youth, when twelve dollars an hour (social worker pay) and my husband's teacher's pay had us struggling and pinching pennies....but then along would come PAYDAY and all bets went out the window--then it was a trip to the crab shack for a couple dozen extra large maryland steamed crabs dredged in old bay seasoning, and a couple of six packs of mickey's beer to wash it all down nicely.....

other paydays were spent on thick steaks for bar-b-ques--no less than a pound per serving, and lots of good friends bringing much beer, wine, baggies, and their carnivorous appetites to the backyard grill....

a special meal at my favorite french restaurant was another one of my special payday treats.....

are payday meals still happening today? what is your favorite payday meal?

For us with 4 kids well I did most of the cooking but way before that my parents would splurge on steaks at George and Anna's a special place where you walked in picked out your steak or chop of choice had it prepared for you and then chose the sides. For me it was always a salad,baked potatoand gralic bread, then we loved to go to the fish market and get crabs bring them home cook them melt tons of butter and have more salad of endive the curly kind with evoo and vingar bread and away we went, thick juicy rare burgers in ci skillet salted no oil, potato salad or mac salad these were our favorite pay day goodies
kades

 

[CraigC]

Payday meals are terrible! They are the cause of an over filled freezer. The meal we planned for that night ends up in the abyss taking up space! J/K, we get what ever floats our boat.

 

[Aunt Bea]

At home it was always fish, chips, salads etc. from the local fish market.

For several years it was going out with friends to various trendy restaurants. That was fun at first but, it became tedious and foolishly expensive so we stopped.

Now the problem is solved no paycheck, no payday dinner!

 

[Barbara L]

For us, over the last few years, our payday meal has been tacos. We had long since run out of anything fresh, so when some money comes in, I get plenty of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, etc., and we have tacos for a night or two.

Growing up, I don't remember any specific food, but we may have had dessert then.

 

[jabbur]

I don't remember payday dinners but you could always tell when the animals had been butchered! My parents would always buy their pork and beef from their friend who had a butcher shop. They'd buy a quarter cow and half a hog and put it all in the freezer. When supplies were low we'd be having meatless spaghetti, creamed salmon on toast. When the meat came in it'd be roasts and steaks.

As for my family, we were lucky and my hubby's paycheck every 2 weeks were on the opposite weeks of my paycheck so we had a paycheck every week! Hard to splurge that way!

 

[vitauta]

i guess the really special thing about payday meals, and they were something that maybe happened once every month or so at best, was that magical ability to put our Wants ahead of our Needs for one brief moment in time--to indulge ourselves before the mortgage payments, the electric bill, car repairs, and all of the other ever pressing financial burdens of everyday life. today i think they might be calling this ghetto sheik. still and all, a nice little slice....

 

[bakechef]

Today we really don't have a payday meal. We use a credit card for everything and pay it off at the end of the month, and have direct deposit, so sometimes I actually forget which week it is that I get paid, LOL. When we "splurge" it is at random times. This thread reminded me to go look at my direct deposit.

Growing up, my mom was quite frugal, she needed to be with just my dad working and 5 kids. But payday was also shopping day, so there would always be some extra treats squeezed out of the budget, like a couple of bottles of soda, chips, and maybe a special dessert. She would also get one box of sweet cereal and that would usually be shared on Friday morning (the day after shopping day).

 

[CWS4322]

My parents were self-employed (newspapers, and then a restaurant). I didn't grow up with a "payday" meal, rather, my mom would make a special meal, usually crab marinara, on Wednesdays because that was when the newspaper was put to bed and my parents left work early--around 3 if all all went well. When they owned the restaurant, we ate whatever we wanted off the menu. I am also self-employed, so there is no such thing as payday meal in my life. I will go shopping for some special treats when the bank account is flush.

 

[Dawgluver]

I don't recall a payday meal growing up, my dad owned his own business, my mom was a stay-at-home.

I do recall being totally broke in grad school, we'd make the rounds of bars serving free food during Happy Hour. For the price of one drink, often just a glass of soda, we feasted like kings!

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Grand-daughter of Restaurateur & Chef of Trattoria

Buonasera, Good Evening,

Exemplary post ... And quite interesting ...

I am the grand daughter of a former Restaurateur and Chef, and thus, the world of restaurants, cafés and wine bar bistros has always been a natural part of my life ...

Friday has always been Lunch Out with colleagues, a dear friend, or the Vet when he can ...

As we eat lunch from 14.00 hrs. to 15.30 hrs. on the Iberian Peninsula, Friday: offices provide their workers with the afternoon off ... We work later than in the USA and Canada ...

We normally go for exotic ethnic, for example: Indian monthly, Mexican Monthly and Greek Monthly ... Our faves are Caffé Poetti, a Sardinian and Italian Regional where we are regulars and occasionally we go to the sister restaurant called Scatto Matto, which translates to Check Mate ...

Sometimes, we go for French, Sashimi at a tried and true Japanese Kabuki or fresh Octopus at a fave Galician venue.

Have a wonderful Thursday.
Ciao.
Margi

 

[vitauta]

Today we really don't have a payday meal. We use a credit card for everything and pay it off at the end of the month, and have direct deposit, so sometimes I actually forget which week it is that I get paid, LOL. When we "splurge" it is at random times. This thread reminded me to go look at my direct deposit.

Growing up, my mom was quite frugal, she needed to be with just my dad working and 5 kids. But payday was also shopping day, so there would always be some extra treats squeezed out of the budget, like a couple of bottles of soda, chips, and maybe a special dessert. She would also get one box of sweet cereal and that would usually be shared on Friday morning (the day after shopping day).

credit cards, yeah. these days that's how i pay for most things too...then at month's end, i settle up my visa account. but where is the fun in that, i ask you? with payday splurges there was always a sense of anticipation, of mischief, of freewheeling fun....

 

[CWS4322]

I don't recall a payday meal growing up, my dad owned his own business, my mom was a stay-at-home.

I do recall being totally broke in grad school, we'd make the rounds of bars serving free food during Happy Hour. For the price of one drink, often just a glass of soda, we feasted like kings!

We did the same thing!

 

[justplainbill]

For the last 35 years of work, I was paid either monthly or bi-weekly. Now being retired, the eagle poops monthly and we are content to limit extravagant meals to less than 1 - 3 per month. I still fondly reminisce about enjoying the 3 and 4 pound lobsters I consumed back when I was chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

[Mel!]

I dont really have a payday meal these days, but when I am not penny pinching, I generally buy around 4 times as much of everything I buy when I am penny pinching, and also probably around 4 times as much variety as I do when I am penny pinching.

When I was living in Dublin, Ireland Indian take aways were my payday meal. They were more pricey than other take aways, and they were always excellent.

Mel

 

[Andy M.]

...back when I was chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

There was a rainbow??!!

 

[justplainbill]

There was a rainbow??!!

Lotsa rainbows for me until about age 48 (20+ years ago).

 

[Claire]

Growing up and as a working adult, it was paycheck to paycheck, and payday was no different from any other day as far as I can remember. I learned early that that money needed to last two weeks, you can't splurge just because you have it today, because in 13 days you still need to eat. I guess you could call the "splurge" that payday brought was putting money in the savings account.

Splurges were for special occasions, not every 2 weeks. Birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

I guess a part of this is that we rarely got paychecks, for the most part we did direct deposit. So there was no cash in the pocket to feel we could spend because it was there.

 

[Addie]

When son #3 was small, once a month we would walk to the store and pick up a six pack of root beer and the largest bag of Doritos. He thought that was heaven. And every so often I would treat him to a walk to Baskins and Robbins for an ice cream cone. Now my payday meal is a Porterhouse steak. Son #1 picks it up for me at the Hilltop House on Route #1. That is a restaurant and butcher shop known for it beef. This month's is sitting in the freezer waiting for me.

A couple of times each summer they have a BBQ down on the patio. The food is all payed for. I don't care for their meat menu. They marinate the sirloin strips in Italian dressing. The two guys that do the cooking have no imagination and overcook everything to a hard piece of leather. I will bring my own steak and do it myself. I know it will create some gossip and hurt feelings, but I don't care. The grill is there for any of us to use. I also will briing my own potato salad. They buy a vinegar based one from a deli. Horrible stuff.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Payday meals growing up, Dad would take us to the pizza parlor and while the adults drank dark beer, we girls ran around like whirling dervishes, eating pizza and drinking root beer.

Now we just do what we want, when we want. We either have the cash or we don't. Our big splurge I guess is in the bakery...a dozen donuts lasts us a few days.