Meal$$$

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

At one point in my adulthood, while living near Berkeley, I saved my aluminum cans and took them to a recycling center for money. That would buy a dinner for two at McDonald’s at the time.

Prices have risen substantially since then, but luckily so has my income (eliminating the need to collect cans)—along with my diet, since I have not eaten at a McDonald’s, Burger King, or the like in years. As for spending money on a meal, I think we deserve it and I have no problem handing over my credit card at the end of the transaction.

Side note: I’m still amused that, when younger, you had to have cash at a restaurant (and pretty much everywhere). Sometimes you needed to decide what to have based on the cash at hand. Now, I just hand over the plastic, calculate the tip (though I try to leave cash when I can), and go on my merry way.

Now to answer the prompt: I’ll mention three examples, with the first being two years ago. My fiancée and I have a lot of stuff. What do you get for someone’s birthday who doesn’t need clothing, objects, etc? So I decided to arrange a dinner with friends and family. I had the perfect cover since a local musician we liked was playing at a particular restaurant. We arrived, and encountered other guests I had invited. Joyce (my fiancée) had the thought: “What are they doing here on our romantic date?” But then, when we arrived at the table and she saw the other invitees, she was elated and said it was the best birthday ever and a total surprise.

I forget the exact cost—several hundred dollars, but totally worth it.

That was two years ago, and it wasn’t feasible to repeat it last year so I arranged for it again this year. Mostly the same people, no music, different restaurant. I also took her out to dinner at a restaurant of her choice the following week on her birthday. The irony? The dinner for ten cost the same as dinner for two (each coming in at around $200.)

Was it worth it? Yes.