Posted on 09/22/2023 7:08:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I can't handle their food, and with me still afflicted with Long Covid, it makes things worse.
Go on a fast...1 main meal at 8pm..next a snack at 12 noon next day...loose weight...eat home cooked food at 8pm...and live longer.
8pm meals include fish..octopus..chicken ..turkey..pork once a week..
And lots of veggies..legumes.
Mediterranean style diet.
For about the same money one can eat in a diner. Diners that serve crap don’t last.
I AM 83.
I LIVE ON SOC SEC of less than $1500 a month.
MY vehicle insurance has gone UP 20% since Jan.
I do NOT drive even 5,000 miles a year anymore.
BUT cost of UNINSURED DRIVERS is a major part of it all.
ALL THE INVADERS BIDEN HAS INVITED IN HAS TO BE PART OF THIS.
HARD TO BEAT CULVER’S.
Do you have any other savings? It's none of my business so feel free to ignore my question.
I worked at a Panera for over a year, mostly as a delivery driver but also worked “back of house” doing food prep or the dining room bringing food to tables and cleaning up tables or at the specialty coffee and smoothie prep station or even in a pinch as a cashier in between or when we had more drivers than needed or had no deliveries or was called in to fill in.
Panera no longer have their own delivery drivers and now use Uber Eats or Door Dash which is a shame because I used to check and QC all my orders before delivering and did things like give the customer free cookies (approved by my manager) if the order was late and carried a box of extra utensils, napkins and condiments if needed.
But what you see behind the counter at Panera is mostly just the assembly and reheating.
All the soups and mac & cheese come frozen in plastic bags that are put in a thermalizer (bain marie) in morning and throughout the day as needed, heated in the bag to temp and then transferred to food prep counter that you see. The mac and cheese is also microwaved before being served.
The chicken used for sandwiches and salads (all the same chicken BTW) also comes frozen in plastic bags and thawed in cold water ice baths. Lunch meats and cheese slices are pre-packaged and not sliced on site. The chicken salad is premade from what I remember but the tuna salad is “mixed” on site from bags of tuna and ingredients from a standard recipe. The only thing I would say that is actually cooked on site is the bacon which is put on special racks and baked in the same oven as the bread after the bakers have left their overnight shift.
Produce - onions, tomatoes, avocado, etc., come in fresh and are sliced on site. Salad greens come in plastic lined refrigerated boxes. Fruit for salads and the apples used as sides come in fresh – strawberries, grapes are washed and sliced on site and the whole apples get a cold water “bath” before going out to the line.
Drinks like ice teas and lemonades are prepared from a large plastic container of concentrate and mixed with cold tap water. Salad dressings come in plastic jugs.
The eggs for the breakfast sandwiches come in whole in the shell but are pre-cooked (scrambled or sunny side) on the line ahead of time and kept warm to save time, but hard-boiled eggs used in the Cobb Salad come pre-packaged and are just sliced on site.
All the breads, baguettes, bagels and cookies are baked on site, but the dough comes daily and is pre-prepared, the only thing the bakers do aside from putting into the oven is scoring and or decorating, icing the seasonal cookies for example. Other bakery items like muffins or coffee cakes come frozen and are thawed the night before.
Don’t get me wrong, even after having worked there, I still like the food, it is “fresh” and tasty and at least at the store where I worked, cleanliness and food safety were strictly adhered to, and still get it once and a while but there is no “kitchen” per se. This is typical for all “fast casual” and most chain restaurants.
My car insurance went up and so I compared the renewal to last year’s.
Every category went down except Uninsured Motorists. IOW illegal aliens and such.
Go woke, go broke.
I’m so sorry about your son. I very much understand. I lost my closest friend, my mother, over 2 years ago now and I am always feeling lost without her. Death seems like the next place to meet her now and that is why I understand what you are talking about. It is part of the grieving process and yet sometimes I think heck, what do they know, this person has moved on and I want to be with them is all and that is called ‘grieving’? It’s just wanting to be together again.
I understand and I’m sorry.
They still ain't hurting, while the internals reveal The White Hospice's not-entirely-hidden recession.
"Revenue for the fourth quarter ended July 29 increased by 5.9% from a year ago to $830.4 million while comparable store restaurant sales increased by 6.1% and comparable retail sales increased 3%, the company said.Net income fell to $33 million from $36 million a year ago, as the company struggled with higher food inflation than it had expected. The company’s stock is down 1.4% to about $96 on Wednesday morning.
Cracker Barrel said it “gained traction” with millennials and guests between 44 and 55 — without offering details."
You all should be far more concerned about the mids (regional banks) drying up credit for both residential multi-family and light commercial buildouts in the last quarter.
Our biggest financial drain is car insurance in Michigan. We have three older vehicles, the newest being a 2014 Cruz. One is a 2005 and only has liability coverage. $4000/year for the three.
I like Olive Garden food and I still go there. Then again, I’m not a finicky senior citizen in their second childhood. 😂
My mom, who’s in her 90’s, always liked to go to both Cracker Barrel and Olive Garden. Maybe most of their potential seniors have died off. We would meet for breakfast at Cracker Barrel until they took the only thing I liked off the menu, and then I just had to tell her I couldn’t deal with it anymore. Also couldn’t hear over the noise in there. Olive Garden for lunch was better, although usually crowded, and not my first choice of where to go. Pretty sure it’s been more than 5 years since we did either, partly due to pandemic and partly due to mom only driving close to her home now, and I have no interest in going back. Mom might, but if I’m driving, we’re going someplace else. ;)
Bad food? Their food is awesome at our local Olive Garden! The few times I’ve been there, even after the pandemic, it’s been pretty full of people!I’ve never been to the Cracker Barrel, but Olive Garden where we live is pretty popular, and has very good food! I’m a senior, and I saw some other seniors there, too.
Interesting post……thanks .
……….
Don't blame the butter for what the bread did.
It’s both, I don’t eat much bread. I really like pizza but have to avoid it for the same reason.
I never thought I’d spend this many posts debating the merits of Olive Garden. Had I known I would have not commented. 🙄
Good to know; thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.