Thursday, May 19, 2011

The $1 (fifty) Menu

Alaska is EXPENSIVE. Of course, that’s obvious because everything travels a long way to get here to be sold but sheesh. I’m so thankful that my meals are provided here. When we stayed in Anchorage there was a Mcdonalds next door that we hit for breakfast. THERE ISN’T A DOLLAR MENU! I repeat. NO DOLLAR MENU. When you catch your breath and retrieve your jaw from the floor keep reading for more details. Okay, so there isn’t a dollar menu. They only have a value menu which includes most of the item from a normal dollar menu for $1.50-$2.00. I know you’re thinking that isn’t much more expensive than a dollar but if you consider what this means about prices of other items you would loose your cool.

Normal $6-8 items on a menu at some cheap restaurants in the city are $10 and up. Some places that serve burgers charge about $12-15 for a burger and fries. And prices keep moving up as you get further from the cities. For example, we’ve all heard the $5 footlong Subway commercials. In Anchorage, they are $6 footlongs and the commercial features a drawn on extra finger on the hand. (Tried to find it on youtube to post for you but the internet here isn’t exactly video friendly.) In Denali/Healy where I live and work Subway is the only fast food place around and a footlong is nearly $10. No lie. It’s twice as expensive as home.

Speaking of me thankful for being fed. I’m also thankful that I like what I’m eating for the most part. They have had some funky items but nothing too bad. My breakfast consists of some form of potato (hash brown, tater tot, fried potatoes), eggs, bacon or sausage, pancakes or french toast, biscuit and gravy, fruit and cereal. So far there’s been very little variation from that. Unfortunately, due to some unfortunate events and timing our employee lunch facility at work hasn’t opened yet so we’ve had to eat sandwiches and chips for 4 days. That should end in the next couple days. Dinner has offered a lot of variety: ribs, fried pork chop, baked chicken, rosemary and sun dried tomato chicken, fish tacos, shrimp tacos, beef tacos, stroganoff, crab risotto, green beans, mixed veggies, zucchini and squash pasta, mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, rolls and garlic bread, various deserts and more.

Alaska Word: Bug Dope- Bug repellant.

Sidenote: The very first day a guy on the bus asked if we brought our dope. For obvious reasons I was confused and uncomfortable. Fortunately, he quickly picked up that vibe and explained himself. He was just concerned that we weren't prepared for mosquitos. Oops.

3 comments:

  1. can i borrow some dope? :)

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  2. This un-dollar menu makes my heart sad for some reason.

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  3. haha Sissy I had to get some dope from my friend. I forgot to buy some. And Destiny....ha you're telling me I was like who even wants to eat at Mcdonalds in Alaska when I could get the same thing in OK for half. Boo

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