Cost of Take-Out Lunch, Week Ending 101510

Thursday: BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, unlimited soup and salad*, $11.62
Friday: Baja Fish Tacos, Baja Fish Bowl: $7.62

Total: $19.24, bringing the total for the year up to $780.08.

Let's talk about BJ's for a second.  It was my first time there and I LOVED it.  There were so many things to choose from and their lunch menu was a nice assortment of things in various combinations, such as a cup of soup with half a sandwich AND fries.  Who'd heard of such a thing? 

I'd heard that BJ's pizza is fantastic, but as I had the last slice of Bulgogi Supreme Pizza for breakfast I opted for their unlimited soup and salad.  I started with a Ceasar salad and broccoli cheese soup. The salad was ok, the soup was the cheesiest soup I've ever had.  One of the guys said it was like fondue it was so cheesy.  And of course, he had to have a taste, stringing cheese across the table all while winding it on his fork, prompting coworker #2 to have a taste as well.

Two salads and five soups to choose from and I was nearly full from my first choices. Skipping the second salad option, house salad, I asked the waiter for a "sampler" of the other soups, including minestrone, a tomato bisque, clam chowder, and some sort of beer chili.  Sure enough, he brought four cups, each filled about 1/2-3/4 full of soups, along with four spoons.

My two coworkers and I sampled the soups (until they were nearly gone) and we agreed that the clam chowder was the best and the broccoli cheese was a very close second. After that, they preferred the chili, though they couldn't taste the beer as they had started lunch with beers and neither cared for the tomato or minestrone.  I preferred the minestrone followed by the bisque and the chili ranked last.  Turns out, I don't care for beer-flavored chili. Maybe because I don't like beer.

However, this soup and salad meal has got me thinking about what I could eat at home.  While I've never been a huge soup fanatic, I think it would be a good thing for a person living alone.  After all, most soups are nearly effortless and easily frozen. Eureka!!