Lifehacks are all the craze on social media right now. You can’t scroll through your social media feed without seeing the next crazy hack everyone’s trying out. Today I’m going to give you a meal-based lifehack that will not only change the way you eat but also save you money. (Yes please and thank you with this current inflation!)
You may have seen other lifehacks, some better than others. I’d classify many of these lifehacks as not practical – who has chewing gum, shoe polish, and 15 feet of yarn readily on-hand? Some are even dangerous. Should you really be driving your car on the freeway with a coffee can of rocks dragging behind you as some sort of makeshift rock tumbler? (Shout out to my fellow 80’s kids!)
Other lifehacks are life-changing strokes of pure genius. I personally had no idea that an apple can be easily peeled with the juice of one lime, a loofah, and 15 minutes’ worth of patience.
Encouraged by the more successful and clever lifehacks, I decided to foray into this side of social media and come up with and test my own lifehack. How hard could it be?
Let me ask you a question: how many times do you get to the end of a restaurant meal and are too stuffed to even consider getting dessert. We all know dessert is the best part of the meal. So why leave it to the end like you’re 10 years old again being punished for not eating all of your vegetables?
The lifehack is simple: order dessert first at a restaurant and only order an entrée if you’re still hungry. With my newly created lifehack, I now needed to go out into the field and test it .
So I first ventured out to my local Applebee’s to give it a go. My waitress welcomed me into the restaurant, and I immediately ordered a Diet Coke and a brownie sundae. She stopped for a second and gave me a quizzical look, but eventually acquiesced and returned 10 minutes later with my order.
At this point the ice cream had only whetted my appetite, so I decided to order an entrée… actually 2 entrées since I couldn’t choose between the Santa Fe flatbread and the honey BBQ ribs platter (with fries and a house salad, duh!).
Technically the lifehack worked exactly to plan, but I wanted to do more testing to prove beyond a doubt that this lifehack is in fact life-changing.
Next I went to your classic Italian kitchen neighborhood chain that’s been serving up bottomless carbohydrates for generations. (Comment below if you know which chain I’m talking about!)
My waiter places a basket of breadsticks on the table before I even have the chance to order a Diet Coke and my dessert – this time a tiramisu. While waiting I start nibbling on the breadsticks. After about 4 or 5 sticks I’m just hitting my stride when my dessert arrives and becomes the focus of my attention for the next few minutes.
At this point I’ve only spent $7, and I’m starting to get full from the carbonation and pure sugar. I kindly tell my waiter I won’t be joining him for dinner tonight. You should have seen the look on his face. It was almost like I had just asked the poor guy out on a date and had stood him up!
I politely asked him for my check and a doggy bag for the remaining two breadsticks, tipped him a couple bucks, and rolled out of the restaurant happy as an Italian clam.
Hopefully I’ve shown that this lifehack really works! I’ve started using it almost every time I go out to eat, even on date nights. So why not start using it yourself and begin your meal with that dessert you know you want!
