It was a 4-5-3-4-0(3.2) Star Meal

I like food, that you should already know.  I have talked about the meals I have eaten in the past and how much I liked them, how easy they were to make, and how the kids didn’t eat them once they were done.  I think I need a ratings system for food.  A simple five star system won't do, there are too many variables and I am not the kind of guy that overlooks the variables.  I was discussing this my wife and we had a few ideas.

1. Taste: this is pretty self explanatory, rating 0-5 stars
   • 5 Stars - Filet Mignon
   • 0 Stars - Filet-O-Fish
2. Prep time: how long does it take to make, rating 0-5 stars
   • 5 Stars - Throw it on a plate and eat
   • 0 Stars - kimchi
3. Health: will this keep your stool loose or clog an artery
   • 5 Stars – Anything with bran in the name
   • 0 Stars - Anything from Five Guys
4. Cost: whether you are buying the ingredients or buying the prepared meal, rating 0-5 stars
   • 5 Stars - Ramen Noodles
   • 0 Stars - Dom Pérignon
5. Kid friendliness: this one is a little difficult, so follow along.
• 5 Stars - Something that always works, anytime of day, under any conditions, like hot dogs, pizza and tacos.
• 4 Stars - Something that works a lot, but don't go to the well too many times or your kids will be whining, in my house, that's barbeque chicken and hamburgers.
• 3 Stars - You never know what will happen, they ate it the first time, but they might have been tired or distracted.  They might eat it again, but grudgingly, like pasta with Italian sausage and spinach or quesadillas.  Bribery with ice cream or some other treat will coax them to clean their plate.
• 2 Stars - Even worse, they complained the entire time eating it, but they will eat some of it, repeat performances are frowned upon.  We once made Egg Noodles with Ham and Peas and that went over like a fart in church.  My wife and I loved it, but the kids thought it looked and tasted like vomit, they at around the ham and peas and only ate the noodles.  Bribery fails at this point.  
• 1 Star – You didn’t think this one through, did you?  You temporarily forgot you had kids.  You forgot that they won’t eat anything that looks “weird”.  They might, just might, take one or two bites, but that is it.  Shut up, don't spook them or things could get bad quick.  Just suck it up and break out the cereal bowls.  We made chicken in a puff pastry shell.  We thought it would be fun to eat.  We were wrong, very wrong.
• 0 Stars - What the hell were you thinking?  If you were smart, you wouldn’t even make them a plate.  Hell, I wouldn’t even invite them to the table.  You eat the meal in silence and have a PB&J waiting for them when you are done.  The closest this meal is getting to their mouths is when they try to bite your face off for trying to serve it to them and you have a little of it on your lip.  An example of a 0 Star meal is the time we made noodles with a Thai peanut sauce.  Turns out that the sauce was just a tad bit spicy.  The kids immediately threw a fit and refused to eat.  They claimed we were trying to kill them.
6. Average Score – take all five scores and average them, rounded to the nearest decimal point.  I will not add weighting for any particular attribute at this time.

In any future posts where I mention food, I will reference this rating scale.