Author Topic: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?  (Read 52980 times)

Tyson

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #150 on: February 26, 2017, 09:04:30 PM »
I hate to eat out unless it's a really top flight restaurant.  I don't want to pay $$ unless it's for food at a level that I simply can't match at home.  Seems a waste, otherwise.  Problem is - as I get better and better over time in my own kitchen, fewer and fewer restaurant meals are still worth it.

jade

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #151 on: February 27, 2017, 07:33:48 AM »
I almost never eat out... like maaaybe once a year, and only when "forced" to by the situation (ie travel) or family who insist on taking us out.

Many years ago we would eat out all the time, and get fast food for dinner multiple times per week. It was pure laziness and inability to plan ahead - forgetting to take things out to defrost, etc.

As I've gotten older I've learned to shop cheaply and meal plan, and learned to enjoy cooking. This has pretty much eliminated eating out because we needed to. I keep quick and easy stuff in the freezer for those nights when I don't feel like cooking so there's always something we can just heat up, or quickly whip up some omelets or something.

As for eating out because we want to, well I simply don't enjoy it. I hate the whole process of getting dressed (I mean, they make you wear shoes and everything!), getting in the car, going somewhere, sitting around waiting for your table while screeching children with inattentive parents run wild, then you have to sit around and wait for them to take your drink order, decline the upsells for appetizers and expensive alcoholic beverages, sit around some more while they take your food order, wait for the food to come out, then be interrupted 8 times as they ask you inane questions like "How's everything tasting tonight?" the moment you have a mouth full of food, decline the additional upsells dessert, etc, then wait for the damn check, then wait again for them to run your CC and bring it back.... And of course while all this is going on there are horrible little children with inattentive parents jumping on the seat behind you and dropping crayons on your head, TVs blaring obnoxious sporting events or overwhelming music combined with general ambient noise that makes it pretty much impossible to actually have a conversation with the people you are purportedly there to spend time with. And of course, depending on the restaurant, its probably costing what I spend on a week's worth of groceries for that one meal. And holy shit is the food unhealthy, most entrees I see contain about 1/2 a day's worth of calories, and that's before they add on the fries or side salad or anything else.

Fuck that :)

This made me chuckle! Sadly, quite true, isn't it? :)

LOL well I'm glad someone appreciates my little diatribe, for some reason most people just tell me I'm no fun :)

lol! Funnily enough we went out for a pizza this weekend and I thought of this... the food was nice enough but it was SO noisy! It made me appreciate my own dining room more!! We're obviously not having fun "properly"! ;-)
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plainjane

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #152 on: March 01, 2017, 08:24:20 AM »
I hate to eat out unless it's a really top flight restaurant.  I don't want to pay $$ unless it's for food at a level that I simply can't match at home.  Seems a waste, otherwise.  Problem is - as I get better and better over time in my own kitchen, fewer and fewer restaurant meals are still worth it.

And they give me so much food.  OTOH, I went out for lunch with a coworker on Monday, and now we have curry that I'm going to only need to stretch a very little bit for two people to eat tomorrow night.

BogleBoy

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #153 on: March 12, 2017, 12:39:31 AM »
Our favorite restaurant is our kitchen.

I think as our cooking skills increase the bar rises as far as how impressive a restaurant has to be. There's a growing number of recipes we can cook at home that you commonly find in restaurants yet they don't make the dish as well as we do.

Every now and then though there are those exceptions: dining out when traveling, special occasions, or just being too busy or tired to have the time to cook something.

When we do go out to eat we also like to pick restaurants that we know offer dishes we'd have a very hard time replicating at home.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2017, 12:43:08 AM by BogleBoy »

Dicey

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #154 on: March 12, 2017, 01:38:24 AM »
Went out to dinner pre-theater with friends. It was fine for a muggle, but disappointing as hell for a mustachian. OTOH, I hit up the proprietor for a gift card for an upcoming charitable event, so it might not be all bad news. We'll see if he comes through.

MrsPB

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #155 on: March 12, 2017, 06:24:00 AM »
We limit dining out mainly to when other people treat us! The inlaws visit a few times a year and they typically treat us to a meal out but with two small children, the last few visits we have opted for take out instead.
On the rare occasion (maybe 2x per year)  we eat out of our own accord( because we have a gift card typically), it's usually early bird breakfast at a family breakfast joint where it's quieter and cheaper.
I agree with others that with little kids, dining out is so much work between keeping the kids amused as you wait, remembering to take kid safe utensils/bowls, picking up dropped food, dealing with crap high chairs with broken straps etc.
If we had a sitter, we might in theory go for a meal occasionally as a couple, but add in the cost of the sitter and I just can't accept the total cost for a meal that I can make at home. Eating out isn't just about the food but relative to the experience gain, I don't feel it's good value most of the time. When the kids are older we will probably venture out a little more.

kissthesky

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #156 on: March 12, 2017, 11:39:27 AM »
I'd say I'm pretty close to never. In the past 12 months I've probably gone out to eat 5 times (although none were because I wanted to). 3 times the parental units were visiting and took us out to eat, and 2 times good friends got engaged and we took them out to dinner to celebrate. But I usually "go" out to eat with friends more often than that; I just don't order anything. My restrictive diet due to health issues and food allergies make it almost impossible to eat anywhere anyway. But it also saves me a lot of money so it works for me.

Mtngrl

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #157 on: March 12, 2017, 09:34:13 PM »
Hmm -- we go out for my birthday and our anniversary. (We have a couple of restaurants we like where we celebrate these occasions.) Other than that, add in a few times a year when we are traveling or if friends invite us. I think this last year we ate out maybe 8 times. We live in a rural area, so any dinner out is at least a 20 minute drive and 95% of the time the food I could make at home is better.

ltt

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #158 on: March 12, 2017, 09:58:56 PM »
We much prefer eating at home, although we will get take-out or order pizza occasionally.  Once my husband comes home from work, he simply does not want to turn around and go out to eat.

I will go out with friends for lunch once a month to catch up.

I am also very tuned into to service at restaurants, fast food joints, etc.  The last time I stopped with my kids at a fast food joint, it was enough to turn me off from ever going back.  The girl behind the counter really didn't care if we were there or not.    Honestly, I don't know why restaurants put people like this on their front lines to provide customer service.  Also, I do not like going to fast food places where you have to touch the soda machine buttons to make your drink, knowing that there have been many people prior to you who have touched the buttons to make their drink.  Sorry, just not sanitary.

OvertheRainbow

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #159 on: March 13, 2017, 04:02:05 AM »
By "go out" do you mean at a sit-down restaurant or are you also including fast food like Mickey D's?

I eat out WAY too much, but it isn't an expensive, sit-down. Mostly McDonald's, $1.50 fries at work cafeteria, and the occasional Chipotle and Panda Express.

havregryn

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #160 on: March 13, 2017, 04:48:01 AM »
We only eat out in most special of circumstances. I grew up in a rural area in a poor country where the notion of eating out was reserved only for weddings and baptisms so I grew up without ever seeing that as a viable option to feed oneself and husband grew up in Sweden where the cost of such endevours is extremely high so he also learned to live without during his student years. Before we would occasionally treat ourselves to a Japanese restaurant as Japanese food is hard to make at home but now we have small kids so that too is very rare.
For us this is not even about saving money, our lifestyle just evolved around it. We both love cooking and are good at it, so also any restaurant we'd go to has to be able to offer us something we can't make at home which makes them both rare and super expensive.

Tyson

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Re: Does Anyone NEVER Go Out To Eat?
« Reply #161 on: March 13, 2017, 11:08:21 AM »
We used to go out to eat more often because my daughter liked to get waffles or milkshakes from some of the local restaurants.  I bought a waffle iron and a blender and now we make those things at home (and gluten free, too!).  I also learned how to do home-made whipped cream, turned out to be super simple, and my daughter likes it better than the "fake" whipped cream you get when you go out.