We had a monthly budget of $250 for eating out/ordering out - so it made sense to just swap that out for curbside pick-up or delivery instead.
Pre-pandemic the only delivery we ever used was for Pizza once or twice a month. By now I discovered three excellent pizza places that deliver, two of them have a generous coupon program.
We are lucky to live in an area with so many different choices from Cajun to Brazilian to Mexican to BBQ to great Burgers and Seafood we got it all.
What I realized is that the excellent but expensive Thai restaurant is suddenly cheaper when we don't order two carafes of plum wine and a pot of tea:).
All those delivery charges add up - so we switched to mostly take-out that Mr. R. can pick-up on the way home from work.
Even your favorites get old and ho-hum - until you discover just how many nice pubs and fancy restaurants are actually in your area.
Even my favorite Italian restaurant that we only frequent twice a year because it tends to end up at $100 turned out to be a fabulous option.
They adjusted their menu, included family dinners and even offer several frozen pre-cooked meals. They used to do a lot of catering so now they offer pantry shopping:) online.
Without ordering a bottle of wine it is downright reasonable...
The best curry dishes ever, fish fry, home baked bread from the British Pub whose French Chef whips up the best chocolate mousse, we didn't want to give that up. It's too inconvenient for Mr. R. to pick up, but the tip and delivery charge even out the price of a couple of pints... that we now drink from home.
We're foodies and I am a passionate cook so looking for cheap take-out was never on our radar.
The point was always to enjoy a nice, different atmosphere, dress up for dinner or just hang out in a pub with good pub food and music.
I really miss that - no sunsets with Margaritas at the beach yet, but maybe soon.
Our world has changed - we're high risk, we simply cannot go out and eat - so we adjusted and make it as hedonistic:) as we like.
The only thing that matters is whether we can afford it and that we at least try to optimize.
OP - talk to your friends about their favorite restaurants, google the menus of interesting restaurants in your area...
Re - hedonic adaptation
1. I have splurged on wait-for-it:) Coldstone Ice Cream Delivery - twice in six months. Gasp!
2. ... and yeah, well for the first time in a long while - I purchased a kitchen gadget~ - a stainless steel "push bottom" pot insert for the Instapot. Good for making lasagne or cheesecake etc and removing it without destroying the cake. Came with a bonus of six mini muffin pans which is giving me some ideas.
Still considering a spiralizer ~ maybe ~