The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Welcome and General Discussion => Topic started by: wageslave23 on August 26, 2022, 03:26:35 PM
-
I'm interested in how often people order restaurant food. Please disregard the incoherent topic title ;)
-
I like to set boundaries for myself so that I spend what I think is appropriate. Otherwise I would overspend in some categories (books) and under spend in others (everything else). I make sure we eat at my favorite Italian place once every credit card cycle. Like as soon as I pay my cc bill (in full), I'm planning what night to order italian. We eat out when we have doctor's appointments because they are an all day trip out of town. But I really prefer to eat at home, especially if DH is cooking!
Fun poll!
-
At this moment in time, it's once or twice a month. There have been times in the past when it was weekly (pre-kids when we both worked outside the home), or even several times a week (raising young children). There have been times when we challenged ourselves and didn't eat out for several months at a time -- I think the record is not getting any outside food until 5 months into the pandemic.
Our current rules are simple: we can eat at a restaurant for a major celebration, occasionally if invited by our friends (not more than once a month), and we can get takeout if we are doing a major house project like deep cleaning the kitchen or doing a thorough clean out and organization of the garage. Oh, and we can eat out when we travel, but the way we travel we also have the opportunity to take most of our meals with us.
For a celebration, it usually means a family thing and someone else has planned for us to eat at a restaurant -- if I'm planning I try to steer us to potlucks or just offer to cook. We don't typically eat out for our birthdays, and I hate restaurants on Valentine's Day and Mother's Day and would much rather cook. But we do go to a nice restaurant for our wedding anniversary.
We did eat out more often earlier this summer, with a kid home from college who had really missed the good food in southern California. And wow, were we blown away by the price of restaurant food now! Even fast casual is over $10 per person, and that's without beverages. We went with friends to a casual brewery type restaurant in July and were amazed that all of the entrees were in the $20 range -- even the sandwiches!
-
Once a week for us, usually Friday night. Occasional weeks of 0 or 2, but 1 is pretty much the standard.
-
I am the black sheep that is multiple times a week - we are too busy
-
We're once or twice a month. At the moment, we're working through a year's worth of Mo'Bettah's meals that I won in a drawing. We'll probably not going to cut back once we're through all of them. We like that place. We do 'fancy' (more than $30 for the two of us) about four times a year.
-
Unless traveling, we try to limit it to once every couple weeks. Especially with inflation now. We used to eat out more. I found that, at least in our area, rarely did it really feel worth the premium.
In today’s day and age, it is difficult to have a sit down meal for less than $50 a person. For us, that is a lot of money, especially since we could make similar meals to the restaurants in our area at home.
-
It's very seasonal for us, so I responded on average 1-2 per month. We love restaurants using seasonal, local ingredients, so during the growing season, we're 2-3 times per month. In the winter, it's very rare. Restaurants are more about eating foods I don't cook (well) at home and less about convenience.
-
For this year it's been:
January - once
February - twice
March - once
April - once
May - three times
June - twice
July - once
August - twice
So very literally once or twice a month.
-
It's basically for birthdays and anniversaries.
Since two of the birthdays are close together, it's basically three birthday dinners, one anniversary and that's about it.
Honestly, we're pretty good at cooking (we're canning salsa right now), so it doesn't make much sense to dine out.
-
We eat out about once a week, usually it’s because other people are all heading out to lunch after church and it’s a way to socialize and catch up with friends. Sometimes we eat out as part of a family adventure day, where we cycle to a new part of the city, eat lunch, and cycle home.
-
Currently about once a week. The impact on our finances is pretty close to zero. We found a local Mexican restaurant that runs a special on Tuesdays. Chips, salsa, water, 2-3 tacos each, and the best Pina Colada(shared) we've ever had for $14. Once or twice a month we order pizza, mostly for the kids. Pizza joint nearby has excellent extra large pepperoni for 8 or $9. LOTS of large delicious pepperoni. I'm not sure we could make it that cheap at home honestly.
I'm 100% in the camp that it doesn't make any sense to look back one day and wonder where all the money you made went, and realize you ate it all(eating out). It's an expense I definitely like to keep firmly under control. I do prefer to eat at home most of the time.....It's hard to enjoy a meal out that isn't at least a reasonably good value.
For my birthday, I asked for a meal at home. I preferred it greatly to a $200+ family eat out splurge. Maybe its a mindset that eating at home is not a punishment, and eating out isn't necessarily always a reward. But if I feel like going out for a taco after work, I'll do it, find a good value, and enjoy it 100%.
I've seen people push frugality to the point that it detracts from quality of life for a negligible amount of money. Visiting family in Germany. After a long international trip, we made the mistake of having a long drive to our destination, picked up by family. We sat in a 2 hour traffic jam on the autobahn....hot, miserable day. Rather than roll the windows up and use the A/C to be comfortable in a miserable traffic jam, it was windows down, no A/C, ignition off every time we stopped for a few seconds. I would have gladly paid the $1 or $2 for gas to be less miserable. Sorry, bit of a tangent. /endrant.
-
A few times per year for us. We used to enjoy it more in the past, but we started tapering off about 10 years ago.
-
I am the black sheep that is multiple times a week - we are too busy
Why not hire someone to cook for you then? Much cheaper.
As for us, it depends on where we are. At our city home, there are so many things/activities to do, so we rarely choose going out for whole meals as an activity.
At our rural Newfoundland home, going out for a meal is one of the only cultural activities you can do, so we go out upwards of once a week, typically Friday nights when there's live music with the dinner. Plus restaurants here are very inexpensive.
That said, now that we've been here a bit and are making local friends, we'll probably go out to restaurants less since that's not part of the local culture. People here socialize at each other's homes, not at establishments. Those are more for tourists.
I batch cook, so we never use restaurants for convenience meals, only for fun date nights. When I can't batch cook, I hire a service to do it for me.
The only time I order in food is when I'm sick and craving pizza.
-
We eat out or get takeout about once per week, but rarely as a full family. The kids go out with their friends on the weekends and DH and I have a date night, or we have a lunch with friends. Since COVID, dining out is fairly rare. I have a fabulous kitchen to cook in though, so it’s a joy to cook these days. When I was working, we did a ton of restaurant meals because I was too tired to cook.
-
I'm a decent cook, and also retired. The good restaurants around me have gone out of business, making the choice to eat out (or not) an easy one. There's lots of chains, and some so-so individual places. When we do go out, its typically to a brewery to have snacks to go with our beer.
-
Maybe once or twice a month I am just really tired or low on groceries or inspiration so we order food. It's been getting so expensive with fees and tips that it feels really wasteful but it is a way to get certain cuisines that we don't normally prepare at home. We'll also occasionally go out for dinner with friends, although I prefer going to each other's houses.
-
Maybe once or twice a month I am just really tired or low on groceries or inspiration so we order food. It's been getting so expensive with fees and tips that it feels really wasteful but it is a way to get certain cuisines that we don't normally prepare at home. We'll also occasionally go out for dinner with friends, although I prefer going to each other's houses.
This is basically us, too. My DH does all the cooking, so whenever he doesn’t feel like it for whatever reason, I absolutely give him leeway to order delivery or decide on a restaurant date.
-
The last time just my wife and I had a sit-down meal at a restaurant? Maybe once in the last year at a local Italian restaurant.
9 times out of 10 for us it's getting lunch at Chick-fil-A or the Costco food court if we're out on errands on the weekend. The former typically runs about $50 (family of 8) while the latter is usually about $20 for a $10 pizza for most of the kids to share then maybe some hotdogs and an ice cream to share.
I can't fathom going out to eat at a regular restaurant multiple times per week. It's bad enough when our kids decide they don't want to eat a sandwich or slice of pizza that costs a few dollars. Not going to spend $15+ on an entree only to watch them not even try it. They can do that at home where we can at least save the leftovers easily enough (which is why I'll be eating salmon for the third lunch in a row today).
-
We moved from Hawaii to Colorado and our monthly food cost went up. This is mostly because my wife's family and friends in Colorado have a culture of going out to lunch and dinner when meeting up socially. I don't think it's crazy expensive and we can afford it, but we are no longer frugal in the food category. My wife also gets special wine delivered to the house. The bottles are $10-$15. She likes the brand because there is no added sugar. It's just the natural sugar from the grapes.
Our total food & alcohol monthly spend went from $1100/month to $1350/month over the past three years. We also have a 5-year old that is now consuming more food, but I don't think his growth in appetite explains an extra $250/month.
My goal for 2022 is to get it down to $1300/month. I usually take a break from alcohol in September & October every year, so that will help with the monthly spend.
-
I've seen people push frugality to the point that it detracts from quality of life for a negligible amount of money. Visiting family in Germany. After a long international trip, we made the mistake of having a long drive to our destination, picked up by family. We sat in a 2 hour traffic jam on the autobahn....hot, miserable day. Rather than roll the windows up and use the A/C to be comfortable in a miserable traffic jam, it was windows down, no A/C, ignition off every time we stopped for a few seconds. I would have gladly paid the $1 or $2 for gas to be less miserable. Sorry, bit of a tangent. /endrant.
Off topic, but was that actually frugality, or fear that the cold air would give them a cold? Europeans in general aren't as big on air conditioning as Americans, and are often a bit skeptical or fearful of it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/22/europe-to-america-your-love-of-air-conditioning-is-stupid/
https://www.spiegel.de/international/draftophobia-blown-away-by-the-fear-of-air-a-407764.html
-
I am the black sheep that is multiple times a week - we are too busy
We are too busy to eat out.
We cook on the weekend for the whole week. Maybe two hours of time total.
We eat out maybe twice a month, normally breakfast at the farmer's market and a lunch somewhere.
-
Before we retired it was several times a week and our monthly food and restaurant expenses totaled over $1000/month for 2 of us. We were both working a lot, and we justified it as entertainment.
Approximately a year before retirement, I decided to see if we could bring that number down, and we started eating in and only going out once or twice a week. Monthly food budget dropped to $500 per month.
When covid hit our monthly food budget dropped below $300/month since we weren't eating out at all.
With inflation and going back to eating out once or twice a week (making frugal choices and looking for deals), we're back to $500 per month.
-
I pretty consistently go out to dinner 3 times a week and I meet up with friends for lunch 1 day most weeks. Add to that picking up a pizza or a sub sandwich another day. Dining out is my largest expense, full stop. OK, maybe taxes are more but I don’t notice those as much until tax day. I enjoy it as a social activity and I also enjoy good food and wine. This is where I see the highest inflation recently and so I may take some minor steps to reduce my total spending in this area.
As a middle aged singleton who lives in the suburbs I’ve found this to be one of the few social activities where I can meet up with friends and acquaintances both new and old and have an enjoyable evening. I’m somewhat hopeful that now as more friends my age are becoming empty nesters there may be some more socializing opportunities with them. I have enjoyed a couple of fantastic dinners at friends houses this year and I hope there will be more of those opportunities.
I consider my dining out to be my hobby. A rather expensive hobby, but something I enjoy and don’t really mind spending money on. I also do enjoy cooking and do so 2-3 times a week, but being single it does sort of lead to lots of leftovers and it can get a little depressing to sit alone eating a meal that took an hour to prepare and clean up but only 10 minutes to consume. When and if I find a partner, I’m sure my habits will change and I’ll eat at home more often.
-
We have takeout or go to the local microbrewery once or twice a month on average, I'd say. It's always at the invitation of my father, who lives with us, and it happens when he thinks I've been working hard and need a break. Going out doesn't really save time, but it does save work, especially the work of cleaning up, so I appreciate it.
-
It really varies for me, but we probably get food outside outside the house at least once a weekend. Like pick up something while we’re out running errands across town or get takeout Thai food after a busy day when I don’t want to do anymore dishes. There is so much amazing restaurant and food truck food near me that’s it’s very tempting. I cook a lot and but there are certain things I don’t make like battered fish and chips, or really anything fried. We also have friends who own a bar so I’m always happy to eat their incredible food and support their business. It’s like a dive bar with a chef who worked in a Michelin restaurant. Smash burgers topped with deep fried kimchi! So so good. Only in Portland… :)
-
As often as I feel like doing
-
About once or twice a week. We have a midweek date night and then we'll usually go out once on the weekend. It's mostly about being social and getting the heck out of our apartment than anything.
-
This year we have spent $7,632.65 on the category of restaurants. Also included is dessert dates. We like to splurge. I’m likely taking a major salary reduction soon for a major work life balance improvement. Restaurants will be one of the first expenses to cut down significantly.
It’s a lot, we really enjoy it and occasionally pay for big meals out with family and friends on special occasions. My parents are flying in to visit next week (they’re retired) and I’ll probably spend $400+ on restaurants, I also spent $500 on tickets for a MLB game while they’re here. They spent their life living very modestly to retire in their early 60’s, and were very supportive of my siblings and I despite their means. This year I’ll likely make around 3x-4x what they ever made.
-
I was feeling all proud of ourselves for how little we've eaten out or had take-out since the pandemic began. We've taken road trips and brought all the food we needed with us. (via RV, which is not actually saying much, I admit, but also week-long trips by car).
Today, we ate a late breakfast and headed out to a tile and countertop mecca about 45 miles from home. Didn't think to pack snacks. There were so many more tile stores since we were there last! At about 2:15, we still hadn't found what we were looking for. We looked at each other and said "We need food. Now!". There was a Subway nearby and two basic footlongs cost us $16.49, with no drinks or sides. Wowza!
We took our late lunch over to an empty parking lot full of big, shady trees and dined in peace in our vehicle. This cutie pie even stopped by to check on us. We waved and he went away.
-
We hardly ever eat out and on the rare occasions when we do, the prices come as a shock just as it did for @Dicey :-)
-
I was feeling all proud of ourselves for how little we've eaten out or had take-out since the pandemic began. We've taken road trips and brought all the food we needed with us. (via RV, which is not actually saying much, I admit, but also week-long trips by car).
Today, we ate a late breakfast and headed out to a tile and countertop mecca about 45 miles from home. Didn't think to pack snacks. There were so many more tile stores since we were there last! At about 2:15, we still hadn't found what we were looking for. We looked at each other and said "We need food. Now!". There was a Subway nearby and two basic footlongs cost us $16.49, with no drinks or sides. Wowza!
We took our late lunch over to an empty parking lot full of big, shady trees and dined in peace in our vehicle. This cutie pie even stopped by to check on us. We waved and he went away.
Subway is my teen's favorite place to eat, which I find puzzling. That said, if you think it will happen again, install the app. I regularly get a free 6" with a footlong, or BOGO50 the second foot long, get free drinks/chips, etc. Order via the app, and then just pick up in the store. It's pretty big cost savings. Again, Subway specific, but you can also buy their gift cards at a 20%+ savings, and then just upload them to the app. When you combine with an in app offer, you've saved even more. Subway is one of places we go in a pinch (similar situation to yours, but usually involves a soccer tournament or something) & I'm then ready with the app & less expensive options. Basically, plan ahead for the future time you'll need a quick meal option. :-)
-
Maybe once or twice a month I am just really tired or low on groceries or inspiration so we order food. It's been getting so expensive with fees and tips that it feels really wasteful but it is a way to get certain cuisines that we don't normally prepare at home. We'll also occasionally go out for dinner with friends, although I prefer going to each other's houses.
This is me too. Take out is when I just can't face the kitchen anymore. We are in gardening season right now so while I'd love to get take out, it feels like I'm wasting food if I do. We haven't ordered out since June 27 (I keep track of our meals on my google calendar). I am ready for not cooking!
We also do take and bake pizzas a couple of times a month - but that doesn't count to me since we buy them during our grocery trip.
-
I voted once or twice a month but when we're not traveling it's much less often and when we are it's more often. Looking through my accounting I don't think my wife and I have gone out to eat together in the city where we live so far this year. But on the other hand we were traveling (mostly work related) and staying with friends and ended up going out to eat (or ordered take-out) about 16 times in a three-week period. Fortunately my wife is being compensated for this particular travel which should cover all of that.
-
It varies for us. We will go out to eat and even pay for other people's dinners if it is a social/personal connections because personally connections are gold. But if my partner and I are just being lazy usually we can talk ourselves into making something, so we don't end up relying on it too often. However, this varies widely in the year. If on vacation we do dine out a lot. When at home we could go months without. We prefer our cooking over the restaurants where we live so it's not too difficult. With that said, we don't deprive ourselves since that's not the point of life. :)
-
I don't like to eat out. So its rare.
-
Up until about 6 months ago I used to eat fast food a couple times a week after work. When I started working from home about 6 months ago I completely stopped eating out and I now cook more at home. I guess McDonald's was not worth a special trip out but a stop to the grocery store is.
-
I take out lunch a lot. There are a bunch of restaurants in my neigbourhood (Italian, Turkish, etc.).
It's quite cheap (less than $10 per meal) and given that I am in a single household, I don't feel bad about it.
However, I rarely ever have food delivered (so far, none this year), I make sure to put on my shoes and take a walk when picking up food.
-
We out if we travel, but otherwise 6 times a year - we get takeout for birthdays.
I am not all that crazy about restaurant food.
-
We out if we travel, but otherwise 6 times a year - we get takeout for birthdays.
I am not all that crazy about restaurant food.
I used to really enjoy it. It made me feel “special” to go out to eat. We rarely did growing up, and even more scarcely to nice places. That probably was a part of why I enjoyed it so much.
As I have gotten older, I have much less enjoyment eating out - they add sugar on everything, the food is overpriced, not healthy, the portions are either way too small, or more commonly absurdly large. I find I prefer eating food at home - it tastes more like “food” to me…
-
Once or twice a month. I would love to eat out more but I cant trust having someone else prepare my food.
-
Once every couple of months, maybe? None of the options really fit for me, so I said once or twice a year. It's more than that, but definitely not once or twice a month.
-
Once every couple of months, maybe? None of the options really fit for me, so I said once or twice a year. It's more than that, but definitely not once or twice a month.
Same. I budget $15 out of every paycheck, so that works out to approximately $30/month. But for three people, dinner out at any of our favorite places is closer to $50 or $60, so we really eat out like every other month (not counting the fast food that comes out of my husband's spend-however-you-like money).
-
...more commonly absurdly large...
Isn't that weird? I guess the 'regulars' must make a fuss about it or something. We often eat breakfast at the same sit down place while on vacation and try to remember to say something like "about half the home fries planned please." Hate to see food wasted (and don't plan to have it waisted..).
-
We typically do takeout or go eat out as a family on either Friday evening or Saturday evening.
-
Probably twice a week, but usually only $10-$25 a pop 90% of the time (just the two of us).
-
We eat out every Sunday at Potbelly for about the last 23 years. Could have bought a Tesla for what we have given Potbelly over the years. Total stupid money.
We eat out every other Saturday at Chick-fil-a on the way home from our bi-weekly Costco run. Also stupid money.
We eat out once or twice a month at a restaurant(most often sushi) with friends at ~$100 per visit.
These are the only consistent ones, there are likely many others throughout the month that just happen.
Our eating out is just plain stupid money, we spend at least as much eating out each month as we spend on groceries. Haven't been able to get away from it as it has been ingrained in our life throughout our child-raising years.
TBH it has not and will not negatively affect our current 2029 RE plan when our youngest graduates high school. Just going to let the plan run its course and still end up with the W in the end...
-
We out if we travel, but otherwise 6 times a year - we get takeout for birthdays.
I am not all that crazy about restaurant food.
I used to really enjoy it. It made me feel “special” to go out to eat. We rarely did growing up, and even more scarcely to nice places. That probably was a part of why I enjoyed it so much.
As I have gotten older, I have much less enjoyment eating out - they add sugar on everything, the food is overpriced, not healthy, the portions are either way too small, or more commonly absurdly large. I find I prefer eating food at home - it tastes more like “food” to me…
I've had some really nice dinners out over the years, but it's mostly about being there with fun friends. Really decent restaurant food costs about the same as a week's groceries, and that's just not an experience that is worth it to me. Fast food and pizza, I really don't see the point.
-
My family eats out a lot. I'm a foodie and even though my partner is an awesome cook, we just can't replicate all of the world cuisines that we love and have access to.
I think how often you eat out is strongly correlated with geography (and child-status).
For example, a couple in Manhattan has a million restaurant choices within walking distance while someone in a rural area may have to travel 20-30 minutes to the nearest restaurant (most likely fast food or chain restaurant).
Also, if you have young children, it's often not worth the hassle (more likely to do take out or delivery).
-
We used to eat out a lot, because both of us were working 80-90 hour weeks. Now our schedules are lighter, and with a kid it’s not any fun being in a restaurant. We get takeout now. Because of work I usually don’t get to eat lunch, and I’m not a big breakfast person. My wife does most of the choosing and our takeout frequency depends on her interest. Restaurants are much more now than I remember! And greasier!
-
I budget $100 a month for the family for all eating out (sit down dinners, fast food lunch, coffee at a social gathering). Looking at my spreadsheets we've averaged that over the years. I love eating fast food, but then I get buyer's remorse when I stop to think how much that one meal cost me.
-
My family eats out a lot. I'm a foodie and even though my partner is an awesome cook, we just can't replicate all of the world cuisines that we love and have access to.
I think how often you eat out is strongly correlated with geography (and child-status).
For example, a couple in Manhattan has a million restaurant choices within walking distance while someone in a rural area may have to travel 20-30 minutes to the nearest restaurant (most likely fast food or chain restaurant).
Also, if you have young children, it's often not worth the hassle (more likely to do take out or delivery).
Funnily, we eat out more often when we're in the rural community that has very little choice compared to when we're in the city and surrounded by amazing ethnic restaurants.
In the city, I can easily find ingredients and can pretty easily replicate pretty much anything that I like except for things like wood burning BBQ because we live in an apartment.
Otherwise the access to exotic ingredients is amazing, and recipes and videos of particular techniques are readily available online. Although there are some restaurants with specific, original dishes that I just can't recreate, so we'll go to those for special occasions.
Whereas when we're in the remote community, it's hard to get basic ingredients. I couldn't even get cabbage for a few weeks, much less anything exotic. I jumped for joy when I saw that the stores usually carried ginger.
We ate out more often largely because it's the main activity available to do if one wants to leave the house and engage with people. Back in the city I have access to so many activities beyond sitting somewhere and eating.
So for us, access to great restaurants doesn't actually correlate with more eating out.
-
I budget $100 a month for the family for all eating out (sit down dinners, fast food lunch, coffee at a social gathering). Looking at my spreadsheets we've averaged that over the years. I love eating fast food, but then I get buyer's remorse when I stop to think how much that one meal cost me.
Yes, we're about the same, once maybe twice per month. But the price has risen so much in the last couple of years. Buyers remorse? yes, most definitely. I'm very capable of producing a nice meal myself (one that I like anyway!), if the restaurant doesn't give us something special, I always focus on what it cost. But as we don't eat out often, we don't always know the best places to go. A few years ago when we ate out 1-2/week, we always knew the best restaurants.
-
Once or twice a month since inflation increased prices of everything. I used to eat out once a week.
-
Once a week mostly, but with extended family or friends. Nothing high-end. Just mom-n-pop Thai/Vietnamese/Lebanese/pizza/fusion/etc, extremely rarely chains. Used to be 2x/week but my kids enjoy cooking and helping, sometimes we skip eating out for a couple of weeks. Cook, eat, chill, pool, repeat.
I don't enjoy eating out much, noticed food has too much salt. I feel thirsty for a couple of hours post-meal. This also affects my morning bike rides or workouts on subsequent days. Rarely have alcohol.
Don't like buying lunch during the work week for the same reason. Take home-cooked dinner leftovers or make sandwich.
Dine out limits are for health reasons primarily. We don't enjoy take out, eat in the restaurant, hot and fresh. Worth paying the tip for good service.
-
I voted several times a week due to work. I travel a lot for work, when I do I east out. At home it is generally 2x a week. My Thursday post group run pizza outlining and one other meal.
-
My husband and I go out for dinner on Fridays. On Saturday mornings, I get coffee and a muffin. I used to get coffee and a muffin twice a week but the price has gone up too high.
-
I put several times a week. That doesn't represent $60 each time, but frequently I'll get one of the kids a chicken sandwich, a burger etc if I'm out with just one kid. I have a coffee subscription to Panera ($9 a month) which allowed me to kick my 2-3x a week starbucks habit and I go there nearly every work day to grab an iced coffee. I'm GF so there's no worry about being tempted to buy food there.
I think our restaurant spending averages $400 - 700 a month for a family of 5. Not great, but if someone's visiting or there's a birthday in the house, its a minimum of $80 at a sit down restaurant and I'm not going to sweat the occasional celebration.
-
The husband and I have a standing date night every 2 weeks. We alternate who plans it - usually a fun free-ish activity (last time we checked out a cool nature trail) followed by dinner somewhere new/interesting. Dinners range anywhere from $30-$250 - we like good, interesting food, stuff I can't cook at home easily, and we look for it any price point.
We probably do brunch on the weekend once or twice a month with friends. Yesterday's brunch cost $75, which I felt was a little steep, but it was delicious and the company was great.
About once a month I got out with a friend who likes getting dressed up fancy as much as I do, so we go somewhere where we can do that. Last one I spent $86 for cocktails and appetizers.
We also probably once or twice a month do lunch/dinner out on the way to my FIL's house - he lives 40 minutes away and we visit frequently because he's sick. Sometimes it's like Arby's or Taco Johns for convenience on the way to/from, sometimes we take them out if he's feeling up to it.
I get a fancy coffee from an adorable place in my neighborhood about once a week for $6-7.
We do drinks out a lot, anywhere from a $2 beer to a $12 cocktail just casually while we're out walking around or doing other stuff.
Otherwise, I cook and make drinks/coffee at home. We host monthly potlucks, have small dinner parties for 1-2 other couples, have my brother or friends over for drinks, host people by the pool with drinks, snacks, cheese boards, etc.
I really hate going out and feeling like what we ate was not worth the price. Especially in that weird mid range chain spot at ~$40 or so. So I try to minimize eating out for no reason - I meal plan around our schedules, keep really good homemade easy stuff in the freezer (right now I'm stocked with homemade burritos, mac & cheese, and a couple great soups that are just heat-and-eat), and we've got 2 fantastic local pizza places that deliver as a backup if we just can't even. So our eating out budget is flexibly high (at least as much as our groceries), but targeted towards maximizing enjoyment and not towards convenience.
-
My SO and I have eaten out a lot in the last month (moving to a new spot and there are so many good choices in our new mountain town) I think in a perfect world every two weeks would be the sweet spot for us!!
-
I ate at Panda Express a few weeks ago. $20.00 for three servings of Teriyaki chicken, 3 spring rolls and a side of mushroom chicken. Teriyaki sauce is now served in packets, they no longer make it fresh. Probably won't eat out again for a month or two.
-
I hardly ever eat out because of the cost and the (lack) of quality. I'm a good cook and take pride in buying ingredients and turning them into meals.
But last night I got some to go soup from a teriyaki place. I'd had a long stressful weekend and at work everything was one step forward, two steps backwards, so I just wanted some comfort.
It was $14 with tip, and it wasn't very good.
-
I hardly ever eat out because of the cost and the (lack) of quality. I'm a good cook and take pride in buying ingredients and turning them into meals.
But last night I got some to go soup from a teriyaki place. I'd had a long stressful weekend and at work everything was one step forward, two steps backwards, so I just wanted some comfort.
It was $14 with tip, and it wasn't very good.
That's the other problem. You have to spend time researching which places don't rape you on price. We have a couple places that we get food from for about $15 total for the two of us. If we don't research or decide to go somewhere else it's usually about $50 total. Either way we are full afterwards and didn't have to cook. So the $50 meals are annoying as hell for basically the same food ingredients mixed in a different way.
-
Aside from having to research inexpensive places to eat, it seems more valuable to research easy, fast recipes. My local grocery store was giving away their Cioppino sauce (fish stew). I added some onions and zucchini, shrimp, and canned salmon. I didn’t have to get in a car or pull out 15 spices, and half the cooking time was peeling shrimp. I love recipes that I can pack for lunch every day.
The other grocery store item I’ve been enjoying is bagged salad kits from Taylor Farms. I eat the entire thing and call it lunch. I love the Thai Chili Mango.
-
We eat out if
- we have someone visiting and they want to see our downtown
- birthdays if the birthday person requests a restaurant
- we're travelling and find ourselves not able to cook
It ends up being once or twice a month. However, we were hiking the pacific crest trail for a couple months this summer where we would eat literally four meals out in a day if we were in town that day. Then a pile of microwave food at the hotel. Then a veggie party platter. Then a quart of cottage cheese.
-
I hardly ever eat out because of the cost and the (lack) of quality. I'm a good cook and take pride in buying ingredients and turning them into meals.
But last night I got some to go soup from a teriyaki place. I'd had a long stressful weekend and at work everything was one step forward, two steps backwards, so I just wanted some comfort.
It was $14 with tip, and it wasn't very good.
That's the other problem. You have to spend time researching which places don't rape you on price. We have a couple places that we get food from for about $15 total for the two of us. If we don't research or decide to go somewhere else it's usually about $50 total. Either way we are full afterwards and didn't have to cook. So the $50 meals are annoying as hell for basically the same food ingredients mixed in a different way.
I mainly just eat at the taco trucks when I want something quick, some of them are really good. Another positive result of immigration :-)
-
I make sure we eat at my favorite Italian place once every credit card cycle. Like as soon as I pay my cc bill (in full), I'm planning what night to order italian.
Dang it! We missed this cycle. DH and I were busy then we were sick. Do we eat twice this credit card cycle?!?!?!
-
I make sure we eat at my favorite Italian place once every credit card cycle. Like as soon as I pay my cc bill (in full), I'm planning what night to order italian.
Dang it! We missed this cycle. DH and I were busy then we were sick. Do we eat twice this credit card cycle?!?!?!
If your favorite Italian place is a family owned business, I say absolutely!
-
We dine out roughly once a week. Some weeks are zero, some weeks are 2, but 1 is the norm for us. On vacation though, I like to explore the local cuisine. We'll dine out at our favorite restaurants for birthdays and anniversaries. I can't replicate the wings of my favorite wings restaurant and only eating there once a year means it's always a treat.
-
We just returned from the Magical Moab Meetup, with a week of extra travel added on. We took the RV, so I prepped meals in advance. We bought perishables twice during the trip but otherwise no other food spending. Zero restaurant activity. OTOH, it's going to take a whole lot more not-eating-in-restaurants to cover the cost of the RV, lol.
-
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but 4 times a week. I'm always thinking I should reduce it.
I can afford it though, it's not really a financial issue for me, but I know that restaurant meals are usually less healthy than eating at home.
-
We (husband, me, 2 dds) used to eat all meals at home until corona hit. We couldn't travel, but we did want dds (8 and 11 at the time) to get to know other cultures, so we would pick a week or weekend where we would explore a country virtually and through library books. We'd end the 'vacation' with a meal from a proper restaurant of that country, 4 different dishes and desserts.
We have continued this by eating out or having takeaway every Friday. DD1 always asks for pizza from the mom-and-pop pizzeria in the next village, DD2 always asks for McD (which we count as 'American':)). Husband and I pick any other cuisine on the nights it's our turn to pick. We have found that restaurants in Belgium are often overpriced and their meals tasteless. There were sand and tiny crabs in the mussels from the specialist mussel restaurant, the Chinese food was bland and blobby, etc. The Greek restaurant that's close to us is excellent!
-
Only McDonalds with an app deal, like free medium fries and a large diet coke $1.
-
We (husband, me, 2 dds) used to eat all meals at home until corona hit. We couldn't travel, but we did want dds (8 and 11 at the time) to get to know other cultures, so we would pick a week or weekend where we would explore a country virtually and through library books. We'd end the 'vacation' with a meal from a proper restaurant of that country, 4 different dishes and desserts.
We have continued this by eating out or having takeaway every Friday. DD1 always asks for pizza from the mom-and-pop pizzeria in the next village, DD2 always asks for McD (which we count as 'American':)). Husband and I pick any other cuisine on the nights it's our turn to pick. We have found that restaurants in Belgium are often overpriced and their meals tasteless. There were sand and tiny crabs in the mussels from the specialist mussel restaurant, the Chinese food was bland and blobby, etc. The Greek restaurant that's close to us is excellent!
That is such a cute idea! Mentally filing this away for our son later ..
-
@maisymouser We would get some travel guides and word books from the library (books with a picture and the corresponding word in 1 or more languages), 'fairy tales from ...[country /continent]', children's encyclopedia, history books, comics if available. Figure out which typical games or crafts are done in that country (ice hockey, rugby, bull fighting, origami, etc).
-
OMG, we're going out to dinner tonight! We're going to a show and friends have asked us to join them for dinner before the show. I'm not sure who's paying the bill (I think my friend is) or what the split might be, but what the hell? It's only money that we don't spend very often.
-
@Dicey! HA DH is in IL and we had to go out to Longhorn Steakhouse to get out steak fix-one of DD’s friends joined, and she doesn’t eat red meat. We cracked up. She was a trooper though and her shrimp platter was eaten alongside 4 steaks. Hope your dinner was awesome, and it’s only money.
-
@Dicey! HA DH is in IL and we had to go out to Longhorn Steakhouse to get out steak fix-one of DD’s friends joined, and she doesn’t eat red meat. We cracked up. She was a trooper though and her shrimp platter was eaten alongside 4 steaks. Hope your dinner was awesome, and it’s only money.
This is kind of funny. If you follow my journal, you saw the photo from a fancy fundraiser we attended last month. At that event, my friend bid on a package that included six tickets to this concert and dinner at a nearby restaurant beforehand (plus some other stuff that's too identifying). My friend and I already have season tickets, including this show, so she talked them into dinner for eight, and four show tickets. When we got to the restaurant, dinner was from a specially arranged four-course menu. The waiter then handed me a regular menu and I got to order whatever entree I wanted. I thought it was hilarious and chose Eggplant Parmesan, which I never make at home. If you're a vegetarian, it's not unusual at this type of event that there is only one vegetarian option. For me to have the more choices than everyone else at the table was a first in 35 years of vegetarianism. The dinner and company were good, the show was fun, and it was nice to get out, see people and be social again.
-
All the time. I typically get take out for lunch and dinner. I might get a more spendy meal on the weekend. I've stopped going out for breakfast though.
When I was leanFIREd, I cooked more to save money, but I've never enjoyed cooking for myself - it has been fun when doing it with a group.
Whenever I get around to full FIREing, the plan would be to fund take out meals - or maybe move somewhere where prepared food is dirt cheap like Jason Feiber did. It's possible that someday I'll be inspired to become Iron Chef esque, but I just don't see it happening.
-
I am the black sheep that is multiple times a week - we are too busy
Why not hire someone to cook for you then? Much cheaper.
I'd be interested in the economics of hiring a chef. Are you talking ordering pre-cooked batch meals from one of those meal delivery services and I just toss it in the microwave? I've done that before but I don't know that it's cheaper. I can't imagine that hiring a chef to prepare freshly meals on a frequent basis would be more economical than just getting prepared food from a restaurant or grocery store...
-
it's me, husband and small baby here. Both of us work so dining out is like 1-2 times per week. Sometimes it is due to laziness/tiredness and other times it is a 'treat yourself' kind of thing. Mind you, we don't always buy the food - sometimes family treats us to dinner.
-
I am the black sheep that is multiple times a week - we are too busy
Why not hire someone to cook for you then? Much cheaper.
I'd be interested in the economics of hiring a chef. Are you talking ordering pre-cooked batch meals from one of those meal delivery services and I just toss it in the microwave? I've done that before but I don't know that it's cheaper. I can't imagine that hiring a chef to prepare freshly meals on a frequent basis would be more economical than just getting prepared food from a restaurant or grocery store...
You don't hire a "personal chef" to cook on a frequent basis, you hire someone who can cook to work a few hours and bulk cook, either in your home or in their own home.
Almost all of my friends have housekeepers who also cook. For me, when I've needed help with cooking I outsource to an older Indian woman who lives in my building who makes me giant containers of vegetarian curries.
There are countless listings in my city for people who will provide this service, and they're much, MUCH cheaper than buying takeout. I previously used another service that I found online, and she made me a huge range of dishes, pre-portioned, all delicious for $5/serving, I just had to pick them up once a week.
There are always people, usually women, often retirees, who are willing to offer their cooking services for a very reasonable price.
-
Once or twice a month here in Canada.
Normally to get good food we don’t make ourselves, or for convenience when out of town. Most restaurant food here is not great value, in my view.
However, we’re just back from the annual half-year in France where, surprisingly, there can be a lot of crap food options . . . AND YET, also something that really doesn’t exist much here in Canada anymore: family owned, non-chain, small country restaurants that serve amazing local food made with care for a fair price. Often in beautiful surroundings. Or, market based food stands I.e. for fresh seafood.
It’s so great that we made it a ritual to have every Sunday lunch at such places. Memorable and good value.
We need more of this here!
-
Right now? Every few damn days.
I'm about to go into isolation before I get full-on mutilated, and stuck in bed for many, many weeks. So DH and I have been going out on a bunch of fun dinner dates before I, uh, retreat from society for awhile. Lol.