Eating out

Our family is just DH and I. Eating out is expensive, but we have decent jobs and so we an afford it. We generally eat out at a sit down restaurant Friday and Saturday these two meals together with tip is generally about $100. I try to not eat out any dinners during the week, but occasionally we will get take-out from Popeyes or Little Caesars. DH eats out lunch a lot of days, but he is a police officer and he and his partner try to mainly go to places where they give on duty police either free lunch or a big discount, so that doesn't really add up to much of our budget.

As far as calories, we tend to usually bring a lot of our food home and that is what DH eats for lunches on the weekend.
 
Spinoff from the meal planning thread...

Many people mention in that thread and others about eating out multiple times a week. I for the life of me just can't fathom this unless you have a lot of money.
With a family of 4 (2 teen boys) if we eat fast food out it costs minimum $30-$40 if you include drinks. I know that USA restaurant costs are cheaper so maybe its more affordable for a family of 4 south of the border.
So if you eat out 3x a week ONLY fast food and not sit down dining it would be $360-$480 a month and that is only 14% of all meals for the month if you factor in 3 meals a day for 4 weeks. You still have to buy groceries for breakfast, snacks, lunches and the other 4 dinners.

And who can eat out that much and not gain a thousand pounds? I know if we are on holidays and we eat meals out everyday for couple weeks I'm just sick of eating out and want home cooked meals.

Also if you do sit down restaurants isn't it really time consuming to go several times a week? Each time will take a good 90 minutes. I can see doing that 2 or 3x a month but 3x a month? That's a lot of time sitting in a restaurant. I mean I get home and can make a meal, eat and be at the dog park in less than an hour.

So if you do eat out that often what is the reason? How do you manage to not gain a zillion pounds since it's usually harder to control portions in restaurants? How do you afford it?

Inquiring minds want to know....

We eat out Friday and Saturday night. One of those meals is usually fast food. I ate out in a family style restaurant Saturday, I don't recall how long the meal took, but the restaurant is 5 miles from my house and checking my alarm system log, we were gone 55 minutes. You must eat at some slow restaurants. The week before we ate at Black Angus, and were were there 50 minutes.
We order the senior meals now to keep the price and calories down and we always bring home enough leftovers for lunch the next day..
Friday night we ate at Burger King, off the Value menu, $6 for 2 people. I could cook a similar meal at home for less, but not much less.
 
I don't cook. I pretty much only grocery shop for cheese (for my dog), coffee and half-half. Sometimes I'll grab some salad mix. I do a combination of eating out, delivery, and meal services (I don't really count that as delivery because it's like a weekly menu rather than a restaurant).

I admit I spend a lot on food (and have a $5-$10 a day coffee habit), but I hate cooking. Honestly for 1, the math is about 6 of one most of the time. I could buy a $9 salad or I could spend $20 on ingredients and then race to eat the same salad everyday before it goes bad. I could buy a $10 burger or buy meat, cheese, lettuce, buns, etc. and have spent more and have a ton leftover.

My tastes change so eating burgers for a week straight to keep my cost per meal down is not appealing. Grocery store items aren't really designed for one (except deli items like subs and pre-made meals which are as expensive as takeout).
 
We typically eat out on Friday nights and on Sundays after church. I try to make dinner every weeknight (M-Th) and then on Saturday nights, but that doesn’t always happen. It depends on my sons’ sports and after school activities and if my DH is working OT.
 


I just changed jobs; previously I was commuting into the city 2-3 days a week and would always buy lunch. It was always extremely pricey, though lowish calorie options were relatively easy to find. One of my favorite lunches was the chicken noodle soup from Au Bon Pain. I'd be careful to not take any noodles when I scooped the soup into my container. I had to balance the delicious penne/tomato/broccoli Alfredo lunches with something!
Now I'll be working from home FT and I look forward to making lunch at home everyday--I'm planning on egg white omelettes loaded with veggies most days.
My boyfriend and I will grab dinner from a fast-casual (Panera or Chipotle) about once a week, and go out to eat probably once a month. Nothing too extravagant.
The summer is probably my worst season for eating out, and I find myself cutting back in other areas so I can afford the $75 weekly visits to the lobster shack!
 
Spinoff from the meal planning thread...

Many people mention in that thread and others about eating out multiple times a week. I for the life of me just can't fathom this unless you have a lot of money.
With a family of 4 (2 teen boys) if we eat fast food out it costs minimum $30-$40 if you include drinks. I know that USA restaurant costs are cheaper so maybe its more affordable for a family of 4 south of the border.
So if you eat out 3x a week ONLY fast food and not sit down dining it would be $360-$480 a month and that is only 14% of all meals for the month if you factor in 3 meals a day for 4 weeks. You still have to buy groceries for breakfast, snacks, lunches and the other 4 dinners.

And who can eat out that much and not gain a thousand pounds? I know if we are on holidays and we eat meals out everyday for couple weeks I'm just sick of eating out and want home cooked meals.

Also if you do sit down restaurants isn't it really time consuming to go several times a week? Each time will take a good 90 minutes. I can see doing that 2 or 3x a month but 3x a month? That's a lot of time sitting in a restaurant. I mean I get home and can make a meal, eat and be at the dog park in less than an hour.

So if you do eat out that often what is the reason? How do you manage to not gain a zillion pounds since it's usually harder to control portions in restaurants? How do you afford it?

Inquiring minds want to know....

As I stated in the other thread, the main reason is fatigue--some may call it laziness. :D We do well eating at home to start the week, but as we get to the end of the week it's very tempting to just let someone serve us.

DW and I are empty-nesters, so it's easier to pay for 2 than for 4. We didn't eat out as much when it was 4 of us. We can afford it, but you're right, that $ would be better spent elsewhere and it's the biggest hole in our budget.

I don't know where you're eating dinner, but where we eat it's not a 90 minute meal. :) More like 60, and DW and I enjoy the time to catch up, make plans, etc.

We usually eat places where we're not piling on a bunch of calories, but it's definitely better for our waistlines to eat at home.
 
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What is Buca Di Beppo? We don't have Chick-Fil-A. It's like KFC? I've just heard bad things about them being discrimatory against LBGT people so even if we saw one while traveling I don't think I would want to go in. Never seen one but the only thing I know about it is that it sells chicken and its controversial.
Subway is cheap and that is our go to fast food when we get it.
We get busy during baseball season so it's a challenge to eat supper. But we just can't afford to out every time we happen to be busy so we have to be creative. Make supper the night before and reheat, etc.

It's great when kids are younger and can share an entree or qualify for kids eat free promos. But just wait until they are teens especially boys! LOL.

Buca is Italian -- I'm not impressed with their food or ambiance. Chick-Fil-A has grilled instead of the colonel's secret recipe.

In answer to the OP, we eat out 5-6 times a week. We're empty nesters and some times the energy for grocery shopping, food prep, and clean-up just isn't what it used to be. Neither is the energy for getting dressed up, so we resort to drive-through every twice in awhile (Panda Express, In-N-Ouit, Kneaders, Church's Chicken, etc) for the convenience.
 
This is exactly the reason my SO and I are trying to cut down on eating out all the time. Especially since we recently moved out together, we are trying to not spend as much money. I usually bring lunch to work 4 times a week and will go out one day with co workers, so that's about $10. He will do the same. On the weekends, we will usually go out to eat once and it is usually something quick and easy, so no more than $30 most times. We've been working on stocking up on foods that are easy to make for lazy weeknights - frozen pizza, pasta, soup - so that we don't feel like we HAVE to go out.
 
I don't know where you're eating dinner, but where we eat it's not a 90 minute meal. :) More like 60, and DW and I enjoy the time to catch up, make plans, etc.

We usually eat places where we're not piling on a bunch of calories, but it's definitely better for our waistlines to eat at home.

My spouse and I take turns making meals. Whoever is home first makes dinner. Neither of us work crazy hours just a regular 40 hour week.
I guess I think if I go home, decide where to go, get the kids in the car, drive 10-20 minutes to a restaurant, wait to be seated on a busy Friday, eat, wait to pay, and drive home it will be a good 90 minutes compared to me going home and husband has dinner in the oven. Probably not at the restaurant for an hour.
Which nothing wrong with the scenario a couple times a month. 2-3 times a week. Nah. Would rather be home at 5, supper on table by 5:30, at dog park by 6:15 or the gym at 6:30. Not spending half the evening finding supper. If I ate fast food more than once a week I would feel sick. Gross.
I can see it being relaxing with just you and your spouse. Add in the teens - not so much.
 
My spouse and I take turns making meals. Whoever is home first makes dinner. Neither of us work crazy hours just a regular 40 hour week.
I guess I think if I go home, decide where to go, get the kids in the car, drive 10-20 minutes to a restaurant, wait to be seated on a busy Friday, eat, wait to pay, and drive home it will be a good 90 minutes compared to me going home and husband has dinner in the oven. Probably not at the restaurant for an hour.
Which nothing wrong with the scenario a couple times a month. 2-3 times a week. Nah. Would rather be home at 5, supper on table by 5:30, at dog park by 6:15 or the gym at 6:30. Not spending half the evening finding supper. If I ate fast food more than once a week I would feel sick. Gross.
I can see it being relaxing with just you and your spouse. Add in the teens - not so much.

Not that I'm trying to make it easier for you to eat out :D , but DW and I usually meet up someplace after work on the way home rather than go home & then go back out.
 
Not that I'm trying to make it easier for you to eat out :D , but DW and I usually meet up someplace after work on the way home rather than go home & then go back out.

That would work if we didn't have pesky kids to feed. One of us would have to go home and get them.
We live in a suburban wasteland. Our area really lacks restaurants unless you want Subway or McD's.

Oh trust me once we are empty nesters we will be dining out every Friday! It's paying for 4 adult entrees that hurts the pocketbook so much.
I do eat out about once a month with girlfriends and a lunch out with coworkers.
 
We eat out more than we should, from a financial view. It's just DH and I, and he works crazy hours. We are usually both out of the house by 7:30am and he never is home before 7pm, sometimes 7:30. I get out of work (teacher) sometime between 3:30 and 4, but most days there is something- errands, groceries, gym- that keeps me from getting home much before 5:30. When I am being frugal, I'll start supper. When I'm being lazy, I'll come home and read or do something around the house. We always eat breakfast at home, and take our lunches to work every day. ANYHOW... We live in a small town that has a variety of places to eat, all of which are competitive and offer "nights:" Burger night, pizza night, wing night, noodle night, taco night, ladies' night, etc. Sometimes it seems silly to cook and then clean up (and it's usually being too tired to want to clean the kitchen at 9pm that'll make us decide to eat out). Here's an example of how tempting it is: Monday is burger night. For $7 we can get an 8oz Angus burger with a variety of toppings. Along with that is a mountain of fries (regular, waffle, or sweet potato). It's also $1 off pint night, so we can have a microbrew for $4. $18-$22, and there's enough leftovers for us each to take for lunch the next day. Tuesday is 2-for-1 pizza night. 14" wood fired pizza with 2 toppings is about $12 (we might finish one pizza, not usually though), and we get another to take home for dinner on another night, or several days worth of lunches. Wednesday is 50 cent wing night. These are jumbo wings with a choice of 8 sauces. You have to buy them by 5s, and I can only eat 3 or 4, so if I get 10 (so $5), I have dinner and 2 lunches. DH orders 10 and usually eats them all. On Thursdays, the local Tex-Mex restaurant has ladies night if you sit in the lounge instead of the dining room. Half-price dinners for ladies. I'll order fajitas (regularly $16, so $8) and DH gets an app ($5)... we split the dinner, usually have leftovers. We don't usually drink, but margaritas are $5 on ladies night, so sometimes... Tuesdays are taco night- all you can eat for $8. Noodle night at the Thai restaurant is 50% off any noodle dish, so we can get pad Thai for about $6, and it's enough for 2. OF course you have to add tax and tip, but if we do take-out there's no tip added (and no bar bill!).

OK, it DOES all add up, and the credit card bill is always much more manageable when we are being "good" and eating at home as much as possible, but the cost really isn't prohibitive if we go to the right places (and it's only a 5 minute walk into town from our house)!
 
We eat out... a lot. We don't have kids so the financial thing is way easier to manage.

I love to cook, and occasionally write my own food blog, but eating out is not just a means to an end for us. We love food, trying new restaurants, dining out with friends, etc. While I can't remember an occasion when dinner out took 90 minutes, I'm not sure I'd mind either if we were having a good time. Plus - I can drive 15 miles and eat fresh seafood on the beach. Why in the world would you not do that regularly? ;)

We now live within 3 miles of 4 bajillion (give or take a little) fantastic restaurants so it's not a production to run up the street (or walk) and grab a bite. In our previous city, we lived further away so we did eat at home a lot more. That has changed our eating habits a lot.
 
We rarely eat home- my daughter is at college now but when she was home we probably ate out at least 5 times a week-sometimes in restaurants and other times take out. Now that she is in college I probably eat out 4 times a week, usually catch meals with friends so we sit down in restaurants and chat. Last week I met up with a friend I had not seen in 15 years, we chose to go to the Melting Pot since that is a long drawn out meal- we were there over 3 1/2 hours- it was great, it was a weekday so they didn't need the table (though we gave a VERY large tip) so they didn't rush us through the meal. I really hate cooking so anytime I don't have to cook is a good time!
 
We rarely eat home- my daughter is at college now but when she was home we probably ate out at least 5 times a week-sometimes in restaurants and other times take out. Now that she is in college I probably eat out 4 times a week, usually catch meals with friends so we sit down in restaurants and chat. Last week I met up with a friend I had not seen in 15 years, we chose to go to the Melting Pot since that is a long drawn out meal- we were there over 3 1/2 hours- it was great, it was a weekday so they didn't need the table (though we gave a VERY large tip) so they didn't rush us through the meal. I really hate cooking so anytime I don't have to cook is a good time!

Don't you get sick of restaurant food? Our whole family does when we travel. After a week or so we are so ready for home food.
 
I use to bring home fast food a lot. I have improved quite a bit and I attribute that to my pressure cooker. Once a week I will break down and order pizza. It is only me and my youngest DS.

TC :cool1:
 
When I was single it was a pain to cook for one but I often didn't make a full meal - toast and soup, frozen pizza, can of tuna - if I was lazy.
 
Don't you get sick of restaurant food? Our whole family does when we travel. After a week or so we are so ready for home food.

I guess it depends on what you eat, but for us we’re eating salads, sandwiches, soups, grilled chicken which is pretty much the same thing we ate when I cooked at home so I don’t really see the difference. However you seem to maybe be going to places with heavier food/bigger entrees maybe?
 

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