Dining out is really costly

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Mostly, I eat better at home

+1.

I feel the quality of restaurants has taken a nose dive to the point where it’s not enjoyable.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

$41 isn't bad IMO.

I agree, for 3 ppl that’s cheap IMO

[vash]

I eat out a few times a week. I have my usual haunts.

cost have indeed ballooned.

to offset, I do a weekly meal prep. I cook 4 lunches and pack them up for a fridge stay. just grab and go nuke it at the office.

I like to eat out with the wife. truly enjoyable. however, it is a total bummer if a restaurant meal is not good. I usually pay quietly, leave the leftovers and file that restaurant into the NO file. I'll wait to see what restaurant opens up in that location later

lets be honest, life is expensive. roll with it. and hope you planned properly.

thankfully, I can cook.. wish I knew about that "marry and Italian life hack"..but I am committed to my choices. . my friends tell me to marry a woman from the Philippines. or an Hispanic woman, depending on where I happen to be.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Paul T

I agree, for 3 ppl that’s cheap IMO

I looked up gyros at several restaurants here in Cambridge this morning. All were $14.99. So yes, $41 before tax and tip is normal/inexpensive considering fries, soda, and kids meal.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

And on the price of eating out, I always get 2, sometimes 3 meals total out of the one dinner. I'm having the other taco I posted earlier for lunch tody.

Many times gf and I will just share fried calamari, small caesar and a dinner like chicken parm that easily feeds us both. But that is still $17 + $12 + $26, $55. But a wonderful meal, and always leftovers to bring home.

[vash]

you know what is cost effective. eating less! last week wife and I had to get an emergency burrito.

that mofo was $19!!! we added Guac.

we split the monstrosity which on the caloric scale, the correct thing to do. less than $10 ea, not including the tip..I can live with that. ahhh.. Shaun just added what I was going to add. leftovers...you have to take them home.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by vash

you know what is cost effective. eating less! last week wife and I had to get an emergency burrito.

that mofo was $19!!! we added Guac.

we split the monstrosity which on the caloric scale, the correct thing to do. less than $10 ea, not including the tip..I can live with that. ahhh.. Shaun just added what I was going to add. leftovers...you have to take them home.

Leftovers can be key. One of the things that bothers me with a lot of restaurants are the ridiculously sized portions. I’ve gotten entrees that I couldn’t even begin to finish. I guess it’s great if you do take portions home, but sometimes if you are traveling or heading to a show or something afterwards, it’s just not feasible. There is so much food that gets tossed. I’d rather pay a little less and have a right sized portion.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Paul T

. I’d rather pay a little less and have a right sized portion.

100%!!!!

there is a restaurant here that serves a half size portion. no joke..cost 25% less. I'm of Chinese descent, there is a law in my DNA that will not allow that purchase.

[Scott Douglas]

#1 and #3 combo's yesterday at In 'n Out for lunch. My daughter is visiting from Virginia with the kids and wanted it. First time I've had a double double in a lot of years.

$21.

No wonder I don't eat out much.

[faverymi]

Dairy Queen. As cheap as it gets.

Kids love it.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Me & wife are down to the very first restaurants we went to 45 years ago when we met.
Her fave is the Crab Cooker, mine is Chris & Pitts BBQ.
Cost is a minor factor in exchange for the consistency and the comfort factor.
When we go we always repeat the stories of why we started going there.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Mostly, I eat better at home

True that! We'll just go out occasionally for something to do.

Originally Posted by DWBOX2000

If you want good food often, marry an Italian.

Worked for me...

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by faverymi

Dairy Queen. As cheap as it gets.

Kids love it.

Yumm. The French Vanilla Moolatte is the best FF drink out there...imo
I have been known to order two for myself at one time....they are delicious!

.

[juanbenae]

Being in a tourist area the very close places are stupid expensive, but the local market has a great deli sando for $10. The prices for groceries are really costly, but their produce is outstanding, so I go there and pay what it costs for my salads fixins.

I don't eat fast food of which there are a bunch 10 miles down the hill, will treat myself to an In & Out or a fast-food breakfast when on a road trip. There is a Habit Burger in Sonora that I will go to every couple months and it's $20 for a double with cheese, fries and a drink, crazy, but it ain't McDonalds or the other trash food. The other thing is I prefer the $10 market deli sando over a togos or subway cause there by the time the chips and drink arrive it's $20+, easy.

I seldom eat lunch, but when I do there are a couple of chinese placed up here, and few when I was down in the Bay that you could get away with around $15-17 plate.

[look 171]

What I don't understand is the price of coffee. Forget the fancy sugar cold ones. I am talking about the standard joe. How can a cup be 5 bucks or more? Yet, I am a sucker and pay for that at least once a day, sometimes two to three times daily depending on how much wait time I spend out.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

That's a classic case of rising tide lifts all boats, well, the coffee house boats anyway. Since Starbucks started charging so much, places like Dunkin Donuts can too, doesn't matter that their coffee is a step above hot water poured into an old paper bag.

What gets me the very few times I've had to go to DD is the extra large has a huge cup but the bottom is glued in a solid 3/4 of an inch above the bottom of the cylinder wall of the cup.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

That's a classic case of rising tide lifts all boats, well, the coffee house boats anyway. Since Starbucks started charging so much, places like Dunkin Donuts can too, doesn't matter that their coffee is a step above hot water poured into an old paper bag.

What gets me the very few times I've had to go to DD is the extra large has a huge cup but the bottom is glued in a solid 3/4 of an inch above the bottom of the cylinder wall of the cup.

I never noticed that about their cups. I get coffee from the typical donut shops to the fancy independent joints. To me, they pretty much taste the same. Well, some are much better but I drink so much of it, out of habit and need something in my hand, I no longer care if its good or bad. Yet, they are about 4 bucks averages out.

[Brian 162]

We go out for breakfast every Sunday at a local diner.
Eggs Benedict, side of fruit, toasted western sandwich with cheese side of home fries, tea, coffee, and one grapefruit juice. $52 with tip.
Friday night dinner was $141 plus tip
Shrimp appetizer, one small salad, pasta with chicken, salmon with pasta, a glass of wine each, one espresso.
Yes I’ve noticed going out getting a little pricey

[WPOZZZ]

Since when is tip 22%, 25%, 30% or custom? That is what is said on one of the credit card screens.

[jyl]

Thinking more about this, eating out seems more common and routine now than it used to be.

Once upon a time, I think, going to a restaurant was more of a treat, not something you did every day or even many times a week. Because it was . . . well, maybe I didn’t have much money growing up compared to some, but we ate at home almost all the time. Going to White Castle for hamburgers was, not a big splurge, but a bit of a splurge. Even for lunch during the workday, it was common to “brown bag” it, unless you were a businessman type.

Over time, convenience became important, cooking at home was done less, the word “foodie” happened, and it became normal to eat out frequently, casually, and routinely. The guy with a sandwich in a brown bag became a bit weird, everyone else went off to lunch.

Whole new kinds of restaurants emerged, not just fast food but also fast casual and quickserve. The number of restaurants swelled, just like the number of retail stores generally. America shopped until we dropped, and ate out similarly.

Staying in for dinner didn’t necessarily mean cooking, with the growth of takeout and delivery. Now dinner is as likely to be served by DoorDash as by mom or dad or spouse or you.

This isn’t just old person “back in my day” b.s. - here, you can check out the data as of 2018 https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/90228/eib-196_ch3.pdf?v=23248

In fact, the whole ERS report is pretty informative - they are more coming at it from the nutrition angle but it is a lot of data anyhow
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=90227

Of course, two years after that report, there was Covid which changed so much about the economy and society, and eating was no exception. All of a sudden, there was no eating out, people rediscovered the grocery store, everyone was baking bread and cooking as they WFH - or DoorDashing and UberEating, as restaurants turned to ghost kitchens and pizza stocks soared.

Then post-Covid, everyone went nuts to eat out again. The demand to dine out was, for a couple years, bigger than ever. Of course not all the restaurants survived Covid, so supply was less than demand and that means raise prices! Meanwhile, food suppliers and landlords and restaurant service and equipment companies had been raising their prices as hard as possible, just like every other industry - whether they had to or not, because it really was a pricing power bonanza for just about every industry. Labor shortage, higher minimum wage laws, restaurants felt all those cost pressures just like other industries.

Do a search for more recent trends and you’ll see dozens of links about how Americsns in 2024 and 2025 are turning away from eating out and back to eating at home, for economic reasons among others.

“Dining out is costly” . . . again . . . this isn’t new, it’s just been a moment.