How often do you go out to eat?

[WolfeMacleod]

General question here. How many time per week or month, on average, do you go out to eat and/or order out delivery/pickup pizza, or dinner/movie?

The GF and I had a minor spat tonight about it. I say we go out too often, and I spend too much $$ doing so. she says we don't, and is always wanting to "go out"

I added it up tonight.

Since the beginning of the year, we've gone out a WHOPPING 49 times.
For a WHOPPING $1968.44

Too much, in my book.

And that's just the occasions that I paid and can find.

Once, maybe twice a month perhaps.



How often for you?

[vas930]

Two times per month.
We have that as a rule, all part of the budget.
Love to cook at home.

[slodave]

Um.... No comment.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by slodave

Um.... No comment.

PM it to me Dave. I already know what it is, and probably agree!

[slodave]

No need. Too much... I have my good weeks, but then I get lazy and it's just easier to, well, um, yeah...

[look 171]

Before the kids came, it was 4-5 nights a week. Now, We limited to only 2 nights. We decided that the food is healthy if cooked at home.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by slodave

No need. Too much... I have my good weeks, but then I get lazy and it's just easier to, well, um, yeah...

Yep, I agree. If and when I go out to eat by myself, it's something like Subway for a $5 sub. And not often, at that. I tend to avoid fast food paces like plague.. but sheesh. When I get lazy, it's ramen and hot dogs!
An occasional Chinese buffet.

I just don't get the point of paying a crapload of money. I'd rather put a week's worth of food in my fridge.
And her kid... don't get me started. He eats the smallest amount I've ever seen a person eat. Not $2 worth of food.
Man, I can buy a lotta wire for $2000...

[svandamme]

i'm with Dave...

[porsche4life]

Define go out to eat? We talking fast food, or sit down meal....

When I was dating would probably go out to eat 2nights a week at least to a sit down restaurant....
Now I've got school and work, and haven't found a decent girl so for the time being I have money again.

Add in multiple trips to mcds/arbys/subway/braums.....

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Subway/Quiznos quite often. Close to daily for lunch. Dinner? Maybe 2-3 times a month now. Usually when I get home the last thing I want to do is get in the car and go someplace.

[rfuerst911sc]

The wife and I go out to dinner every Friday night. It's worked fine for 34 years so far .

[Oh Haha]

We allow ourselves 1 day a week for take-out. The day we pick depends on what we have going on so it varies.


I love good food but would rather cook at home than spend the $$ ina restaurant.

We are both home from work with plenty of time to cook so we share the duties.

[imcarthur]

Since I am out of town 50 - 60 nights a year, restaurants are no thrill for me. In fact, I often stare at a menu, vainly hoping for something different to jump out. At home, it is always much easier - and better - to make something. So, maybe some delivery crap once every few weeks. An actual restaurant? Maybe once a year. It is just too much hassle - parking, valets, no drinking - to go out more often.

Ian

[Rick Lee]

I'm headed to LA today after I cook breakfast and won't be home until Wed. after dinner. So every meal in between will be in restaurants. When at home, wifey and I go out to eat about once per week and only ever with coupons or Groupons. I go out to lunch once or twice per week, but ususally eat leftovers. I really can't remember the last time we went out to eat without a coupon.

[911_Dude]

Between lunch and dinner, 6-8 times a week. The GF eats like a bird ;-)

[shadowjack1]

I have lunch out at least 4 times a week and dinner about 2 times a week. My wife and I both like to cook, but going out is easy. Having someone else clean up the mess is the best part. The best meals that I have ever had come from our Kitchen.

[jyl]

Going out for dinner, almost never. Okay, maybe 10 X yr. Reasons:
- I like to cook, it is one of my main hobbies.
- I'm actually not that interested in eating. If I eat good food, but didn't cook it, I feel like I missed out on almost all the fun.
- For mainstream food, most restaurants (at a price range that I consider non-silly) don't consistently deliver food better than I make at home. So when we do go out for dinner, it is usually to an ethnic place, some cuisine that I don't make (but may be interested in learning).
- When we want to get together with friends, I vastly prefer doing it at home. A dinner party all evening - hors d'oeuvres, endless wine, music, goofing around - is way more fun than a couple hours seated in a crowded restaurant.
- (My opinion only - would love to be corrected) Restaurant food is often not prepared in nearly as healthy a way as you'd do at home. My exhibit A is dim sum, which happens to be one of my favorite things. Ever look up the calories in that cute little steamed thing with the succulent meat filling - it seems way out of proportion to the thing's size. 'Cuz it is stuffed with lard. Otherwise it would be dry after steaming - try it, make a dumpling with no added fat and steam it, yuck! Well, I make my own dim sum at home (only a few things, still learning) and use gelatin instead of lard.
- Being on a diet/weight loss thing, I prefer to know exactly what went into my meal, and I'm eating a different protein/carb/fat ratio than the typical entree choice.
- The kids don't really like eating out.

[masraum]

Well, right now we are probably only getting out once a week. Frankly, I'm working too much to get out much more than that. I suspect there have been times when we went out 2-4 times per week. I don't think we've ever averaged less than once a week. We try to keep it cheap. It may be an Indian buffet for a total of $25. There's quite a few restaurants where we can get in an out for under $25 for both of us.

Do we, at times, spend too much money on eating out, sure. I'm not too worried about it. We don't spend money on booze or cigarettes. Neither of us is as big as a house.

[masraum]

Ah, I guess one other thing that I should add. Until my current job, I almost always went out for lunch. It was a stress break to get out with the guys that I worked with. So that would have been 5 days a week and about $65 per week. At my new job, we can't really do group lunches. I wanted to get the parking in the building which is more expensive, so I'm taking much lunch and using the money that's saved to pay for parking.

[Jandrews]

For us, we need to think about how many opportunities there are in a given week. Let's say there are 7 days in a week and 3 meals per day (not counting random, off-cycle stops to grab something quick because you missed a meal somewhere). So that is 21 opportunities per week. On that scale, I would say we (the family) eats out at least 10 times per week. That would be once per day, plus a dinner or two and a breakfast on the weekend.

Far too much, in my mind, but my wife doesn't like to cook, and I don't have time. I do cook (and enjoy it) on weekends sometimes, but that's about it. I agree with everything JYL said, but I don't think my wife and kids see it that way, and most of the time they are on their own while I am at work.

Good topic...

JA