Eating out

[CdnCarrie]

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....

 

[Marchand63]

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....

Us it is easy - 2 of us, 1 non-drinker. Average check 38 to 45 add in tip. Couldn't imagine doing it with 2 kids, especially they way my teenagers ate.

Now poundage & portions we do split from time to time if we know the restaurant has HUGE portions & if we can agree on what we want to eat. Otherwise 1 restaurant meal may last once there, next day lunch, then dinner - so 3 for 1. My DH's work is very physical so he burns calories like crazy plus plays hockey 3 nights a week, so he is good. Me I try to pick healthier option, last night Balsamic chicken, asparagus & rice pilaf. I also do the gym at least 3 days a week.

It's about knowing the food, & got even easier here since restaurants now have to put calorie count on the menu. I do often look on line for meal breakdowns, lots of sites for that.

The reason - we both work long days & our schedules don't often mesh so when we can a night together - out we go

 

[PollyannaMom]

We try to cook at home most of the time. But when we do get in a phase of eating take-out too much, it's usually because we're just really busy! (Either I don't have the time to cook at a decent hour, or I don't have the energy to handle the mess.) To cut the costs, we generally don't buy drinks, and to watch the calories, we just put some in the fridge for lunch the next day.

 

[diznygirl]

Eating outside of the home doesn't always mean sit down for us, or a table service place. Chick-Fil-A night for the band, or ordering Buca Di Beppo delivery for instance. Subway on the way to the football game is another one. This will change when football season is over and we are all home every night. It all evens out.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

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....

It’s dh and I and does poor planning count for a reason but that will change in 2018 as it will be my New Years resolution

 

[gotomu212]

I can only speak for my family, but we eat out about 7 times a week-eating out includes getting take away which is what we do most often. In our area we have a lot of places that aren’t exactly fast food (when I hear fast food I think McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut) but are more salad places, delis, bakeries, “gourmet” burgers, healthy casual, etc. For our family of 3 plus tiny one it’s usually around $30 a meal but we don’t order drinks.

We don’t really buy groceries. My son’s school tuition includes breakfast and lunch, we buy a big thing of salad mix for my husband and my lunches and we eat leftovers for the 2 dinners/weekend lunch, and we don’t have snacks. So our weekly food bills come out to around $220 which is actually about $30 less than I spent when I made everything from scratch and we are getting a lot more variety.

From a time perspective- we usually order from an app, one person picks it up taking about 20 minutes (what I would spend cooking) and then we eat in the same amount of normal time.

From a health and weight perspective- our meals are typically between 600-850 calories which is right where we need to be. In our area there are a ton of options for good, clean, healthy takeaway though.

 

[Skippy918]

We try to eat out cheaply. The kids will share an adult entree and we only get water, plus no appetizer and no desserts. We’ll take advantage of kids eat free night so that helps save money. We typically eat out for weekend lunch and pick up pizza or McDonald’s on nights the kids have activities which doesn’t leave time to cook.

 

[BrianL]

I eat out a lot on weekends, because I am usually out with my friends. So this would add up to three or four times usually, but it's only me and we don't go to expensive places. Usually we're talking a fast-food or fast-casual place for lunch and reasonably priced dinner places. I make it a point to eat at home the rest of the time, but I only spend about 20 bucks a week on the groceries to cover those days, so I'm not really going overboard eating out on weekends.

 

[amberpi]

I'm single, I am getting back to having a social life after some medical issues this summer keeping me indoors, and I date off and on. That can easily mean eating out a meal a day. I'm not a huge eater, and when I cook it tends to be pricey. I cook for my folks a couple of times a week, and a lot more this summer when I was stuck indoors because cooking for 3 vs. 1 is the same amount of effect basically, and they deserve as many meals as I can cook for them after caring for me! I love cooking, but if you're dating, it just may not happen - you can go days on end eating out.

But I don't have kids (god willin' and the creek don't rise), I'm sure that'd change the paradigm.

 

[Christine]

I eat out at least twice a week (kids are out of the house now, but we did it when they were here). Generally, we don't do table service much at all. Between the drinks and the tip, it just got to be too much. We stick to "fast casual" such as Chipotle, Panera, Five Guys, Cava, Moby Dick Kabob, Noodles & Co. etc. I can generally keep my meal at around 500-700 calories and I strive for that. The two of us generally run about $25-$28 dollars. Both of us work full-time and this is my little "treat." Neither of us really eat our lunches out. My husband has no access to eat out and I'm usually so busy at work I don't have the time.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I eat out at least twice a week (kids are out of the house now, but we did it when they were here). Generally, we don't do table service much at all. Between the drinks and the tip, it just got to be too much. We stick to "fast casual" such as Chipotle, Panera, Five Guys, Cava, Moby Dick Kabob, Noodles & Co. etc. I can generally keep my meal at around 500-700 calories and I strive for that. The two of us generally run about $25-$28 dollars. Both of us work full-time and this is my little "treat." Neither of us really eat our lunches out. My husband has no access to eat out and I'm usually so busy at work I don't have the time.

5 Guys with family of 4 would be at $50 easily. I don't know the other places you mention. Chipotle is like a burrito place?

 

[CdnCarrie]

Eating outside of the home doesn't always mean sit down for us, or a table service place. Chick-Fil-A night for the band, or ordering Buca Di Beppo delivery for instance. Subway on the way to the football game is another one. This will change when football season is over and we are all home every night. It all evens out.

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.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Well it's just me, no kids, so I eat out all the time really. Yea if I had a wife and kids to buy for as well, it would definitely add up.

 

[Micca]

We hardly ever eat out anymore, it's expensive and it takes too much time. Besides, leaving the house requires pants.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

DH & I often work long hours, which means we eat out a lot. Breakfast is usually at home, if we have time. Sometimes, we go through the drive through to get a biscuit. Lunch is always out & dinner is out the majority of the time. It's always a drive through or takeout, because we just want to get home. I do cook, when we get home in time, because we get tired of restaurant food. Unfortunately, our groceries here are so expensive that we usually spend more cooking at home than getting takeout.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

We hardly ever eat out anymore, it's expensive and it takes too much time. Besides, leaving the house requires pants.

Not if you just do drive-thru, lol.

 

[diznygirl]

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.

We have teens. This is high school. Chick Fil A is cheap. Buca is Italian. With coupons it's also inexpensive. Everyone is arriving at home at different times and there are too many days in a row we need to do this. I can sometimes crock pot. The grocery budget drops during these times to make up for the food we are getting from places. Then it goes up again when the season ends and all dinners are at home. Like I said, it all evens out.

 

[tarheel618]

I hate it but we seem to eat out more during sports season. Now that volleyball is over- we will eat at home more.

 

[monarchsfan16]

We eat out a lot (trying to cut back). It's just the two of us, so our costs are not nearly as large as a family of 4. Honestly, some of it is poor planning. Some of it is unexpected chaos at work creating a lack of desire to cook the planned meal. Some of it is that we got into the habit of eating out a lot, and we have an amazing restaurant 3 miles down the road, so it's super easy and not very time consuming, and we've come to really love that restaurant. It's also not time consuming at all to call in a pizza as I'm leaving work on a day where I've worked late, and pick it up on the way home. I keep the pizza place programmed in my cell phone contacts and it takes me the same amount of time to drive there as it takes them to cook the pizza. In another couple months the excuse will be that it just took x amount of hours to shovel all the snow from the driveway, so why cook? We are working on cutting back though...

 

[Pacolovestacos]

I mean the way I look at it; groceries are still expensive, my cooking won't taste as good as what I could buy, and I'd rather use my free time on activities besides cooking.