Eating out

[Christine]

I would say max 200 a month for our family. We simply dont have great restaurant choices by us.. Mainly we eat out if on the go or traveling.. A normal night at home we rarely go out or order in (almost zero).

there are only a few dining gems near us where I feel it's work the cost to eat their food, majority are places that serve processed crap, simply reheated, fried and put on a plate it seems....

I think that's our issue also. I live outside a major city that has great dining, but it's hell to get to from my suburb (30 miles). Around me it's just lots of chains. The mom and pop places aren't even really that good so we just don't. It kind of depesses me. If I lived up the road a bit, I think I'd be spending more. My son lives in San Diego and when we visit him, I just love it. I think if I lived in San Diego my dining out bill would be MUCH higher.

 

[LoveDaisy]

We get take out about twice a month and have dinner with friends about once a month. I would say $200-$250 a month depending where we meet our friends. We used to eat takeout more but cut back and that money goes in our travel fund.

 

[slo]

It depends on the month for us. We don’t eat out, or get take out, often. So far this month we spent $89 on a family pizza dinner in Chicago because my DD20’s BF was our guest for a few days. I don‘t see us having any more eating out expenses for the rest of the month.

If I had to give an amount for each month, I’ll say maybe $50-$75. The main eating out purchase is take out pizza. We do a huge take out pizza one week, the leftovers next week, frozen the next week. Yes, I have a pizza rotation schedule - LOL!

 

[MICKIMINI]

About once per month $50-100. We consider the savings of not eating out often as "fun money" toward our WDW vacations.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I really have no clue. DW and I average two meals at restaurants every week. Could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We never go anywhere extravagant and rarely order alcohol. Maybe $350 to $400 per month.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

It depends on the month for us. We don’t eat out, or get take out, often. So far this month we spent $89 on a family pizza dinner in Chicago because my DD20’s BF was our guest for a few days. I don‘t see us having any more eating out expenses for the rest of the month.

If I had to give an amount for each month, I’ll say maybe $50-$75. The main eating out purchase is take out pizza. We do a huge take out pizza one week, the leftovers next week, frozen the next week. Yes, I have a pizza rotation schedule - LOL!

Chicago pizza is really good and reminds me of Detroit pizza a little bit. It's really amazing. The only pizza I really like out here in the northeast is New York Style. But every so often I miss that thick crust.

 

[AnnaS]

We make pizza at home
Chinese Food to go - May be 6- 8 times a year? - DH will have it because I like it
Fast Food - (Wendy's/McDs) - maybe 2 - 3 times a year?

Breakfast/lunch/dinner - Nice restaurants mostly with friends/family - This can vary - 6 - 8 times a year? Sometimes less/sometimes more

Vacation - 99 % of all meals we dine out

No clue what we average a month/year - never gave it a thought
Now how much we spend on groceries each week.......this I know

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Too darn much, I would say easily $200.00 (us together). He may be spending more on his own for lunches, I do NOT eat lunches out when I am at work.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We are trying to cut back. We usually always take our two teenage boys with us and dh and I usually get adult beverages. I would say a$600 - $800 a month.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We spend way too much eating out. We eat out about twice a week. Cooking is something that is a means to an end for me - I don't enjoy it. We do eat at home the other 5 nights of the week, but it is a chore to cook those nights.

 

[Moliphino]

Do the vending machines at work count? I use those a lot.

We almost never go out for an actual sit down, table service meal outside of vacations.
Order take-out pizza maybe every week or two. Very occasional Chinese or Thai takeout.
I do go out for lunch on Fridays, usually just a local pizza place for a slice or Moe's.

 

[MIGrandma]

DH and I used to ear out a couple times a week. For the past 7 months we haven‘t done it much as we have a dog now and he almost always poops in his crate, even if we try to go out for just a couple of hours. So, we just don’t go. Occasionally get take out. So as to the cost, prolly $50 month, or less.

 

[jo-jo]

We spend way too much eating out. We eat out about twice a week. Cooking is something that is a means to an end for me - I don't enjoy it. We do eat at home the other 5 nights of the week, but it is a chore to cook those nights.

When I say I don't feel like cooking, dinner is a can of soup and a ham sandwich or a can of beef stew. When my sister says I don't feel like cooking, she only cooks a simple meal of breaded chicken cutlets , broccoli and pasta in some kind of sauce.

I love leftovers. Love those dinners where I spent 10 mins heating them up.

But I'm also cheap. We often make easy meals, baked chicken thighs, baked potatoes, frozen veggies. pressure cooker meal, cook once, eat three times.

I used to cook a lot more, but after 50 years , I've had enough.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We rarely eat out. Since 2020 quality has gone down and prices are sky high. We are always disappointed. Most of our eating out is on vacation but even then we would rather book a hotel with a kitchen or travel with our camper. We had been ordering pizza once a month or so but now I just buy frozen pizzas when there is a good sale. We tend to keep frozen fast foods for those nights when no one wants to cook. Other than birthdays and vacation we maybe eat out 6 times a year. It's just not our thing. My kids are a different story but they are adults with their own money.

 

[TippyThomas]

I'm not very good in the kitchen and I would only be cooking for myself so I do tend to go to some local mom and pop type diners for many of my meals when I'm home. When I'm out camping I force myself to cook and only eat out on moving days. I'm not sure the totals I spend but I'm sure it's pretty high.

 

[SC Minnie]

I would say $100-$200/month but there may be some months that are a little more. We typically either order take out or go out every other week. No set schedule or places. But even take out for dinner it $30-$40 for the 2 of us. Most of the time we get 2-3 meals each out of the take out.

 

[aprilgail]

Easily well over 1000 a month- I go out to eat all the time with friends for lunches/dinners.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Normal months, about $500-$700. Doubled in December -- we took a lot of family members out for meals.

 

[kdonnel]

Covid forced us to eat at home and so far we have managed to not revert to our old ways which were eating out most meals.

We eat at home for dinner Sunday - Thursday and eat at home Monday - Friday for lunch. Breakfast is always at home.

A total of 17 meals at home and 4 meals out per week.

So that leaves dinner Friday and Saturday and lunch Saturday and Sunday out. Those meals usually add up to around $500 a month.

 

[gmi3804]

I'm a CIA-trained chef, and love to cook at home, four times a week. Still, I also love when someone cooks for me, so we go out around three times a week. I almost never get carry-out, even Chinese; I make my own at home, as I have access to wonderful asian markets. I always have frozen Lou Malnati's pizzas in the freezer. 45 minutes and it's hot, fresh, and seriously almost as good as in the restaurant. Like having money in the bank! I love that the COVID lockdown afforded me the time to larger cooking projects. I got carry-out Chinese twice during those several months, and that was it as far as carry-out goes. I even perfected my Chicago tavern pizza, since I craved it so much.