How often do you eat out?

[WickedElphaba]

we eat out way to much....Mon, Wed, and Fri we have swim so between travel etc its easier to drive thru it Tue and Thur since we DONT swim i am trying to do laundry/shovel a path through house so when dinner time rolls around...I dont feel like cooking so we grab take out

Weekends since meets start at 7am and are typically 1-2 hrs away we eat breakfast and lunch out. If we eat dinner those nights its typically drive through again

I am sitting here trying to think the last time i "made" dinner and I am pretty sure it was New Years Eve. I am not counting cereal toast or similar though

So we eat out probably 7 drive thru/take out and 2-4 sit downs a week.

This is 3 people (Dh, me and DD8)

Forgot to add I work and DH works(and moonlights at my work)

I run the cafeteria service for an Elementary school. I actually enjoy cooking. Just do not have time really

 

[Disney-Kim]

AS a previous poster said...eating out is our entertainment...so true for us. We don't party or that kind of stuff. So Sat night dinner is the big to do... and we usually go with my DSis and DBil.

My DH does make drinks for us at home sometimes...he thinks he is a master drink maker...we like to make drinks from the Trader Vic's book

oh and we don't eat out for lunches...my DH goes home and I eat at work...so the leftovers never go to waste

it is nice to hear what others do...at least I know we are not the only ones who go out a lot...but we are going to work on eating out less just so I can get my vacations paid for.

WDW and a Sept cruise are both in the works

 

[kayla87]

AS a previous poster said...eating out is our entertainment...so true for us.

Going to the movies it our entertainment, so we don't feel bad spending the money. Don't feel bad if you keep going out to eat money in the budget, if it's the fun thing you both decide to do together.

 

[lspst8]

My husband and I usually go out to eat twice a week for dinner. Almost always on Fridays. Neither one of us want to cook after working all week. My parents usually have us over for dinner on Sundays, so we don't cook then either. I don't work on Wednesdays so I try to make something nice or time-consuming since I'm home all day. We do that on Saturdays too.

 

[andrews_dad]

3 times per week for dinner, more if you count running to Quiznos or McD's for lunch from work. It adds up fast. We use Entertainment book coupons and local coupons as much as possible, but it still adds up fast. Of course, buying food at the grocery is not cheap anymore!

 

[Disneychix]

We used to be DINKs, but now we are +1. I don't cook on Fridays, my mom never did and I don't! We tend to eat breakfasts out at least one weekend morning and will have lunch out one day too. Some Saturdays I cook, some I don't, it depends what's going on.
I will say we enjoy eating out. DH and I usually get one nice meal out per month where we'll spend over $50 (includes food and drinks). While we do eat out a lot usually it's places like Chilis or local diners where we don't spend a ton. When DS gets a bit older that might change.

 

[wdwfan16]

Sometimes we go out on a Friday night and other times we eat out on Saturday. Once in a while we order in chinese. We probably eat out 1-2 times per week.

 

[8gr8mouseketeers]

We are a family of 8, and we eat out once a week (every Sunday afternoon). Once a month is usually a sit down restaurant, the rest is fast food. It is very expensive for us, being a large family and having tons of teen boys!!

 

[sweetpeakaris]

We only eat out once every couple months, if that. I am vegetarian, so I don't find most takeout appealing.

 

[dtr_angel]

had to look up the DINK acronym, LOL

we are DINKYs lol.

We rarely eat out. We TRY to eat healthy, and have ditched fast food/eating out to save money as well and it works out on both ends. I only eat out if I'm meeting someone for lunch/dinner, or if we HAVE to... like we're out of town, shopping/running errands all day, etc.

It was hard at first, but after you stop you don't miss it, and its now a special treat to us and not an everyday occurrence.

We ended up with a lot of gift cards for restaurants for Christmas so we've been using those some, but wouldn't if it wasn't for the gift cards.

 

[marcyinPA]

I am talking mostly sit down restaurants..we get Del Taco once a week or so when we are just too tired to cook or a long day at work. But on the weekends its all restaurants.

I am curious....it seems like those with kids...stay home and those without don't...which I can understand cost wise.

So if you don't eat out on Sat night...what do you do?? We have eaten out on Sat nights for so many years that its our "thing to do". We used to eat out $150 Sat night dinners a lot...and THAT has been cut out...we spend that much in the whole weekend now. but still...I realize that really adds up...$500 or more a month....and now that I am more money/budget conscious I see that as possible savings.

but if we don't eat out that means I have to come up with more to cook and my DH has to make his own cocktails....its hard to change

Well, since we do have kids, we spend many a Saturday evening at games and activities. And when we don't have those to worry about, we hang out with friends or have movie night at home.

Even if we didn't have kids, we'd probably hang out with friends at someone's house...playing games, have dinner parties, whatever. Those are just as much fun as going out, and sometimes even more fun! We used to have a dinner party group. Once a month, someone else would host the party. It would be themed. We did a wine-tasting once, an Italian feast once, a murder mystery dinner once, and we did fondue once! It was SO SO SO much fun!! Every body brought something, and everyone brought wine/beer/drinks...a BLAST!!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

How often? Probably more than we ought to. Several times per week. My mom is always telling me what a waste of money it is, and I know she's right, but it's something my husband and I enjoy, and our kids are starting to, as well. When we were DINKs, we ate out several nights per week and I tended to cook more on the weekends when we were home more. After the kids were born, it reversed somewhat; I was home during the week and we ate at home more because I could have dinner ready when my husband got home from work at 5:30, and we did more eating out on the weekends. Now it's more of a split - we eat out usually one night during the week when I've been too busy to buy groceries, and one night on the weekend. Sometimes it's more. We tend to socialize with friends and family by going out together. We frequent family-type establishments like BBQ joints, mexican restaurants, O'Charley's, etc. Our kids both order off the kids' menu and our typical bill is between $25-40.

Fast food is a weakness and separate category. I probably hit Wendy's or Chick-Fil-A with my preschooler twice a week at lunch. My husband takes lunch 4 days/wk and eats out on Fridays. My school-age son takes his lunch almost every day, eats a school lunch about 2x/month.

 

[charming23]

Currently we eat out about 3 times a month on our own. We always have at least 1 breakfast out, 1 lunch out and 1 dinner out. Now that does not include if we are invited out to dinner with family or friends.

 

[kydisneyfans]

3 of us, probably eating out 2-4 times a week. Entertainment books, Sunday circular coupons, gift card bonuses, and restaurant specials all are involved. Using some Logan's Roadhouse bonus money, the 3 of us ate out for $11 at lunchtime Saturday. It would have cost more to make it at home. Many places have surveys on receipts too, I have a free appetizer at OCharleys, free chicken sandwich at Burger King, and free drinks at Sonic just for a 2-3 minute phone survey. Pizza Hut had medium pizzas for 3.99, any way you want them, on their receipts a few months ago.

 

[eliza61]

Family of 4. at least once a week, maybe not at a sit down restaurant though.
The family cook (me) has one night a week off. LOL
Some times it may be two. If we go to the mall or to the movies we tend to eat out.

 

[puffkin]

We used to eat out a lot, but taking DS3 to a restaurant is a PITA! I would say we eat in a restaurant MAYBE 1x per month.

We do get pizza, chinese, subs, or fast food 1x a week, usually on the weekends. We also eat more convenience type foods on the weekend as I don't really plan meals then. We just eat when we are hungry. We are usually runnign around all weekend so it is hard to plan. We always have birthday parties/family functions too, so a lot of the time we get fed there My mom likes to cook Sunday dinner for us too, so we usually eat there every week or 2.

We both work FT 8-5 jobs, but I still try to cook at least 3-4 nights a week. I try to make larger portions so that we have plenty for leftovers. We both brown bag our lunches (DS lunch/snacks are provided at daycare). I probably eat lunch out 1-2x a month...usually when I meet old coworkers.

I have found that a lot of times it is cheaper for us to just get fast food though. If we do Chinese food and order the large sizes, we get 3-4 meals each out of it for $20. I try to not think about that though and focus on eating healthier meals. But sometimes I do break down and just do take out due to our busy schedules.

 

[branv]

No kids here as well, and we eat out probably 2-3 times a week, but that's all weekend. I cook dinner Sun-Thurs (which is pretty good for me, b/c I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of cooking..wish I did!), and always make extra serving for lunch. Our "entertainment" budget is set to $80/wk, and 95% of the time our form of entertainment is dining out. We can either blow it all in one place, or eat cheaply multiple places. We generally limit our fast food/chain visits to 1 or less (though to be fair, I don't consider the bowls at chipotle or Jason's Deli fast food).

We are really trying to spend less than that, but we're still weaning ourselves. I've started making pizza on Friday nights a few times a month to eliminate one night of dining. We'd do better if DH didn't have such a thing for breakfast (which I could totally do without breakfast, and HATE to cook when I first get up, so he tends to petition to go get something).

Though I suppose I should still consider this progress. When we were first married (and before we started tracking our spending), I remember walking into the kitchen once and I couldn't remember when I'd been there last. DH and I tended to grab breakfast and lunch at work, then eat dinner out. And we ate pretty expensive places. I shudder to imagine now how much we must have been spending. I know the pounds were really really packed on.

When I read on here that people spend in one week for all their food/household products WITH kids what we spend in one week on dining out, I am so very impressed. I won't even go into what our grocery budget is, and that's despite shopping the sales/coupons etc.

 

[eliza61]

How often? Probably more than we ought to. Several times per week. My mom is always telling me what a waste of money it is, and I know she's right, but it's something my husband and I enjoy, and our kids are starting to, as well. When we were DINKs, we ate out several nights per week and I tended to cook more on the weekends when we were home more. After the kids were born, it reversed somewhat; I was home during the week and we ate at home more because I could have dinner ready when my husband got home from work at 5:30, and we did more eating out on the weekends. Now it's more of a split - we eat out usually one night during the week when I've been too busy to buy groceries, and one night on the weekend. Sometimes it's more. We tend to socialize with friends and family by going out together. We frequent family-type establishments like BBQ joints, mexican restaurants, O'Charley's, etc. Our kids both order off the kids' menu and our typical bill is between $25-40.

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No disrespect to your mom but I disagree. If it its some thing you and your family enjoy and it gives you a couple of hours to reconnect then I have no problem with it.

Everybody has some thing they like to do. some people play golf twice a month, so women shop, others bowl, some people go to wdw once a year. Eating out is a recreation like any thing else. If there are no health or financial issues have fun, enjoy your family and your meal.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We eat out about 2x per week, only on the weekend. It is usually something like Taco Bell or Chipotle. We try to keep the expenses down because sit down places are a lot more.

 

[hoffman17]

We try not to eat out alot, but if we do, it's to Steak n' Shake on the weekends, or we hit the Grand Traverse Pie shop in a town south of Indianapolis, they have the best pie....mmmmm....p...i...e!

To save money and trying to be healthly, i have started going to walmart and picking up a microwave meal, a can of veggies, and a salad near the deli, they are prepackaged and really good. I can spend under $8 and feed all three of us, and sometimes have leftovers.