Eating Out

[gillep]

A lot. I cook mostly during the week but eat out exclusively on the weekends. Usually a fancy cocktail bar/restaurant or other sit down place that has good food and drinks. Either that, or some kind of ethnic food that I am hopeless with at home.

 

[macraven]

We go out 3 times a week for dinners

 

[aprilgail]

I

Tonight was one of the rarer occasions when we went out just the 3 of us (me, DH and DS). We went to Red Lobster and didn't go over the top; 1 appetizer, 1 alcoholic drink and 3 entrees. The bill was $129.00 before taxes or tips - almost a week's worth of groceries. It's impossible to say it was actually worth it.

That is pretty expensive for a dinner for 3- we went out last night , me my friend and her 20 year old daughter. Went to a nice local Italian Restuarant and we each had a very big entree and our bill was 58.00.

 

[JLTraveling]

I live in the historic district of New Orleans, a few blocks outside the French Quarter. It's just me and my dad sharing a place, and neither of us has a huge appetite. So we mostly eat out, a blend of takeout, delivery, sit down, and fast food. We also keep the kitchen stocked with snacks, cereal, sandwich stuff, and some easy to prepare stuff. Honestly, eating the way we do here, we're saving a ton of money, not to mention time and effort, compared to when we lived in Orlando and mostly cooked. It helps that a restaurant meal is good for 2-3 meals for one of us.

 

[ronandannette]

That is pretty expensive for a dinner for 3- we went out last night , me my friend and her 20 year old daughter. Went to a nice local Italian Restuarant and we each had a very big entree and our bill was 58.00.

Yep, and that's for mediocre chain restaurant quality. A really good place would have been quite a bit more, which is why it's not something we do super-often. Truth be told though, our family food costs in general are off-the-dial. We consistently spend $1,000/month on groceries alone for a family of 3 (though that does include a fair bit of entertaining). I'm just not good at feeding us on the cheap. We'd likely spend less if we ate fast-food for two meals a day, although of course we'd all be dead in a month or two so it wouldn't matter any more.

 

[Sand Wedge]

Once, maybe twice a week to a sit down restaurant and once a week take-away pizza.

For the sit down restaurant, we usually go to chain called Pizza Express, the local Indian or the local Chinese; fresh fish sometimes.

The takeaway pizza comes from Dominos.

 

[Kitty 34]

DH and I eat out maybe 2-3 times a month.

 

[jo-jo]

Sit down about once every few months. Take out 2 or 3 times a month. Mostly when grandkids are over. Pizza and paper plates are a lot easier than making a whole meal and having them eat four bites.

 

[Aurora79]

Tuesdays I’m in the office all day, so I usually grab Starbucks in the morning and get a quick lunch out somewhere (I WFH the rest of the week). We get fast food for dinner once a week (Sonic or KFC usually), dinner out at a local sit down restaurant on Saturday, and usually Chinese delivery on Sunday for dinner....so that’s 5 times a week on average. Sometimes we’ll eat breakfast out on Saturdays too, but that’s not every week.

 

[aristocatz]

How often do you eat out?
Where do you go...fast food or sit down restaurant?
Do you stay close to home or venture a few towns away?

Me:
At least once a week + my morning coffee stop/addiction
Sit down
Out of the town I live in otherwise it just feels like I’m being lazy, haha!

We eat out more often than we should on the weekends. Out and about running errands with the kids and we never successfully make it home for lunch. We typically end up at Subway or a slice of pizza somewhere. We need to start making an effort to pack a lunch!

 

[indimom]

I'll pick up lunch about once a week, subway or similar.
We might eat out once or twice on the weekends, sit-down more than fast food.

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

@wenrob... omg carrot cake pancakes sound very good!
A breakfast place I went to recently had creme’ brûlée French toast & I can’t stop thinking about it.

 

[Micca]

Other than WDW trips, DW & I actually go out maybe 3-4 times a year. We do takeout about once a month.

 

[E&Cmom]

Probably about once every week or 2. Sometimes more sometimes less. It just depends on what is going out. Because of schedule and that DH works at home we have lunch dates while the kids are at school.

 

[RedAngie]

Sit down restaurants for dinner about 2 or 3 times per month. Takeout dinner (pizza, Chinese, hoagies, etc.) maybe once a month.

It's very rare that we eat fast food, maybe twice a year while we're travelling. Occasionally there's a fast casual (i.e. Panera Bread) meal.

When I was growing up my family went out for dinner practically every Friday and Sunday night. Sometimes other nights as well.

 

[wenrob]

@wenrob... omg carrot cake pancakes sound very good!
A breakfast place I went to recently had creme’ brûlée French toast & I can’t stop thinking about it.

They are divine and come with cream cheese syrup.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

We never eat fast food, it's disgusting. I'd much prefer to cook than eat any fast food.

We eat out 2-3 times per week at local non-chain restaurants; Friday night after the gym, and then either/both Saturday night/Sunday night. Typically costs about $20 or so as we don't eat huge portions and sometimes even share.

Our birthdays are both coming up, so we're going to drop some serious cash and go to a local family-owner steak house in a few weeks. Other than a special occasion like that, we've got much better things to do with our money... like go on lots of vacations!

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

Way too often!! My guiltiest pleasure... as I sit here typing, I’m eating a take-out poke bowl. I’ll do carry out if I’m by myself, sit down (usually casual) with friends. I try to mostly patronize locally owned eateries, and I just moved to my city’s downtown where all of the best restaurants are.

 

[bluezy]

I eat out at least 6 times a week. We usually go out for lunch on a Saturday to a fast food place like Chick-Fil-A, California Tortilla, Panera, or something along those lines. Saturday night we usually pick up pizzas or hot sandwiches/entrees from the local Italian place. Sunday night we usually go out to dinner at something like Chili's, Applebee's, etc. or the local diner -- just depends on what kind of mood we're in. During the week I usually grab lunch on the go at least 3 days but it's usually something somewhat healthy like a salad, soup, or sandwich from one of the local "healthy" cafes. If we're on vacation (even if it's a staycation) we eat out every meal (except for breakfast on staycations).

 

[leebee]

It really depends on how busy we are on the weekend, and how busy the workweek is. I usually try to make two "big" meals on Sundays so we can have leftovers for dinner most of the week. During the academic year DH NEVER gets home before 7-7:30, and during spring semester we both taught until 9pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's just too late to cook dinner at that point- it's practically too late to EAT dinner at that point- so we'd often grab a small pizza to split or maybe a sub.

If we are both having a busy work week (when we aren't teaching stupid hours), it really depends on how tired we are. If we stop for a beer after work (3 microbreweries within a 5 min walk of our house), chances are good that we'll get take out, as we can bring it into the taprooms and have dinner with our beer. Local take out choices are Thai, pizza/subs, Mexican, or a really good sandwich shop. They all are sit-down too (and the owner at the Thai restaurant is a master mixologist...) but we do take out. There is one nice sit-down restaurant in town, but it's small, busy, and expensive; we go there maybe 2 or 3 times a year. There is also a British-style pub that we've been to a couple of times, but I don't love their beer selections and their food prices are a little high.

On a "good" week, we might do take out (to the taproom) once a week. On a crazy week, maybe 3-4 times. We rarely go into the "big city' (that'd be Bangor, ME). There are some terrific, upscale places there- pricy, but the food is amazing- but it means driving home, which means someone has to not drink. Although you can't tell by my post, hahaha, we are NOT alcoholics, but we enjoy a beer/wine or two with a nice meal... but won't take the chance on driving home. We stay right in our neighborhood, walk into town, and can eat and drink whatever we want (and the bartenders all know that we are pedestrians!)