How often do you eat out every month?

[TheGoofster]

OK, we are talking about everything from McDonald's or a fancy restaurant.

My family and I eat out on the average about 3 or 4 times a month (usually BK or KFC, but on occassion we'll splurge and do Pizza Hutt)
My SIL eats out almost every single day (she hates to bring a lunch with her to work so she just goes and grabs a bite to eat).

How often do you eat out?

 

[Disney4Drew]

Maybe 6-7 times a month??? That's including lunch and dinner.

We eat at places like Applebee's maybe 2 times a month and the rest is ordering pizza, grabbing lunch at Wendy's or Subway and stuff like that.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Once every 2 to 3 days-90% of the time it is with a coupon, entertainment book, or kids eat free night.

 

[kdm31091]

3-4 times a month or less.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Yep, nearly every day. I hate to eat a brown-bag lunch at work, I need the break from the office. I actually eat my main meal of the day at lunchtime, as I've found a buffet/cafeteria where for $7 I can have a full meal; i.e., roasted chicken, green beans, broc/cauliflower salad, soup, beverage and dessert. Hard to beat that $35 price for five main meals and great to be able to get in as many veggie servings as I want!

Then there's usually a visit to Chili's on the weekend, or breakfast out with my sister. I rarely hit a fast food place, unless there is a serious fried chicken craving.

Boy, isn't the price of a breakfast out the real extravagance? For the price of an omlette in a restaurant you can buy a dozen eggs, pound of bacon, loaf of bread and a few potatoes too!

 

[azgal81]

Once a week for both lunch and dinner. And sometimes lunch on the weekends if we have nothing to cook. So probably about 8 times. Growing up we went out to eat pretty much everyday. My parents still do!

 

[bicker]

Boy, isn't the price of a breakfast out the real extravagance? For the price of an omlette in a restaurant you can buy a dozen eggs, pound of bacon, loaf of bread and a few potatoes too!

That just underscores how little the cost of food ingredients affects the price of dining out. Essentially, the price of a meal depends on how much the typical guest values the service they receive. Exhaustion from working long and hard, for example, inflates the value of having someone else do all the work, and therefore substantiates a much higher price for dining out around where folks live. Convenience, lack of access to kitchen facilities, and the desire not spend a lot of leisure time shopping, cooking and cleaning accounts for much of the high cost of dining out while on vacation.

Even if value wasn't the consideration, the cost of ingredients is pretty insignificant in contrast to other considerations: Labor costs and facilities costs (rent, utilities, etc.) overwhelm the cost of ingredients, and the cost of customer acquisition (how much it costs to get the customer to actually walk in the door and sit down) is also very high.

 

[lillygator]

We are guilty of eating out A LOT....I definitely eat out lunch almost daily. I too like to get out of the office, but i am going to try and brown bag it in the coming year.
We dine out for dinner a couple times a week....trouble is, it isn't usually fast food....and we end up spending quite a bit. This too is another habit we are going to try and address in the coming year!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Yep, nearly every day. I hate to eat a brown-bag lunch at work, I need the break from the office. I actually eat my main meal of the day at lunchtime, as I've found a buffet/cafeteria where for $7 I can have a full meal; i.e., roasted chicken, green beans, broc/cauliflower salad, soup, beverage and dessert. Hard to beat that $35 price for five main meals and great to be able to get in as many veggie servings as I want!

Same here, I hate to brown bag. We have this place downtown and the whole restaurant is a salad bar. Its incredible and its soooo fresh, so I usually hit that place at least 2-3 times a week, a pound is around $5.50, I try to keep my lunches under $6.

 

[MoniqueU]

We eat out alot. I pretty much hate everything there is to do with cooking. I prefer sit down restaurants with service.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

far too often!!! - and now DD's activities are gonna keep us out of the house on Sundays, so we will be needing to grab something every Sunday for months...we do use the local and Entertainment coupons much of the time, so that helps!!!

 

[BillSears]

I live 2 miles form work so I just pop home to fix a quick lunch. I rarely eat out during a normal week. So I voted for the 1-4 option.

However throw a WDW trip into the mix and that number jumps way higher.

 

[TheGoofster]

However throw a WDW trip into the mix and that number jumps way higher.

Isn't that the truth!! No holds barred at Disney

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We eat out about 3 times a week on average...Most of the time it is just DH and I because the kids don't want to come. But that is usually lunch.

Dinner is less often, maybe 1-2 times a month.

 

[GeorgeG]

Not every day, but more than 15 days. We live in a retirement community with lots of affordable restaurants. We also pop down to WDW several times a month and eat there. Life is good!

 

[Erin1700]

I would say about 5 times. We will go out as a family once every 2 weeks or so to places like Applebees or my DD favorite Friendlys. We do Wendy's or McDonalds too for lunch or a quick dinner. I love Wendys and like that DD can get a baked potatoes there. Although I am not the mom who orders apples at McD's.

 

[C.Ann]

As a rule, not at all - unless I'm on vacation or something.. I pretty much consider it a waste of money.. When I sit down to figure out how much food I could buy for the house for the same amount I would spend in a restaurant, it make me crazy!! LOL

 

[Disneyland1084]

Maybe a bit too much...Fancy restaurants like Chilis, Macaroni Grill, I'd say once every two months. Fast food like Subway and Taco Bell we do more. But we're starting to cook more at home.

 

[DVC-Don]

On average, twice a month.

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

never. well, actually, maybe once every 3-4 months. We generally save all our eating out money for Disney. Aside from that delicious Lexington BBQ, theres not much around that can compare with Flame Tree or San Angel or that DELICIOUS french onion soup at Chef's du France. Oh and lets not forget the big sweet almond things at Morocco in Epcot. So why try?
We buy in bulk at Sams and Costco, and shop a local salvage store where we quite often get commercial sized restaurant foods and institutional sized items for nearly nothing.