How often do you eat out?

[runwad]

For those who rarely eat out...do you cook every night of the week? do you work too??
Its so hard to come up with new stuff to cook.

I have been reading more recipies online lately...although Paula Deen's website could be dangerous

We hardly go out maybe 3 or 4 times a year to a sit down as a family and always with a coupon. Family of 5. I work Mon Wed Fri, so I cook on Tues, Thurs & Sun and we have leftovers usually the days I work or a fast simple meal. It's just too much $$ for all of us to go out and honestly my DH doesn't get filled up on restaurant food and it seems like DD14 is following in his footsteps. Not that we're over weight but we are an active family and I guess big eaters. I get in a rut with not knowing what to cook. Like tonight it seems we've already had chicken, hamburg, pasta, beef & potatoes. So I made a a chicken pot pie with some leftover soup chicken and fried up some home made italian sausage that my DH and brother-in-laws made, with some rice pilaf. The kids don't care for the pot pie so the sausage and rice is for them, although DH will have a bit of it too. Oh and we're good cooks and enjoy our own food much better then most restaurants.

 

[DSNY4ever]

Okay I am starting to feel stupid that I can't figure out what DINK stands for...? I am married and we don't have kids, does that make me a DINK?

Anyway, we eat out maybe once a month (sometimes not even that) and it is usually when people are visiting or we are visiting someone else.

We make dinner every night and we both have full time jobs. We plan out our meals on Sunday and do our grocery shopping and stick to the list. We often make big meals so that we have leftovers. We pack lunch (and eat breakfast at home). I honestly couldn't imagine it any other way, eating out is a big treat for us because it is so expensive.

 

[SDFgirl]

We have two kids. We eat out about twice a week - usually one sit down meal (Chili's, Applebee's, etc.) and one take-out meal like pizza or subs.

We used to eat out about 3 or 4 times a week, but scaled down when I started staying home w/ the kids.

 

[branv]

Okay I am starting to feel stupid that I can't figure out what DINK stands for...? I am married and we don't have kids, does that make me a DINK?

It's hard to keep up with all these acronyms, isn't it?

Double Income, No Kids

and then there is SINK or OINK (which both seem a little rude )

Single Income or One Income, No Kids (I think this can apply to either single people or couples with just one income).

Then there is DINKAH OR SINKAH (usual beginning, but "No Kids at Home")

 

[DSNY4ever]

It's hard to keep up with all these acronyms, isn't it?

Double Income, No Kids

and then there is SINK or OINK (which both seem a little rude )

Single Income or One Income, No Kids (I think this can apply to either single people or couples with just one income).

Then there is DINKAH OR SINKAH (usual beginning, but "No Kids at Home")

Ah, thank you! Apparently I am a DINK, I guess it sounds a little better than SINK or OINK...but DINK sort of sounds like an "idiot" to me, haha.

 

[mjkacmom]

We usually eat out about 20+ times a month.

My DMom77 likes hambergers, but not the ones I make at home, so when she gets paid (about 5 times a month) she treats us all to Burger King whopper meals.

I love mexican and we usually have that about two or three times a month.

My DS28 likes chinese so he will treat us to chinese 4-6 times a month.

My DS20 has a friend who works at a pizza place, so when he goes to talk to his friend he will bring home a few pizzas about 4-6 times a month.

On Sundays after church I will take the boys (mom has to work) to applebees,chili's or longhorn for lunch.

My mom works at the mall and she will get french fries and pizza prtezels every so often.

My DS20 works as an electrician and the company he works for always go out to eat lunch everyday.

My Ds28 works from home,but will sometimes walk to a coffee shop down the street for lunch.

I don't have the metabolism to do this! I figure I "should" be eating 1500 calories a day, and a restaurant meal alone is probably that (at least the yummy ones!). And I'm not one to skip meals, so I couldn't just save up.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

We almost never eat out, except for vacations. We went cold-turkey almost 3 years ago when ddThen12 was diagnosed with multiple food allergies. It is just too difficult and time-consuming (planning before the meal and dealing with the server/chef during the meal) to eat out with her.

Luckily I'm a pretty good cook and a very good baker. I also work from home so I can be in and out of the kitchen most days. I make a loose meal plan for the week on Sundays and choose something from the list every morning for that night. The weeks that I don't create a meal plan are just so stressful!

I do miss eating out.

 

[bokolo]

I have also started to teach my two teenagers how to cook. (This advice was given to me by one of my dear friends whose sons are now in their 30s.) My sons have one night to cook something they like. I make sure they have all the ingredients and I help them prepare the food. They are responsible for cooking, setting the table and clean up for the night. If they don't tell me what they would like to cook ... and on what day, they are responsible for buying pizza for the whole family (neither of them have done this yet ) It has been a great bonding activity with my sons ... and the last few meals they have prepared didn't need too much help from me ... so, I could relax and get other things done. It has been great. I also feel like I am teaching them a life skill for when they go out on their own some day.

I love this idea! I have 3 boys and would love to know that they can prepare a basic meal for themselves and others when they get older. I will be trying this, but will need to wait a few years since mine are 9, 7, and 5!

 

[lindsey clare]

interesting thread. i often feel guilty about how often we eat out!

we usually plan our meals and eat dinner at home during the week and take lunch to work, but get lazy on weekends and that's when we end up eating out. usually it's cheap and cheerful places, so we only spend around $20-40, but it does add up!

i found that during December we were so busy and ate out a lot more which led to spending more and probably putting on a bit of weight too. oops. but hopefully we can get back into it this year!

 

[Bellastumbles]

Ok well considering I have lived in my house for a little over a year and I just turned my oven on for the first time in October I am going to say I eat out far too much! I would say on average we will eat take out or in a restaurant 4-5 times a week! That being said we spend 95% of our summer down the shore (yes I am from Jersey) in a tiny beach trailer where cooking is really impossible (it is so small). During the rest of the year it's just my partner and I and by the time we both return from work ( she teaches Middle School Special Ed & I run a Preschool/Daycare) we are too exhausted to cook a meal so sometimes dinner is just cereal!

 

[lattemomof3]

We eat out about once a week - one night a week it is my night off from cooking. I plan what we'll eat for dinner and write it down on a post-it & stick it on a kitchen cupboard. I check the menu as we're cleaning up dinner so I can put something in the fridge if it needs defrosting. Once or twice a week dinner is very quick& easy, like breakfast for dinner (omelets, toast and fruit or something similiar), or grilled cheese & soup, or frozen cheese tortellini w/ spaghetti sauce & a vegetable. I love our family dinner time, though. We usually play the "high/low" game where everyone tells their high for the day and their low. Tonight we all got the giggles from something dd4 said. We really find out a lot about what's going on w/ the kids this way. There are sometimes sibling arguments but most of the time it is pretty fun. Everyone helps clean up after - the kids clear the table and unload the dishwasher, dh helps too. I let them do that while I do a quick last pick up of the house and lay out the kids' clothes for the next day. Then, after they're done in the kitchen I go and "fine tune" it. On Fridays we usually make pizza - just a Pillsbury crust w/ store bought pizza sauce and toppings, and watch a movie or play games. If the kids have a friend over they always love our pizza-especially taco pizza. If dh and I were dinks we would definately eat out more, but it is very expensive w/ 3 littles.

 

[rynosmom]

We are a family of 4 and eat out way too much. DS14 plays ice hockey and has practice 2x during the week. We don't get home till around 9pm so we do drive thru or take out. On weekends between DS14's games and DS18's Track schedule we are on the go so we again are eating out. We do try to watch $ and eat off the value menu, clip $ off coupons and look for deals from Pizza Hut, fridays and others. We do make it a habit of going to Friday's on Sunday's as they have Happy Hour all day and most of their Apps are 1/2 price. Its a great deal and 4 of us can eat for under $30.

 

[Kitzka]

We aer a family of 3 and eat out 3 times a month. We use to eat out a lot more, esp when i worked 75 hour weeks. now that i am at a job where i work 40 hour weeks, i have more time and energy to plan and to cook.

DD has dnace 12 hours/4 nights a week but i plan ahead for those. She tends to eat a lot of quick meals those nights. usually left overs, yogurt, pasta, hot dogs but it's healthier than grabbing pizza 4 nights a week or mcdonald's or something similar. She will often eat a more meal like snack when she gets home and always takes veggies to snack on (her favs are baby carrots and raw mushrooms).

I have noticed that we ahve saved a ton of money since we started eating at home more. Though let me tell you, some nights all i want to do is order some take out instead of cooking!

Lara

 

[amwhitaker]

DINK's here! We eat out about 2 - 4 times a week. Just too tired after work to cook. We try to plan meals, but don't seem to keep up with planning out menus.

 

[littlbugmom]

We are a family of 4. We eat out once a week.

I make a monthly menu and Fridays are our "Take Out" night. This might mean going to a restaurant or it might mean take-out Chinese or subs from Subway. Bottom line is that dinner comes from somewhere other than our kitchen. My dh is a firefighter and gone a lot. If he's gone on a Friday, our "Take Out" night switches to Saturday or Sunday....whenever he's home.

The kids each have 1 day a month (when Daddy is working) to pick what we have for dinner. Sometimes, their pick is a fastfood joint.