Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Compare to the amount of rice, meat, vegetables you could get for $9
Sure, but notice that the poster you were replying to specifically mentioned older, retired adults. My mother-in-law is 83, widowed, and starting to have mobility problems. Shopping for raw ingredients and then moving around the kitchen preparing and cooking them is getting to be too much for her, so she ends up eating a lot of things like bread with peanut butter or cold cereal.
$9 for enough already-prepared meat, rice and vegetables that she can heat it up and have two or three meals without having to actually cook is very much worth the money for her.
I have noticed that eating out in North America is seen a bit more of a "luxury' where sure you can eat out but people seem to prefer to cook their food at home.
In contrast, talking with some Spaniards they said that the you can have the "Menu del Dia" and its relatively cheap.
It depends on a number of factors such as the quality of the restaurant, whether it's in a major city or in a rural area or a region.
In terms of cities, Business Insider published a list of the cities with highest average restaurant bill in 2017.
Also there are cheap family friendly type restaurant chains, often under different names which are owned by the same company.
Mitchells & Butlers for instance tends to own cheap dining outlets such as Bar One, Miller & Carter, Nicholson's, Toby Carvery, Harvester, Browns Restaurants, Vintage Inns, Ember Inns, Son of Steak, Stonehouse Pizza & Grill, Crown Carveries, O’Neill’s, Premium Country Pubs, and Sizzling Pubs.
Whilst Whitbread owns cheap restaurant chains such as Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Beefeater and Greene King own the Hungry Horse chain. There are numerous other examples of cheap chains, and many independents are also affordable, especially outside of central London.
Slightly more upmarket restaurant chains include the likes of -
There are also a host of Italian chains including Bella Italia, ASK Italian, Franco Manca, Prezzo, Carluccios, Strada, Zizzi etc, and they offer pretty similar fare to the Olive Garden and other such US chains.
However the vast majority of UK restaurants are independents, and you can find a list of some of the best here, although they will be more expensive -
In terms of finding a decent restaurant in the UK, use on-line reviews, look out for locally awarded accolades such as AA Rosettes, which range from one Rosettes, all the way to five for restaurants deemed excellent.
You can also check restaurant hygiene ratings here, although many respectable businesses display the rating on their front window, with 5 being the highest rating and 0 the lowest (which basically means it's been closed down). -
The scheme gives businesses a rating from 5 to 0 which is displayed at their premises and online so you can make more informed choices about where to buy and eat food.
5 – hygiene standards are very good
4 – hygiene standards are good
3 – hygiene standards are generally satisfactory
I have found that eating out is not always more expensive, but way cheap if you are
on your own and more advanced in age, like retired for a long time... that old...
The portions when you do take out food, are often so large, there is no way to eat it all in one sitting, so it becomes a two-day meal. Most older people eat smaller portions of food.
You can get a really cheap meal at "Panda" for instance for less than 9 dollars.
One main dish (Noodles or rice based), and two entrees.
Next, you go online, and fill out their questionnaire, and get a number.
Then you use this number the next time you get a meal at "Panda", and get an extra entree!
For sure it is now a two-day meal! Do that each time from now on!
Just imagine, being on your own (partner has passed away a long time ago), and you have to cook all this stuff each time you need dinner!? Quite a bit of work and I am sure way more costly than the 5 bucks each meal it would have cost you!
You can do the same with the Chinese "All you can eat" Buffet!
Do the take-out route and only get the healthy stuff at the Mongolian BBQ counter.
The cost there is also less than 10 bucks and no too salty or too fatty items!
"Fine dining", I do at some less frequent intervals with friends. Just for the "company".
We lived (when I was still working) a very long time in Europe and eating out was once and a while for dinner, and more often during lunch with customers. The company paid for those occasions!
With the Family, it was almost never eating out, except when on trips while on vacation!
I also do "fine dining" with my children and their family, and I am the one "treating" them!
I do this once a week with each of my 5 kids (so I do this every 5 weeks with each child) where I have the luxury to have all of them within 30 minutes of my abode! A good time to get to interact with grandkids also, AND a good time to teach small children how to behave in fine dining restaurants!
All said and done, I think The USA eats more out often and also way too big portions, hence the weight problem many have...
You "hate" to 'waste food'... so you 'let it go to waist'? Ghe Ghe Ghe...
Interesting. Firstly, I said I wasn't talking about fast food, and I consider Panda Express to be the fast food of the Chinese restaurant world. Note the word "express" in their name. It tells you something. But if you enjoy it and can stretch a portion into two meals, more power to you.
Secondly, IDK about where you live, but the ethnic all-you-can-eat buffets in places I've lived in and still visit, have gone way up in price. They're really no longer the bargain they used to be. OK, maybe if you're a guy, you can eat beyond the high price's-worth of food, but the days of the $5 buffet or $6 are long over. At $10 and climbing, it's barely any different than a formal dining arrangement where you order off the menu. Though you do get more variety for your buck, I'll grant you that. Sampling is fun.
I'm also finding, that the portions at ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Indian, Thai) are far from excessive. At some restaurants, they're inadequate, yet the price still packs a punch to the wallet. The people still offering excessive portions are more the chain restaurants, like Denny's, aren't they?
IME times have changed. Overhead costs for restaurant owners (rent, mainly) have gone up disproportionately, so they have to charge more for the same amount of food as before.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
5,921 posts, read 13,864,691 times
Reputation: 5229
Comments inserted
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Interesting. Firstly, I said I wasn't talking about fast food, and I consider Panda Express to be the fast food of the Chinese restaurant world. Note the word "express" in their name. It tells you something. But if you enjoy it and can stretch a portion into two meals, more power to you.
Ok, I agree. Panda could be "Fast Food". But at least, I know what I am eating...
The noodles are real noodles, and the rice is really rice, with real veggies in it!
The veggies are veggies, they look like veggies, they taste like veggies and they chew like veggies, hard to make broccoli artificial...?
The chicken, I know is really just chicken, you can shred it like a real piece of chicken, and it is usually sliced pieces. The shrimp has to be real because I have never seen artificial shrimp yet...
Unlike Mc D for instance...
Secondly, IDK about where you live, but the ethnic all-you-can-eat buffets in places I've lived in and still visit, have gone way up in price. They're really no longer the bargain they used to be. OK, maybe if you're a guy, you can eat beyond the high price's-worth of food, but the days of the $5 buffet or $6 are long over. At $10 and climbing, it's barely any different than a formal dining arrangement where you order off the menu. Though you do get more variety for your buck, I'll grant you that. Sampling is fun.
I live in Utah, and a meal at an all you can eat is under 12 during lunch. Dinner, about 17 bucks! Except, I do take out and they weigh it and it costs me about 6-7 dollars per take-out! Makes two meals!
I'm also finding, that the portions at ethnic restaurants (Chinese, Indian, Thai) are far from excessive. At some restaurants, they're inadequate, yet the price still packs a punch to the wallet. The people still offering excessive portions are more the chain restaurants, like Denny's, aren't they?
Maybe where you live in Texas, but here it is still a lot in my opinion. A few weeks ago, we ate at a Chinese restaurant in Vernal, Ut, and the portions were way too much! That place was packed to the rafters! They serve each meal on those giant oval plates! Next time I eat out (Asian), I will take pics.
IME times have changed. Overhead costs for restaurant owners (rent, mainly) have gone up disproportionately, so they have to charge more for the same amount of food as before.
Yes you are right. We used to live in the Los Angeles area, and on our way to Utah, we stopped in Las Vegas and could eat ourselves silly for about $7 bucks. You need to learn how to use the system! You arrive at 11:00, and you eat "all you can eat breakfast". Then they close the lines and stock for lunch. So your next "round" is lunch stuff! All for 7 bucks then! Today at least 15 bucks for a crappy lunch...
They have a Korean BBQ place here where you BBQ the meat yourself. Some hoyty toyty people do not like it and want to be "served in style"...
Depending on what you order, each choice is under 10 bucks and one choice is really way plenty for one person who is hungry! I have a bunch of pilot friends (we are all active or just recreational pilots) and when we eat there (5 or more of us), we each order a different dish to BBQ and we all are plenty full when we are done!
With friends, we often patronise a place where I always choose the liver and onion dish (I love a well-cooked liver dish!) It is literally two pieces of the liver, each as big as the plate itself and a load of French fries that come on a separate plate. The liver is covered with almost one whole big sweet onion sauteed to perfection. Cost 12.50 bucks. You guess how many meals I eat from that dish! From the left-over liver, I make something else the next days!
We have a place here, called Rolls and Bowls. Order a Pho there and you get almost half a gallon worth of soup base plus a giant oval plate of other "stuff" to add to your soup... (12 bucks enough for a whole family...!)
I have noticed that eating out in North America is seen a bit more of a "luxury' where sure you can eat out but people seem to prefer to cook their food at home.
In contrast, talking with some Spaniards they said that the you can have the "Menu del Dia" and its relatively cheap.
Spanish "Menu del Dia" must be the French version of "plat du jour" (today's special).
It's much more appreciated by the tourists than the local diners, who know where to find affordable meals.
__________________ ____________________________________________
My posts as a Mod will always be in red.
Be sure to review Terms of Service: TOS
And check this out: FAQ
Moderator: Relationships Forum / Hawaii Forum / Dogs / Pets / Current Events
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
