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How one chooses to spend some of their discretionary funds is a very personal thing. Some might prefer to take high priced vacations once or twice a year, or have an expensive hobby, a housekeeper every week or two or love to dress in the latest fashions and some might opt to hire out the tasks associated with preparing and cleaning up after meals by eating out a high percentage of the time.
This is quite true, however, the OP started this thread stating that eating out was cheaper than buying groceries and cooking at home.
I would never criticize how someone chose to spend discretionary funds. For example the amount of money I spend every year or dog food, vet bills, etc. would more than equal a meal or two every week at a good restaurant. And I don't mean Olive Garden, either.
Subway has a deal now, $2.00 for a six inch cold cut or meatball sub, with veggies. Pretty cheap eats...if you can stand Subway. But for the same money, $14, I could buy a dozen eggs, a few cans of Ro Tel tomatoes, a few onions, red beans, rice. Maybe a few dollars more for cheese. And have omellettes, stir fried rice, red beans and rice, hard boiled eggs, better meals, that I made.
So, it is always a toss up. I know that I can buy better quality steaks at Costco, and eat home cheaper for a really good steak dinner.
God I can't be the only person who likes Olive Garden- every time I go there it's full of people! I know there's a difference between 'high-end cuisine' and chains like Olive Garden but it tastes good so I go for it, I don't go to anyplace where the food doesn't taste good to me.
I guess I'm not a food snob like some seem to be.
I don't think anyone is saying you are the only one that likes the place. What is being said, it is nothing more than a fast food place in a little more upscale setting, It serves a purpose, just like Micky D's serves a purpose, but it still isn't cheap nor particularly healthy..
As for how much people spend on food, you seem to have a problem with someone saying they only spend $80 a week. We eat very well, I love to cook and I don't mean only old fashion, family style like chili, or spaghetti, I mean with brandy sauses occassionally, lots of cheese, and good quality meat, except when we are having company, out of town house guests or the holidays, we spend about $75 a week for two. You obviously are not trying, in any way to cook economically or sensibly.
I don't think anyone is saying you are the only one that likes the place. What is being said, it is nothing more than a fast food place in a little more upscale setting, It serves a purpose, just like Micky D's serves a purpose, but it still isn't cheap nor particularly healthy..
As for how much people spend on food, you seem to have a problem with someone saying they only spend $80 a week. We eat very well, I love to cook and I don't mean only old fashion, family style like chili, or spaghetti, I mean with brandy sauses occassionally, lots of cheese, and good quality meat, except when we are having company, out of town house guests or the holidays, we spend about $75 a week for two. You obviously are not trying, in any way to cook economically or sensibly.
Nita
Please don't be ignorant and get your facts straight. The amount someone said they spent on groceries/food was $80/ MONTH and I don't have a "problem" with it...I can't FATHOM it. I spend $80/ month on groceries WITHOUT buying things to make for a meal (soda, ice cream, general crap that I enjoy eating).
What does it mean to cook sensibly? I have enough SENSE to know if I'm enjoying what I'm eating.
I never said I was trying to necessarily be the most economical person ever but I just wanted a comparison between the costs of eating out versus eating at home.
Mostly because I only can afford to eat out infrequently, and therefore I choose to spend my money on something original and creative. ESPECIALLY if I am travelling, I want to eat something that is unique to the region that I am in, that gives me a flavor of the town. Sorry, I have nothing against Olive Garden, or other similar chains, per-say, but if I travel 3000 miles, to the other coast, WHY IN THE WORLD would I want to have the same stuff (good or bad) that I can get when I'm at home?
Also, typically, not always, the places I choose to eat use healthier ingredients than chains do. Chains are about maximizing profit (nothing wrong with that, I'm absolutely a capitalist). having worked in the industry, I know the way to add the most flavor at the lowest cost. (Typically added fat, and added Salt)
I am not a food snob though. I eat (actually prefer) some of the divey-est places around. My preference is to "unique" and "good", and have a negative impression of "the same no matter where in the universe you get it", with a few exceptions.
i will give you that a chain is probably not the place for something unique. i go out frequently enough that sometimes i want unique and sometimes i want the same thing ive had a million times but know its good at a chain.
i dont think its accurate to suggest non-chains are any less about maximizing profit or that they have healthier ingredients. i think they often have cheap owners, owners that cut corners, poor quality control, inconsistent food, service, and management, etc. etc. etc. i dont think this is any less common in independently operated restaurants as it is in chains, in fact i think its worse in independent restaurants because there is no central standards or quality control.
Please don't be ignorant and get your facts straight. The amount someone said they spent on groceries/food was $80/ MONTH and I don't have a "problem" with it...I can't FATHOM it. I spend $80/ month on groceries WITHOUT buying things to make for a meal (soda, ice cream, general crap that I enjoy eating). .
I had a friend make a very similar claim - that he can feed his family of four on only $100. The guy always like to make a big deal out of being cheap, oops, I mean thrifty.
So, I called him on it. He pulls out three grocery receipts that came pretty close to $100. I looked at it for two minutes and started challenging on what he fed the family. Well, the real story was that he had about six months of food in the freezer and pantry and did not NEED to head to the store much that month. In other words, he was working down all of the inventory.
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I have not addressed the OP's question as it seemed that the thread would be one of those "I can be cheaper that YOU are" as opposed to one where you could get a lot of useful hints.
Personally, I do NOT see a lot of savings for single folks cooking. Sure, you can get one of those Michelina frozen entrees for $1 versus a restaurant meal or something like that. But if you go out and have to purchase all of the ingredients for a recipe and then use the entire portion, you have a lot of money tied up.
I have lived in a lot of places where you could get a "meat and three" for $5-6 and I thought that was a lot cheaper than cooking that meal.
Now if you have several family members, it is a lot cheaper to cook at home.
I am single and live alone so I usually have a tough time trying to figure out what to make myself on a weekly basis. For the most part, since I work second shift at my job, I usually do my cooking on the weekends to where it will last me throughout the workweek. I rarely eat out (if ever anymore) and I like to cook my own meals. I also pay much more attention in the ingredients of the foods I buy too. I avoid all processed and frozen food junk.
Every one in a blue moon I would go out to eat (usually with a friend) but that would usually only happen if there was an event going on. Other than that, I don't eat out at all. I find that for the amount of money many people spend at these restaurants (and the tips they have to pay) I could easily have made large batches of good food that will last me for a good while.
I am more of a DIY'er when it comes to cooking so that's how I deal with it.
Please don't be ignorant and get your facts straight. The amount someone said they spent on groceries/food was $80/ MONTH and I don't have a "problem" with it...I can't FATHOM it. I spend $80/ month on groceries WITHOUT buying things to make for a meal (soda, ice cream, general crap that I enjoy eating).
What does it mean to cook sensibly? I have enough SENSE to know if I'm enjoying what I'm eating.
I never said I was trying to necessarily be the most economical person ever but I just wanted a comparison between the costs of eating out versus eating at home.
and you got your answer from all of us a million times, but you keep giving us examples of this and that. Face it, you simply want to eat out, fine. Personal insults are not called for, calling someone ignorant is a personal insult. I read your reply, you said to the person you didn't believe the $80. I hadn't read their comments. I do agree, $80 is a tough one to accept, but I guess it is possible if the person isn't counting all the staples some of us are working into our budget.
As for being economical, you comments (frist post and others) were you could eat out cheaper or as cheap as at home. for me anyway, this thread has gone far enough. You made your original statement about hamburger, etc which made little sense, you do not like left overs (your choice) you know very well you can eat at home cheaper than eating out every meal and you can eat much healthier. If you still choose to eat out most of the time, enjoy...
Meh. I'll repeat again that much of it depends on what you want to be eating and how much you value things like time, convenience and freshness over pure cost. Can you feed yourself, as in find something to fill up your stomach, for cheaper at home? Of course. But I still say for certain types of foods - namely those requiring lots of ingredients you don't normally use - it's not worth making at home.
Take sushi. Now I'm lucky enough to live in a city with an amazing food scene and a vast Asian population, so sushi around here is plentiful, delicious, and cheap - generally $3-$4 for a roll. That plus a $1 bowl of miso soup is an excellent dinner for me, for less than $5. Now, technically I can try making something like a dynamite roll at home, I would have to go and buy prawns, that are about $6 for six fresh ones, or $10 for a medium bag of frozen ones. Get the ingredients to make a tempura batter. Sushi rice, rice vinegar, nori, that special japanese mayo, avocado, cucumber, wasabi, pickled ginger, whatever else they use in there. Miso paste and stock base. I'd have to make the batter, batter and deep fry the prawns, cook the rice, chop everything up, make the rolls - and I'd be betting they wouldn't be as good as ones from a japanese place. That's a lot of work, time and effort involved, and I'd estimate close to $20-$30 for the ingredients, and yes a lot of these would be left over (but the seafood and veggies woudn't keep anyways), but they'd need to lie around until the next time I felt like attempting that whole sha-bang. Even if it means I'd be saving $3 off the $5 take-out price, that just does not seem worth it to me.
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