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On very rare occasion we do eat out or if we are on a big trip and have no other choice. Otherwise we decided since long ago to eat at home or we eat at family or relatives places for a change. The biggest reason is being health conscientious plus it is getting too expensive and the food is not as tasty as it used to be (talking about the great places we used to visit)
We go out to eat maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Birthdays and our Anniversary. Husband might stop and pick a pizza up once in a while or I might pick up Gyros on my way home. Not often. Again, maybe once or twice a year. I like cooking, husband likes leftovers. If I don't feel like cooking, the fridge is usually full of leftovers for him to plow through.
Not 100% because there are some things I just wont cook at home, fried chicken for example it's too darn messy..
It just seems like more often than not, restaurant food is just not so good to me anymore and I'm not that picky..
We rarely eat out since I have retired and enjoy cooking. When I eat out, it is usually to meet a friend for lunch. Every once in a while, we have breakfast out at our local diner because we have coupons, and we eat out on my birthday, when traveling, and sometimes for our anniversary. These days, I seem to prefer my own cooking, except for my favorite Chinese restaurant. Just cannot make shrimp with lobster sauce the way that they do it.
When our kids were toddler and infant age, we got into a habit of doing what was essentially an at home date night. One of us would order a nice meal to go from a nearby upscale restaurant while the other one put the kids to bed. Then, we would re-plate everything to look nice, pour a glass of wine, light candles and sit and enjoy each other's company while we ate. We didn't have to cook (which we don't particularly enjoy anyway), there was minimal cleanup, we didn't have to contend with other diners, poor service etc.
About a year or two ago, we started doing dinner out a couple of times a month with our girls (now 8 and 5). We would pick very nice restaurants, everyone would get dressed up, and we would head downtown. We'd get reservations very early around 5:30 or 6 pm, and would have the kids home and in bed no later than usual for a weekend.
well we have just had it with eating out and there is really not many great offerings in restaraunts where we live anyway. We figure we might actually save some money not eating out at least for a year , And we figure we will probably be healthier for it also .
Have any of you all just stopped eating out , I mean just plain cut it out of your life ? if so how much did you figure you saved or are saving just by doing this one simple step ?
You think your options are bad now, if more people stop eating out, restaurants start closing their doors. Where do you think that leaves your choices?
Won't affect you?
Try calling your favorite HVAC place and they are out of business. Why? Their bread and butter are restaurants. Your favorite plumber? Ditto. Electrician?
How about the restaurant employees that spend money? Rent? Groceries?
Doctors?
The restaurant industry employs more people than any other industry in the US.
Restaurants are also the number one small business.
Also, those chain restaurants you hate give back more than anyone to the local community through schools, fire departments, police departments, local charities, etc. They also provide health care, insurance, 401ks, and paid vacation for those employees.
I'm certainly not suggesting your single handidly support them but think your decision through.
Olive garden and Longhorn are our splurge restaurants and we love them. I'm not gonna pay a half or full days pay for one meal, I don't care how how authentic or expertly prepared it is. We eat out 2 to 4 times a week, most often at local greek owned family restaurants where a meal for 2 is about $20. One of them includes soup, salad, a drink and desert. We often bring home leftovers cus they give you too much to eat.
I don't especially enjoy cooking anymore, but most of the food that I make at home tastes better than what we can get at a restaurant. It's pretty expensive to feed two adults and two big kids (who eat as much as adults). I can make dinner for the four of us at home for about $12 a night, and we can't even feed the family at McDonalds (not that I consider that food) for $12.
My one indulgence lately is getting takeout from Whataburger. I'm experimenting with cooking burgers with a higher fat content to see if that's what makes their burgers better...once I have that figured out, we probably won't eat there anymore either.
^^^^This. I won't eat at that kind of place with the low quality food. I don't know what they put into that stuff to make it taste like food but it can't be good for you. It's probably some inferior ingredients to make up for what SHOULD be in it. People get addicted to that type of food--must be something that's in it.
Luckily we are retired. But even when I worked I still forced myself to come home and cook dinner. I didn't have the time to plan menus so I just posted a list of our favorite meals on the fridge and chose one every night.
We occasionally eat out at a wonderful Indian restaurant because I could never duplicate their curries at home. We save a bundle by growing a few vegetables, buying the rest of our food, and just cooking easy meals.
I too, usually fixed dinner when I got home from work or would prepare things on weekends and freeze them. I do know a lot of families, especially with kids just find it easier to eat our or order delivery. When our kids were young I was a domestic engineer so worked from home. After I did go back to work we would choose to eat out or I would pick something up when I was heading home, if it was a hot summer night and I had worked long hours.
We still eat out for special events and like to grab lunch when we are out for the day. In fact tomorrow we will be running errands all day, so are trying a Chinese buffet which we have heard about for years. We also eat out for breakfast or early lunch sometimes after church, but that is just about it. It is rare for us to go to a fast food restaurant.
Not at all. We live in a BBQ mecca, and there are too many awesome places. We can't really replicate it at home without building a smoker and pit annex in the back yard. And if my husband attempts to do that, I'll remind him that building a deck is first priorty, LOL.
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