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Good for you, Dawn! Yes, cooking at home with wholesome ingredients is usually a lot healthier than eating at most restaurants. And definitely cheaper.
We still eat out 1-2 times a week. We both work at home, so eating out is a way to avoid cabin fever.
We have a real good and well-priced Mexican restaurant we often frequent. There's a steak appetizer that's just the right size for my smaller appetite--and I get it without sour cream, cheese and other glop. So basically, I'm getting a small serving of lean animal protein over a salad...or a bean burrito is good there, too.
Otherwise, when I cook at home, I'm serving mainly vegetarian--or seafood-- as we do eat fish. We're pretty healthy eating this way. No chronic diseases and our weight's pretty good. Low salt, bad fats, and sugar. And no MSG--which keeps me up all night--very sensitive. Many restaurants use a lot of MSG.
I only go to restaurants when I want to get someone quick. The restaurant downstairs where I work has oatmeal and I get that, and some salads I can eat. When I am home, I cook my own food. Love it much better! Less expensive too, and easy peasy ingredients right there in my fridge.
I still occasionally treat myself to Chipotle and Panera. But the other fast food places I avoid like the plague. Why Chipotle and Panera? Because they are the only two out of the top 25 in America to score an 'A' on antibiotics and sourcing.
At Chipotle I can literally get a filling meal for $5. I'll get two of the chicken soft tacos, load them with healthy stuff like beans and veggies and ditch the tortillas in the trash lol. They never charge for extras except guac... so I will load those babies up like it's Thanksgiving with so much pinto, black bean, fajita, tomatillo salsa and corn they need to refoil them! Panera is a bit more expensive, but still comes in at under $10. I personally love the Thai chicken salad and even though I can make a near-exact copy at home... there are those days when you're just tired and don't want to cook, for sure. And the calorie counts are reasonable for most items as long as you stay away from the pastas, steak items and cream-heavy soups.
But McDonald's, BK, Wendy's, Taco Bell, even Outback or Applebee's... I haven't been to any of them in years, knowing the shortcuts they take to make an extra buck. Plus, the service at the sit-down restaurants is usually awful, young incompetent kids who think I owe them 20% while they sit on their cell phone smoking outside... no. Starbucks, I'll still go for the coffee and to socialize but I'll never eat the food items knowing how they were produced.
Last edited by EastBoundandDownChick; 06-15-2017 at 12:36 PM..
I make sporadic half-hearted efforts at not eating out that last a few weeks. I really don't like experimenting with cooking new things so there's pretty much the same basic things I make over and over. I don't have to think when I shop or when I'm cooking so it's sort of a relaxing meditation type activity. If I cook something new I have to do all this planning what ingredients I need and then think about it when I'm making it. Yuck. I'd need to at least add a couple things into my rotation as when I'm not eating out I get really bored with what I make at home. But then I have to plan and think when I'm cooking and that's even worse than being bored with the same food over and over. But then I'm bored or lazy and end up going out and eating lunch rather than brown bagging.
I still occasionally treat myself to Chipotle and Panera. But the other fast food places I avoid like the plague. Why Chipotle and Panera? Because they are the only two out of the top 25 in America to score an 'A' on antibiotics and sourcing.
At Chipotle I can literally get a filling meal for $5. I'll get two of the chicken soft tacos, load them with healthy stuff like beans and veggies and ditch the tortillas in the trash lol. They never charge for extras except guac... so I will load those babies up like it's Thanksgiving with so much pinto, black bean, fajita, tomatillo salsa and corn they need to refoil them! Panera is a bit more expensive, but still comes in at under $10. I personally love the Thai chicken salad and even though I can make a near-exact copy at home... there are those days when you're just tired and don't want to cook, for sure. And the calorie counts are reasonable for most items as long as you stay away from the pastas, steak items and cream-heavy soups.
But McDonald's, BK, Wendy's, Taco Bell, even Outback or Applebee's... I haven't been to any of them in years, knowing the shortcuts they take to make an extra buck. Plus, the service at the sit-down restaurants is usually awful, young incompetent kids who think I owe them 20% while they sit on their cell phone smoking outside... no. Starbucks, I'll still go for the coffee and to socialize but I'll never eat the food items knowing how they were produced.
Other than the salt, Chipotle is pretty good. I usually won't eat there because of the sodium. My typical burrito bowl clocks in at an eyepopping 2,500 mg of sodium. I mean, you can leave off the guac and cheese and salsa and it's down to just 1,100 but then it's pretty boring.
Applebee's I wouldn't go to for years. I went maybe a year ago and it pretty much was as I remembered. I just got a chicken salad which was pretty much just take a bag of salad mix, throw some almond slices on it, and toss a precooked frozen Tyson chicken breast on a grill for a few minutes and slice it up. I really don't get the point. Even I can make that at home in 10 minutes, and 7 of it is just waiting for the chicken to warm up if I didn't use the microwave.
My husband and I are now in our 60s, and we don't eat out nearly as much as we used to. Too expensive, too many calories, etc. Maybe once per week. It is much easier just to cook at home, and then you know exactly what is in your meal. That said we do live in a kind of a "foodie" area, with every kind of option imaginable. There are people here that eat out almost daily, sometimes several meals. I don't know how they do it, all the calories and $$$. it is a fight to keep the figure, you know? lol
Plus, if I make a meal at home, I often have enough for a second meal or turn leftovers into a soup, etc. I do think however as we age I will want to eat out a bit more than we currently do, but try to split plates or order small plates, etc.
Good for you, OP, for doing your own cooking! It is definitely so much more economical in every way.
I probably eat out 5-6 times a week. Larger restaurant meal is basically two meals and since I eat out one meal a day on most days I've adapted to that eating pattern and only eat twice a day. Saves a ton of time. Typically I'll make breakfast at home and then have a late lunch if I'm eating out which holds me over fine until breakfast.
The cost is more of an issue. Runs about $15-20/day eating out. You can do it cheaper for sure but that's about what it averages for me. The cost is the primary thing I worry about. Typical restaurant meals are 1,000 - 1,500 calories. I aim at the higher calorie range if it's going to last me from late lunch until breakfast the next day. If not, a lot of restaurants now are carrying lighter calorie menus so you can actually get a reasonable portion of food in the 500-800 calorie range. Usually they're better choices as well. Problem is I'd need to order two of them if i wanted to skip dinner that night.
I am really liking Lemonade! It is an LA chain that is sort of a California style deli. It is really easy to make healthy choices there.
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