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Quit eating out? That means I'd have to cook more! lol I'm like Miss Hepburn. Lot of people like places like Applebee's and places like that. We're fine with the pizza buffet ($5.50, all you can eat last week!), Huddle House, etc.
The better I have learned to cook, the less I am happy with the food I get at restaurants. In fact I am almost always disappointed with it these days.
However, with groceries getting so high, I don't necessarily think it is always cheaper these days to cook at home. The price of steaks at the grocery store is one example. Cheaper to go to Applebees for a steak dinner, and their steaks are not too bad.
The better I have learned to cook, the less I am happy with the food I get at restaurants. In fact I am almost always disappointed with it these days.
However, with groceries getting so high, I don't necessarily think it is always cheaper these days to cook at home. The price of steaks at the grocery store is one example. Cheaper to go to Applebees for a steak dinner, and their steaks are not too bad.
not so sure about that, bnls choice strip steaks are 6.99lb today for a whole pound in a store
a 12oz sirloin strip at a restaurant is usually over 12.00
at tgif Fridays an 8 oz choice strip was 12.99 a couple mnths ago
I love to cook at home, and if I go out to eat, it's for something I find too difficult/time consuming to make at home, like egg rolls, pizza, tempura, deep fried food.
I stopped at a 24 hour Vietnamese restaurant the other night and only ordered egg roll appetizers, which were so delicious. I like these Japanese restaurants with their appetizer selections, and I may just order a couple appetizers, that's it, like pot stickers and chicken wings.
Personally I don't watch my budget as much as I watch my sodium amount. I do eat out at lunch mostly, but go to those places where the amount of sodium is predictable. By the end of the day I try not to consume more than 1800mg of sodium. I'm on small dosages of blood pressure medicine. If you prepare your own meals at home, you can probably get a cheeseburger at the end of the day from some fast food place and keep your sodium consumption limited to 1600mg.
There are times when I don't even count sodium. But they are rare. Gotta enjoy freedom from mathematics every once in awhile. The system I have is part of myfitnesspal. Today I stayed home from work because of a cold and though I did five sets of "dozens of" strict push ups, I knew enough to restrict my calories due to lack of cardio workout. I budgeted my calories and I'm fine with that. Ordinarily I would eat 600 more calories than I did today. Should I be hungry? No. I did not do the cardio. I'm in my 50s and my upper abs are defined. In a year or two I will get the "six pack" abs.
My wife and I go out at least once, and frequently twice a week. We never go to places to just grab something and try to go somewhere new and interesting every time. Sometimes that's a pricey place, but just as frequently it can be something like a BYOB Peruvian, Ecuadorian, or Vietnamese place where our total bill is under $30. The main thing is to get out of the house, eat great food, and catch up with each other outside of all the crazy stuff we deal with at work and just keeping our family and house running smoothly. Simply hanging out together once or twice a week goes a long way to keeping our relationship strong, and (for us) beats the hell out of taking a cruise once a year.
We also complement that by having 10 or so friends over at least once a week and I cook for them. Being social is important as well.
It will be a long time before we quit eating out, not that we do often however, with my illness I don't always feel like cooking also if we are out getting errands done we will stop if we get hungry. Then there is the eating out while traveling which again isn't often but it still happens.
I've cut back big time because I'm a diabetic and the doctor's say restaurant eating is the worst foods to eat.
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