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So we have forty favorite restaurants which we used to patronize 2-4 times a week, but for the last year or so, cannot go out anymore. Like some others, health concerns. Bride of 40 years has severe salt restrictions now, with bad consequences for breaking.
So we've been cooking and eating very healthy and tasty stuff. Even when I am on my own for a few days, I prefer to prepare and eat the majority of meals at home.
We wish we could enjoy our favorite restaurants again, the prices are fine, the food is delicious, the variety available within a reasonable distance is amazing. But that's not where we are at in life.
It's difficult to break a long time habit. I'm retired now for 5 years but prior to that I was eating out all the time. And I continued doing that until this year I really looked at how much I was spending in a year eating out and it was astonishing.
The month of August I did not eat out even once. Seems now that I got in the habit of not eating out I don't even think
about it. If I don't want to cook I will pick up something from the deli counter at the grocery store...which I do rarely.
At least it makes me feel like I ate out. I might add that since retirement I have lost over 30 pounds due to being much more active and not going on all those lunches with my co-workers. Now I'm saving the eating out experience for when
company arrives.
Not completely, but we've definitely cut back a lot, and it's showing in our savings account. We are eating a lot more fruit and veg, which is another benefit of preparing meals at home.
We stopped eating out many years ago. We do occasionally (less than 10 times a year) get takeout if an occasion arises. This was in part to save money but I've gotten very OCD about how the food I eat is prepared. If I can't watch it be cooked/ prepared (like in chinese takeout places or delis) I won't eat it. I had food poisoning too many times, even going out to nice places.
I don't eat out at all, mainly because I do not trust the under-payed un-educated slobs to prepare germ free meals. Saving money and eating better are just the bonus.
I work in the healthcare field and we rarely eat out. Just knowing the contagious diseases that people are walking around with makes me stay frugal and eat at home. There are certain things like TB and Hep B & C that are endemic in certain countries. Those people come to the US and work in the food industry, etc. Since we know that only 1 in 20 wash their hands properly... I don't want to think of the statistics in the low paid food service business.
There was a time when we did eat out without thinking about it. But after getting sick a few times (we ended up in a DC hotel once for 5 days with an ER visit after my husband ate fast food, told the hotel to firebomb our room when we left!) it is rare that we eat out anymore. If we are feeling the need for fast food we will usually stop at the grocery and pick up some frozen stuff and add a salad to it while waiting a few minutes for it to cook at home. If we are traveling we either take a cooler (by car) or pick up some things nonperishable that will survive in our backpacks and hotel room (by air). It's amazing how well we do with protein bars, a few pieces of fruit, and some bottled water! And pretty much anything goes if we are packing the cooler...we make it very nice, like a good picnic.
Just think about the level of education of the average food service worker. Only at the finest of restaurants are you more likely to find workers who are paid a livable wage and are supervised by someone who is educated enough to follow the health laws.
Just sayin' that I have seen my fair share of positive test results and I just don't want to gamble on where they happen to be working...or touching my food.
Just think about the level of education of the average food service worker. Only at the finest of restaurants are you more likely to find workers who are paid a livable wage and are supervised by someone who is educated enough to follow the health laws.
I've only worked for a restaurant once. There had to be at least one person who had taken the DC Food Sanitation Course working in the kitchen at all times. I was one of these people at this place, and the only egregious instance of food un-sanitation I ever saw was committed by the head chef. It only happened once, thankfully.
I was the executive chef at a catering company, and we were very conscious of food safety standards. There were four of us who'd taken the course, and we were all quite serious about getting it right. We were paid more, I imagine, than the people you're criticizing, but really, it's fairly simple stuff to communicate to others.
I'm not afraid of eating out, but I'm eating out less. I'm finding the quality isn't as good at a lot of mid-priced places as it used to be. There are two Chinese restaurants where I live that have cheaped out so much, I'm not planning to eat at either one again. Other than Starbucks and Panera, I don't go to chain restaurants.
I work in the healthcare field and we rarely eat out. Just knowing the contagious diseases that people are walking around with makes me stay frugal and eat at home. There are certain things like TB and Hep B & C that are endemic in certain countries. Those people come to the US and work in the food industry, etc. Since we know that only 1 in 20 wash their hands properly... I don't want to think of the statistics in the low paid food service business.
There was a time when we did eat out without thinking about it. But after getting sick a few times (we ended up in a DC hotel once for 5 days with an ER visit after my husband ate fast food, told the hotel to firebomb our room when we left!) it is rare that we eat out anymore. If we are feeling the need for fast food we will usually stop at the grocery and pick up some frozen stuff and add a salad to it while waiting a few minutes for it to cook at home. If we are traveling we either take a cooler (by car) or pick up some things nonperishable that will survive in our backpacks and hotel room (by air). It's amazing how well we do with protein bars, a few pieces of fruit, and some bottled water! And pretty much anything goes if we are packing the cooler...we make it very nice, like a good picnic.
Just think about the level of education of the average food service worker. Only at the finest of restaurants are you more likely to find workers who are paid a livable wage and are supervised by someone who is educated enough to follow the health laws.
Just sayin' that I have seen my fair share of positive test results and I just don't want to gamble on where they happen to be working...or touching my food.
This is certainly food for thought! No pun intended. You are really making me think about ever going
out to eat again!
I eat out a lot less than I did a few years ago, but it's mostly because my sister moved in due to a job change for her, and she ruins the dining experience for me in most cases by complaining out the price of anything more than fast food, tries to cheap out by telling me that she'll "just eat" half *my* entree, refuses to explore the menu choices, etc. I end up cooking at home because she hates to cook and so doesn't complain about that.
I eat out every once in a while when family comes over or birthdays.
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. Saving money and eating better are just the bonus.
