Are you going to restaurants less frequently now, or do you think you will start doing so? (weather, anniversary)
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I did not know where to put this, but I decided to put this here in the Retirement forum because I think going out to restaurants might be one of the first things to be eliminated when one is on a fixed (or somewhat fixed) income.
My husband and I are celebrating our anniversary in one week, so I will be making reservations at our favorite restaurant, but in light of the recent inflation, especially in food prices, I was curious to find out how much their prices have increased, according to their online menu, since the last time we were there, which was last December.
At first I was shocked to see that the average entree price had increased by about 20-25% in nine months, but then I realized that if food prices overall have increased 25%, then I would have been very naive to expect that restaurant prices would not increase also. It barely registered when I recently noticed that most breakfast entrees had increased about $1.50 at a 'family' restaurant, but it was a shock to see a jump of about $10.00 in dinner entrees at our favorite 'nice' restaurant. So, in short, where we paid about $200 for a nice dinner last year, we are probably looking at $250 for an equivalent dinner this year.
So although we only go out to any kind of restaurant about 6-10 times a year, we might be going out even less frequently than that in the future. (Good thing my husband and I are both good cooks, lol!)
So what about you? Do you think that you be going to restaurants less frequently in the coming year than you have in the past, or not?
Last edited by katharsis; 09-10-2022 at 02:12 PM..
We’ve been going more frequently simply to explore the better restaurants in our new location. I suspect that once we’ve eaten at these places a couple of times, we’ll drop back to infrequent or only when special visitors are visiting. Price hasn’t come into play yet. MrsK7 just took a new position that came with a very nice raise so only one of us is retired.
It is your anniversary, so go and have a great time!
Now here we just go to the small local cafes about twice a week. At one small place, I see many of our older friends enjoying a meal. But they don't eat a lot - a breakfast taco for example and maybe a cup of coffee would be less than five dollars. They go to socialize.
My brothers girlfriend owns one and people will hang out there in the patio for hours. She did say that the price of eggs had really gone up. Around here most places open super early and are closed by 2 in the afternoon.
I go less frequently for several reasons. Usually during the day I hang around the house is sweats, shorts, t-shirts so one might say shabby (but clean) looking. I would have to make the effort to dress a bit better to go out to eat, so I do not. I do take-out so I do not have to dress.
I like to have a drink or two before dinner and with drunk drinking laws so tough I do not want any issues. A distant second along these lines is two drinks is going to add about $12-$14 to the bill.
I do so enjoy a nice dinner with a friend so in that case, I do go out.
I like to have a drink or two before dinner and with drunk drinking laws so tough I do not want any issues. .
Drunk drinking laws?
I didn't realize that South Carolina had drinking laws specifically tailored to drunks. How does that work? Is that a requirement to drink until you're drunk?
On a more serious note, if I'm going to go out somewhere where I anticipate having more than one or two drinks over the course of an evening, I take an Uber. It's the best designated driver program ever invented!
So what about you? Do you think that you be going to restaurants less frequently in the coming year than you have in the past, or not?
No, if anything, given that we recently moved and have an entire new region to explore, we'll most likely be dining out more frequently than we have in the past. However, the majority of the restaurant visits will most likely be during the day, either breakfast, lunch, or happy hour, because we'll be out driving to various locales and exploring the various areas. Just in the past 10 days, we had Sunday brunch at a rooftop restaurant in Savannah's Historic District overlooking the Savannah River, lunch at an Indian restaurant in Richmond Hill, lunch at a pub in Old Town Bluffton, SC, dinner on the water at a marina on Tybee Island, lunch at an outdoor seafood restaurant overlooking the Wilmington River in Thunderbolt, GA, and then back to Tybee Island on another day for pizza. And then depending on the weather in the upcoming week, we're planning to either drive up to Beaufort or Charleston, SC for the day, or down to St. Simon's Island (or perhaps both on different days).
In any event, we're definitely eating out more than we had been recently in Miami.
I always loved to go out and eat with friends. Sadly, like many that ended. But I am getting back into the swing of it. Meeting friends on Monday for lunch and again in a few weeks. Seems harder to organize schedules than concern about prices, although I am very aware of prices.
We just finished restaurant week here in NYC. I rarely indulge in this but we had a 3 course dinner for $45.
We rarely drink. That keeps the bill down.
We have reduced our visits to the restaurants, not because of the prices but to minimize an unnecessary risk of Covid. We are well aware of the reduction in mortality rates from Covid but still prefer to avoid catching it if possible. We go out when the occasion calls for it but not anywhere near the frequency prior to Covid.
For the last month, I am recovering from a serious bicycling accident which involved fractures and rib cage injuries, among other things. With that, even sneezing has been very painful (though the intensity is going down recently). So, I am very fortunate to have avoided respiratory infections of any kind.
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