When was the last time you went out to eat?

[Mrs. Readsalot]

We have been trying to save money by not eating out. We have only been out to eat three times this year.

1. February took MIL out for her birthday

2. Chinese buffet in March.

3. April 5th took MIL to Olive Garden for lunch

I have to admit I am burning out a little on cooking so much.

I am curious how often others go out to eat. Note we have also not gotten any take out etc. We used to get take out or go out once a week.

[Jennifer in MI]

Good job!! Really, that is great!!

 

We stopped going out to eat when our ds was diagnosed with food allergies six years ago. Since then, we've relaxed a bit and started venturing out, but not very often.

 

Our eating out this year:

 

1. Brunch on Easter

2. We ordered pizza at the Tigers game last Friday.

 

That's it. But, we're extreme too! We prefer to spend our money on vacations!! (Oh - we also ate out for the 10 days we were on vacation in January, but that's a whole separate budget line for us, so I didn't count it!) We eat out so rarely, that I only budget $20/month for it.

 

I think there needs to be a balance! If it has been really difficult to cook in so much, then eat out a bit more often. Or, eat out at a cheaper place. How old are your kids? Can they help out with the cooking? Dh? Can he cook?

 

Good luck finding your balance!!!

[sleepy]

The last time I went out to eat was shortly after Christmas. We eat out maybe 2 or 3 times a year. It's too expensive, and the food is usually disappointing. :tongue_smilie:

 

Needless to say, I do a lot of cooking. :D

[Sandy in Indy]

As a family?? Easter Sunday, only because grandma sent $$ for a meal. Other than that, I can't remember the last time we ate out as a family--it's just too expensive. I get tired of cooking, but it's just the way it is around here. I really wouldn't know how to act if we went out on a regular basis!

 

I do, however, meet once a month with a group of ladies that I taught with 20 years ago. Our monthly meeting was yesterday...so I ate out yesterday (and it was yummy).

[Closeacademy]

We went out mid-April to McDonalds for my youngest dd's birthday.

 

March was McDonalds for Easter and my dh and I had a "date" and went to a hot wings place.

 

Now January was bad we went out a lot but Feburary was better and we went out 4 times.

 

We like to limit it to 1 to 2 times per month. One "date" for dh and I (this is usually a $12 to $15 meal) and one time for the dc (which is usually McDonalds $8-$13 or Chucky Cheese $30).

 

Lately, we have been trying not to go out at all.:001_smile:

[sweetbaby]

Wow! Only 3x this year! You are doing great. We eat out probably once a month and sometimes once every other month. I cook a lot.

[beansprouts]

We probably eat out about once a month. The most recent was Friday night in celebration of our daughter's birthday. I always feel guilty when I compare the cost of one restaurant meal for five to the equivalent price in groceries.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

We don't eat out alot either. It's just too expensive! We do theme nights at home for dinner--Chinese takeout night, homemade calzone night, Italian restaurant night, fondue--so that makes up for it.

 

As far as this year, we've been out much more than usual because we went home to visit for the first time in over 2 years, so, people took us out a lot. I have to say, we loved it! My dd11 at one point looked at the portions and said, "Mom, do they expect me to eat all of this?" They are so used to us telling them to eat what's served to them no matter what, she was afraid to offend! The portions are huge!

 

We usually go out once a month with the kids for a family fun dinner. Usually, it's McDonald's because that's what they want.:tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

We don't eat out a lot because of multiple food allergies.

 

How I cope:

 

1. Papa Murphy's is cheap enough so that if you have a coupon or they have a sale, you can get a pizza sometimes. (This actually doesn't work for us anymore - the allergy thing - but we used to do this!)

 

2. I plan "special" meals at home sometimes. It is more work but because it is planned I work ahead to get dishes (or parts of dishes) done ahead of time. It doesn't have to be fancy - one of our special meals is homemade pizza! It takes time though so we make the dough in the morning, start the sauce at noon, and then put it all together in the evening!

 

3. Sometimes inviting someone over to eat - even soup and sandwiches - makes the meal special enough that I "feel" like I've eaten out!

 

4. The crockpot is my friend.

 

5. The freezer is my friend. Having a dinner in the freezer to pull out on the really icky days is a real sanity saver!

 

6. Breakfast for dinner.

 

7. My dd6 wants me to mention that spaghetti is always special!

[Sweetpeach]

{Under normal circumstances} We are in the "rare to never" eater-outers category.

 

We just spent the last two weeks renovating the first of two semi's in preparation for a May 1st lease . . . and we've eaten out so much, it's embarassing.

 

Wendy's

McD's twice

Take Out Pizza twice

 

And the other meals consisted of: grilled cheese, soup, sandwiches.

 

*sigh*

 

Another few months of crazy staring at me.

 

On a positive note, we're still plugging with school in the mornings and the laundry pile is up to date. We're gonna be ok.

 

Haven't been here all that often -- but hope you are all well, enjoying spring, planning fall curr, playing hard . . .

 

Warmly, Tricia

[kokotg]

last Friday. Eating out is definitely our weakness. I just really, really like eating out. We usually go out for pizza once every week or two, and then a couple of times a month I pick up chick-fil-A or something when I'm out with the kids. It's rarer that we go out to anywhere more exciting/expensive than that (unless we're out of town)....maybe once every couple of months.

[Jenny in Florida]

My son had performances of the show he's been rehearsing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I've been feeling pretty burned out and tired, just in general.

 

So, we skipped church on Sunday and my husband took us out to breakfast at Denny's.

 

Woo and hoo.

 

Then, since Sunday was our son's closing night, we decided to take him out to the local pizza/Italian place for pasta that evening.

 

Oh, and about three weeks ago we took a spur-of-the-moment road trip to my daughter's college to hear her a capella group's year-end concert. We ate a few meals on the road, but it was mostly fast food. We did do dinner in an actual, sit-down restaurant one evening.

 

Other than that, I can't remember the last time we either went out or did take-out.

[KIN]

Well, we were getting take out pizza every Friday night. I love that! Pizza and movie night. :) However, we are currently trialling frozen pizza instead of take out. It is cheaper and I can just purchase it with my grocery money, but it isn't nearly as good! I should just make a bunch of pizza crusts and freeze them, but wah! I like my night off! :)

 

We very, very rarely go to a sit down restaurant except our own. My family owns two restaurants in our town, so we eat there for "free" (it does come out of the bottom line, LOL!).

[Tracey in TX]

DH eats lunch out every day--often times during business. The kids and I do drive-thru at least once/wk (or more). Pizza delivery every Friday night. We eat out as a family 1-2X/month, plus special occasions. Really we eat out way too much, but it's enjoyable for our family and helps with our crazy schedules.

[Jenny in Atl]

We don't eat out as much as we would like (too much $$). Last time was a few weeks ago, did two nights out in one week! Mexican with friends for their daughter's b'day and Thai with the family.

[TraceyS/FL]

Gee, i THOUGHT i was doing good.....

 

I'm working on it. I'm shooting for every other week now instead of weekly. I do better if i have dinner planned out, so that has been my main effort.

 

We have a couple of favorites though - so it's hard to NOT give in and go.....

[WTMindy]

We eat out once a week. When I started working part time it was one thing that dh said we could do with that money. It is never a spur of the moment thing, always planned into our week. We also eat pretty cheaply for a family of 4. We usually go to fast food and we don't order drinks.

[Julpost]

We took ds and his best friend out to Pizza Hut. I had originally thought we'd do take out w/the 3 one topping pizzas at $5 each special. Then we decided to stay and instead ordered 2 large cheese stuffed crust pizzas. After drinks, breadsticks, etc., the total with tip came to $67!!

 

We don't eat out very much anymore because our bill is usually anywhere from $70-90. It is just too expensive!

[Krista in LA]

Friday night, dd and I went out since dh and ds were camping. I woke up at 4am sicker than a dog from food poisoning. I'm still getting over it.

 

Generally, we eat out more than we should. With the dance and tkd schedules, we almost have to pick up fast food on Monday nights. Besides that, we probably eat out every other week or so.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Oh - one more suggestion:

 

With the nice weather here - we've started to experiment with picnic suppers. We took the dogs the other weekend to the dog park. I packed an Asian beef/veggie noodle dish that is best eaten at "room temperature", some peanuts, cookies, and waters (in a non-plastic container!). We ate outside at a picnic bench and then walked and played with the dogs for an hour. It was great to "eat out" - literally out! Yes, it was still work for me. But my kids were really enthusiastic about helping me and I've discovered that if it is for something like this, my dh will help me more too:tongue_smilie:

[Jackie in AR]

Last Sunday after church. We frequently go out to Sunday lunch with various members of our small church group.

 

Other than that, it just depends. Sometimes we'll go for a couple of months without any other eating out. And then sometimes we'll go frequently.

 

In the past week, we've eaten out (counting one drive-thru) four times! Wow, I didn't realize it had been so much until you asked.

[elegantlion]

We eat out 1-2 x per month. Of course the last place was Waffle House. We get takeout at least once per week. It supposed to be the boys' night to cook, but we get take out instead.

 

We'll do take out more often since you don't have to buy drinks. That alone can be $2 each, and I can't drink water when we go out, it's just not right.

[KristineIN]

We had Papa John's Pizza on Sunday. Dh takes his lunch every day, we get Papa John's Pizza 1-2 times a month and I take the kids to Pizza Hut during the school year and use Book-It. Other than that, we usually save other times to go out for Birthdays or special events. We have eaten out more the past two months with working on things at the church and needing to grab a quick bite.

 

Kristine

[Elm in NJ]

Too much. We get pizza for dinner on Friday's for the kids, either Burger King or Chinese once a week for lunch for them also. Dh and I eat out like once a month. We get Boston Market on Sunday once every 2-3 months.

 

Elmeryl(with J12, C9, R7,L7)

[TammyinTN]

Germany has plenty of yummy guesthouses and we eat out every chance we get. I would love to try them all! You could say...I'm eating my way around Europe. :D

 

Seriously...2 to 3 times a week...at little local guesthouses. Yum!

[abbeyej]

Oh my goodness, I would die. lol... I think the longest I've ever gone without eating out was a month. And most of the time we eat out twice a week. At least. Usually that's one family meal (mostly on weekends, often lunch) and probably another time (like the kids and me stopping for burritos at Chipotle for lunch between classes on our busy day away from home).

 

I really do admire you! That's great that you have shown such commitment to keeping to your budget!

 

But man. Without the occasional burrito to save me, dh would probably find me curled up in a fetal position hiding under the bed. I, um, think that's why there's an "eating out" line item in the budget. (It's not just me though -- dh loves to eat out. Of course, his weakness is really excellent food -- I, um, really don't care that much so long as I don't have to cook!)

[KidsHappen]

This is our one budget weekness. As in we spend half of our grocery money eating out. Pizza once a week and fast food at least once a week. Drive-thru drinks more. We go out to a nice place about once a month which is not cheap with a crew of six or seven. We are doing better now that my dh travels as I don't like to leave the house even more than I don't like to cook. His meals are covered so we have the best of both worlds. Actually the best would be if all our meals were covered (which we have had before. It's great.) but I guess we have the best that can be expected. :tongue_smilie:

[JFSinIL]

Last November my dd's martial arts studio held a Korean Culture/Dinner family event at one of the studios - catered Korean food, slides of the students in action on the walls, and a looong speech about Korea by the founder of the studio, who has poor English. Does that count? otherwise, just hubby and I - last June, when we had a rare three days by ourselves at a B&B in Galena. Fried Green Tomatoes there is a very good restaurant!!!!

[TraceyS/FL]

But man. Without the occasional burrito to save me, dh would probably find me curled up in a fetal position hiding under the bed. I, um, think that's why there's an "eating out" line item in the budget.

 

:lol:

 

Oh this is SOOO my house.

 

The other night *I* made burrito's - homemade torts, rice, beans and chicken. The 3yo asked what was for dinner - i said "burritos".

 

She said, "GOODY, we are going to MOE'S!!!!!!!"

 

Um, no, "Mommy's burrito's"

 

Her: "Ohhhh....."

 

BUT, when she ate i got a "you make yummy stuff mommy", and she asked for leftovers the next day.

 

I'm ready for a Moe's fix :tongue_smilie:

[Night Elf]

I should really follow this advice because saving money would be a great thing. Unfortunately, I just cannot bring myself to do it. I am not a cook. I really hate cooking and I'm really not that good at it. We eat out 2 - 3 times a week and bring in about the same. I only cook 1 or 2 days per week. However, we have tried to make more of an effort to get less expensive but healthier options.

 

Oh and DH and I go out alone at least once a week while the kids stay home and have pizza or burgers. :)

[EarleneW]

Way, way, way to much! I am really trying to be better though. I am trying to cut down to just our once a week Mexican. I can't give that up, I just can't. Mexican at home is just not the same.

[Kari C in SC]

We eat out every weekend. It is usually not an expensive place. This past weekend, dh and I went to Salsarita's. It is a sort of fast food Mexican place. The weekend before that, dh and I ate at Arby's. Note that I said dh and I. We don't take our kids out all that much on the weekend. We either have a date night or run out to Home Depot and grab lunch. My mom or my oldest ds will keep the two younger kids for us. About once every 6 or 8 weeks, dh and I will go to a slighly nicer restaurant, but not expensive. We try to keep our total bill around $25 for those nights out. Sometimes it is more like $30 or $35 depending on the place. My dh will go out with his boss for lunch occasionally too. That is a new thing for him since we moved and he took this job. My mom and I take my kids and do Sam's Club shopping twice a month. Now that we have moved, it is about 30 minutes to get to that side of town. I try to do EVERYTHING I have to do over there in one day. So, my mom, me and kids eat out twice a month doing that. And... last thing... I go with my dd, sister-in-law, and niece to girl scouts twice a month. We get Chick-Fil-A as a treat afterward. Okay, so we eat out a lot, I guess. I have a really frugal grocery bill - about $400 a month total (paper, pets, food) for a family of 5. I feel like budgeting to eat out fits in since I am frugal at the grocery store. I guess I also view it like I view cable tv and cable internet. These things make us happy. They aren't horrible and aren't too, too spendy. If I couldn't afford it, I would give some of it up. As long as I can afford it, I don't want to give it up.

[Jennifer in NH]

I think the last time we went out to eat was last September when we were coming home from my father's funeral. I'm really racking my brain trying to remember a more recent outing and i just can't.

we don't eat out much...a few reasons...I like to cook...dh eats out often because he travels so much for work and neither of us like dealing with the toddler at restaurants;). we will eat out more often this summer...we usually do in the summer more!

[Tap]

We would sometimes have a nice meal at an upper-scale restaurant and sometimes it was a burger at a brewery, it really varies on our mood and our $$. We have missed going out for the past month or so and I notice it in our relationship. Going out on dates just adds a dimension to our marriage that we really look forward to. Oh well, hopefully we will be able to start up again soon.

 

 

We get cheap take out from local ethnic restaurants about once a week. We find that the food is often better from the little hole-in-a-wall locations and they are fairly inexpensive. We can eat very good Chinese or Italian for about $20 Thai or Mexican for $15-20 (dinner for 5). Since there are no drinks or tip, it really keeps the costs down and allows me to not cook more often. The food is very fresh and good quality. It just takes a while to find the right locations, luckily we have a lot of options in the area.

 

Our last take out was Monday, our last sit down date for dh and I was 3-4 weeks ago at a brew pub. Our last whole family night out was probably German 3 mths ago. Dad did take the kids out to Red Robin about a month ago without me-he had a gift certificate to use up.

 

 

Since we like to eat out, my friends usually give me restauant gift cards for gifts :001_smile: The rest of the time we eat from scratch at home so I guess it all balances out.

[ChrisN in NY]

I have six dc. We have eaten out as a family maybe half a dozen times in the last 21 years. I can't spend half my grocery budget on one meal!

 

More recently, dh & I eat out about once a month, as our "date night".

 

Of course, to me, cooking for just 3 people (which I haven't done in 17 yrs!) would be a breeze!

 

Maybe you can double a recipe and freeze it for a couple weeks later? Just a thought.

[Verena]

We simply don't have the $$ for it. But--- I'm going out tonight with a good friend in honor of her doctorate. I'm really looking forward to it :001_smile:

[Tammy]

but I eat out a good bit....but I get 1/2 price appetizers, LOL!

 

Tammy

[mcconnellboys]

Ummmm, today at lunch. But you see, I really, *really* love eating out, especially with a group of people. It's the only vice I really spend any money on. I don't go get my hair done regularly, no nails, no pedicures, no waxing, none of that beauty stuff. I buy $7 t-shirts at Kohl's and wear jeans from Wal-Mart. I'm not fancy. I don't buy expensive foods for home; don't drive a fancy car; don't take lots of trips; don't have hobbies upon which I spend money. I just eat out. Especially when I can dine with others. But alone is good, too, LOL.... I do have a weekly budget for that and do stay within it.....

[Kari C in SC]

We have missed going out for the past month or so and I notice it in our relationship. Going out on dates just adds a dimension to our marriage that we really look forward to. Oh well, hopefully we will be able to start up again soon.

 

 

I think my dh and I are very much the same way. We both look forward to that alone time together. I am not having to cut somebody's food, fill a cup, wipe up a mess, etc. He is not being talked to non-stop the way our kids do when he walks into a room. We just get to relax and talk to each other. It really doesn't matter it is is Arby's or Outback though. Just some time out without kids.

[battlemaiden]

Oh my goodness, I would die. lol... I think the longest I've ever gone without eating out was a month. And most of the time we eat out twice a week. At least. Usually that's one family meal (mostly on weekends, often lunch) and probably another time (like the kids and me stopping for burritos at Chipotle for lunch between classes on our busy day away from home).

 

I really do admire you! That's great that you have shown such commitment to keeping to your budget!

 

But man. Without the occasional burrito to save me, dh would probably find me curled up in a fetal position hiding under the bed. I, um, think that's why there's an "eating out" line item in the budget. (It's not just me though -- dh loves to eat out. Of course, his weakness is really excellent food -- I, um, really don't care that much so long as I don't have to cook!)

 

:iagree:

 

I would lose my mind.

 

I've been blaming my temporary lack of kitchen supplies on my lack of cooking and baking, but we'll see....

 

We go out at least once a week- but rarely sit down service type places. Lord help me if we had a Chipotle nearby!

 

Jo

[Tweed]

I can’t stand all the chain restaurants that dot the landscape of Northern Virginia. Their presence annoys me, actually. There is one restaurant, though, called American Flatbread that I seriously have dreams about. They use only organic/natural produce, meat and cheeses from local farms. I can’t even begin to describe how good it is. My mouth is salivating just thinking about them, but it costs $80+ for our family to eat out so we try and limit ourselves to twice a month.

[Lisawa]

We make sure to go out once every 2 weeks for a date. We normally share and entree and then go do something fun... last thing we did was the batting cages. *Ü*

 

We go out to eat as a family 2-3 times a month. Its normally on Sunday and either family or church family after church.

 

I cook or I make kids cook....*Ü*

[Scarlett]

I'm really impressed. I picked up Arby's on our way home Sunday at lunch. Before that....Vietnamese Saturday night. Before that I was out of town on vacation so that doesn't really count does it? :)

 

Ds and I go for pizza with friends almost every Sunday lunch. And we go out to eat as a family at least once a week....and I do a pizza/deli/take-out thing about once a week as well. What we've been trying to do is eat out for less money. We had Vietnamese for $20 for 3 of us. And El-Chico the Saturday before for $20 for 3....Partly for money and partly for calories...

[Jane in NC]

Our dining out pattern is in part seasonal. When my son plays hockey, we may be more inclined to eat out. If it is pizza, we eat at a locally owned establishment; same for burritos, pita sandwiches, etc. I cannot tell you the last time I ate at a McDonalds (although I know that I have picked up a cup of coffee at MickeyD's while on the road).

 

We are season ticket holders to the local symphony and always dine beforehand at a locally owned "nice" Chinese place. (We are certainly creatures of habit!) This is a family event, but my husband and I try to go out for a date dinner or nice breakfast out every month just so we have the opportunity to talk. I love going out for breakfast but do so on rare occasion, so a veggie omelette with home fries is a wonderful treat, much preferred to fancier restaurant meals.

 

Jane

[Joanne]

The year I was a single mom, I learned how to better handle evening activities, budget, food and healthy food issues. It's carried over; we are heading to the baseball fields tonight with sunflower seeds I purchased in bulk and packaged for my players, peanuts in the shell in bulk and repackaged, an on sale bag of twizzlers and gatorade for the player only.

 

That's not dinner, of course, but they just ate hearty sandwiches.

 

A "leftover" casserole of brown rice, chicken, cream of chicken soup, onion soup mix and green beans is waiting for DH to eat while I drive us to the fields.

 

That said, my life is so child centered and active in the evenings that the $5 Little Ceasars pizza saves us a few times a month. By "saves us", I usually mean my sanity.

 

We eat out together as a family rarely. DH and I eat out more frequently when xh has the kids - every other weekend. We've been using our Entertainment Book specials, card and coupons. Since we don't pay for our "recreational activity" of tournament poker, eating out together is our chosen luxury item in our budget. We are reasonable with it, but we would (and have!) given up other stuff before we severely reduced or eliminated that.

[chiguirre]

I'm with Regena, eating out is our major luxury item. We eat out with the kids at nicer, kid-friendly places (Peiwei, Chili's, Fuddrucker's) at lunch on weekends. After years of not being able to go out with the kids, it's so nice to be able to do it without having to have an escape plan in case of a meltdown. I also pick up Papa John's $5.99 pizza on Monday. It's cheaper than frozen and on our way home from TKD. For date nights we subscribe to a theater company and the opera. After the shows, we go to a taqueria and split a giant margarita and tacos al pastor. Very good and very cheap!

[Mom2legomaniacs]

About an hour ago;). We went out Sat. night. We got fast food on Sat. lunch too. Some weeks we do better than others. This week, not so good.

 

We do go out about once a week with another family. Sometimes we do potluck with them but lately it's been out.

 

ed. to add: We don't do anything else. We don't vacation. We don't go to amusement parks. We don't have cable tv or go to the theater often. This is our "treat", my not having to cook. This is our entertainment, if you want to call it that.

[Tutor]

Today! We have pizza night once a month to use the kids' Book-It coupons. Today was that last day to use this year's coupons. We're going out later for 31 cent ice cream at Baskin Robbins. YUM!

[TravelingChris]

We eat out as a family usually about once a month. My dh goes out more for lunch. (Two going aways this week, plus one conference). Dh and I occassionally eat out a meal.

[Oakblossoms]

Well we try for once a week. Usually it's Friday or Saturday. We don't usually eat there though. We can walk (city dwellers) and will often make a pot of rice and then go get some teriyaki and chow mein to share OR our local Mexican place makes burritos as big as a baby for $10.00. We get a few, make a salad and some rice. So, we can easily spend 20-25 for a meal for the 5 of us. We didn't use to do it when we had food stamps. But, we don't now and I find that it doesn't raise our food expenses. We almost always have leftovers to munch on the next day. So, that day ends up a leftover day (including stuff from the fridge). I can never go to the store and not spend $25 so it works out well.