How much do you spend on dining out a year?

hollydolly said:
I understand that...occasionally when it's great food is worth the money... but it's like when I added up a cup of coffee every morning from the coffee house before I got into work, it came to a round £60 per month.. it shocked me... just for one cup of coffee per day .. over £700 for coffee per year.. nuts!! lol.. I soon put a stop to that and brought my own coffee from home. I'm not tight, I swear but sometimes when you stop and think, there's many other ways you could spend that same money. In my case I was able to put that coffee money away every day , ( and I still occasionally have a take-out coffee)...and bought return flights to Spain and Greece with it every year.. :D
Click to expand...
And I don't feel bad about supporting a local family-owned business. They don't have dine-in right now but they're staying alive. The pizza I always order is a little under $25 and you get a free 2 litre soda with any med or lg pie, but I don't always take it (bad for their young tummies). But maybe we'll order less; cut it down by 50%. That's not too bad for as good and filling as their pies are.
 

I cook from scratch at home, no box meals or frozen meals. But, I don't cook Pizza... and I don't cook much international. It is just cheaper to eat out than to buy all the extras to cook from home. I buy range chickens and grain fed beef, which is more costly, but I feel is worth the money. Since I cook most meals at home and use as much homegrown products as I can... I don't feel guilty eating fast food hamburger and fatty fries on occasion. After all, you can buy a meal for $3 to $5.
 

Depends what city I'm assigned to... Seattle had fabulous cuisine that I had a hard time duplicating at home. So I spend more there. Grand Rapids, MI, was big on fresh produce, so I cooked at home more. Americus, is (with the exception of one coffee house) devoid of any thing other than fast food, so there's lots of cooking at home here too out of self-defense.

I don't mind spending for restaurant meal if it's something would find difficult at home. I've tried making Indian food at home with mixed success... most recipes make a good amount and I've found that a lot of the spices just get hotter as they sit in the refrig or freezer.
 
If this wasn’t a Seniors Forum and the folks under 50 were tracking their spending, the numbers would be much higher. Much higher! A quick stop for coffee. A quick lunch. Dinner starts with appetizers (about the same cost as the entree). Oops, forgot the drinks - take a look at those prices. A nice entree. Must have a special dessert. Leftovers taken home to be forgotten. This is the expectation. I can’t fathom people who say “I don’t cook”. Tips, and I’m not cheap, but younger people will often give 30%.

Back to the original question. At home on a normal year we don’t go out once per month. When we travel, we plan on going out for a nice meal, but only in the evening. We buy things to make our own breakfast & lunch in the hotel. DH tracks all of our spending on Excel. It’s shocking how quickly this all adds up.
 
PamfromTx said:
ke dirtWow, just plain cooked white rice? Tell me that isn't so. I love Jasmine rice.
Click to expand...
Sorry......anything white........rice, pasta. potatoes, bread........all turns into sugar.
Eating whole grains......rice, pasta, bread......makes your body work harder, digest more, also fills you more, maybe chances of over eating is lessoned.......which help controlling sugar levels.
But to be quite honest, the whole grain pasta tastes like dirt.......wholegrain rice has a good taste.
 
MickaC said:
Sorry......anything white........rice, pasta. potatoes, bread........all turns into sugar.
Eating whole grains......rice, pasta, bread......makes your body work harder, digest more, also fills you more, maybe chances of over eating is lessoned.......which help controlling sugar levels.
But to be quite honest, the whole grain pasta tastes like dirt.......wholegrain rice has a good taste.
Click to expand...
No wonder my husband is such a sweetheart; he's white. I couldn't resist. Sorry. @MickaC
 
Will admit......i enjoy eating out......and most often, for things i don't make at home.
Since last March......2 times......both take out.
I've been feeling like Chinese for a long time.......i don't like the one in town......the really good one is 20 miles away.
In town here, my chance of eating out is limited.......my ex spouse lives in restaurants, quite often, twice a day......so my choice is, if i go out is where he isn't, and what's left over are not my favorite places.....
My ex, surely must be going through hard times, eating at home, but he maybe gets takeout.
I enjoy eating out a couple times a week.....but......that hasn't happened for about 5 years......almost one year, Covid.......the other 4, ex spouse.
Hopefully can enjoy eating out in the future to come....that would be GREAT.
 
Ruthanne said:
Nothing any more with the virus still around. Usually before that maybe 200.00 a year.
Click to expand...
I didn't figure fast food or delivered pizza or other delivered restaurant food into that, though. I have not been getting fast food at all in recent months but do get a pizza or chicken wings or something else from a little restaurant I like. And that would probably add up to about 550.00 a year or so.
 
MickaC said:
Will admit......i enjoy eating out......and most often, for things i don't make at home.
Since last March......2 times......both take out.
I've been feeling like Chinese for a long time.......i don't like the one in town......the really good one is 20 miles away.
In town here, my chance of eating out is limited.......my ex spouse lives in restaurants, quite often, twice a day......so my choice is, if i go out is where he isn't, and what's left over are not my favorite places.....
My ex, surely must be going through hard times, eating at home, but he maybe gets takeout.
I enjoy eating out a couple times a week.....but......that hasn't happened for about 5 years......almost one year, Covid.......the other 4, ex spouse.
Hopefully can enjoy eating out in the future to come....that would be GREAT.
Click to expand...
I just want to go to our favorite Chinese restaurant that is in a nearby city. Maybe for our anniversary ... we will be able to go out and celebrate.
 
Certainly not as much as we used to. When we lived in the Washington DC area where we both worked long hours, had difficult commutes, and made lots of money, we probably spend 7 or 8 thousand a year.
When we moved to South Carolina, that probably dropped to $1500 a year.
And now during the age of COVID, we are probably down to $180 a year.
 
Jules said:
If this wasn’t a Seniors Forum and the folks under 50 were tracking their spending, the numbers would be much higher. Much higher! A quick stop for coffee. A quick lunch. Dinner starts with appetizers (about the same cost as the entree). Oops, forgot the drinks - take a look at those prices. A nice entree. Must have a special dessert. Leftovers taken home to be forgotten. This is the expectation. I can’t fathom people who say “I don’t cook”. Tips, and I’m not cheap, but younger people will often give 30%.

Back to the original question. At home on a normal year we don’t go out once per month. When we travel, we plan on going out for a nice meal, but only in the evening. We buy things to make our own breakfast & lunch in the hotel. DH tracks all of our spending on Excel. It’s shocking how quickly this all adds up.
Click to expand...
We used eat lunch out, at a nice place, never dinner. The big meal should be eaten in the afternoon. We never order appetizers or dessert separately but you can often get meals that include appetizers, entree, and dessert for about 15 to 40 dollars.

What kills me is when I see young people order food and then leave half of it on the table. Clearly they have never gone hungry. We take any leftovers home and eat them! 😂
 
Aneeda72 said:
We used eat lunch out, at a nice place, never dinotten ner. The big meal should be eaten in the afternoon. We never order appetizers or dessert separately but you can often get meals that include appetizers, entree, and dessert for about 15 to 40 dollars.

What kills me is when I see young people order food and then leave half of it on the table. Clearly they have never gone hungry. We take any leftovers home and eat them! 😂
Click to expand...
You are so right Aneeda......the biggest meal is best eaten in afternoon/noon time.
Young people wasting food, another right on the mark........have gotten really annoyed when younger ones, not kids, ones that are young adults have been at my meal table, dish lots on their plates, and waste so much.
 
We used to go out once or twice a week. Have our favorite places and certainly would be looking forward to
getting back to them once we hopefully get back to some kind of "normal". Now, we usually just do take out once a week.
 
Aneeda72 said:
We used eat lunch out, at a nice place, never dinner. The big meal should be eaten in the afternoon. We never order appetizers or dessert separately but you can often get meals that include appetizers, entree, and dessert for about 15 to 40 dollars.

What kills me is when I see young people order food and then leave half of it on the table. Clearly they have never gone hungry. We take any leftovers home and eat them! 😂
Click to expand...
yes we almost always eat in the afternoon rather than the evening, but I just thought that was us getting older..lol..everywhere at night is full of young people (when they're open)
 
Murrmurr said:
This is truly awesome pizza. Seriously. A family owned place.
But I never actually added it up before. Kind of a shock.
Click to expand...
I would kill to get a family owned place with good pizza. I usually order from Caesars (which is ok...) just for the 2 boys and hubby. I prefer to make my own on flatbread. I just checked my MC and take out was just over $400 in one month. Just remember this is a break for me and I don't have to cook and each pizza order lasts 2 meals for each of the 3. Sigh...I better not check how much it is for the year as I will probably fall off my chair here.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top