<p>Coureur’s post #50 should be tacked up permanently somewhere.</p>
<p>We eat out for variety–to have food other than we we have the time/inclination/ability to prepare ourselves. E.g., Thai duck salad, tempura/sashimi, carne asada/carnitas/flautas served with a really well made marguerita along with chips and tomatillo salsa, exquisitely prepared and presented seafood, k’ung pao chicken and orange beef, lobster bisque and mushroom salad and roast duck with a honey-ginger glaze, and even an extremely well prepared steak with black pepper, garlic, or some such accompanied by a good glass of pinot noir or a meritage.</p>
<p>And sometimes going out ditto just because you don’t want to spend the time and energy cooking and cleaning up.</p>
<p>Context–as in having a paycheck–is meaning a lot. Olive Garden/TGI/Subway/Pizza is either fast food or just a notch above…hardly constitutes “dining out”. It’s debatable as to whether or not that which is provided by Subway comprises “food.”</p>
<p>Fortunately, D is a good switch-hitter, able to get by without complaint on college food and student-income food, happy and informed when dining with her parents are picking up the tab.</p>
<p>i mean, the OP may feel we are all wasting our money eating out at resteraunts, just as I feel we waste our money on cable tv… however I’m not about to start telling people to stop watching tv so they can this and that… because honestly, people already know that if they cut down on one thing it would give money towards something else. It’s not my place to tell someone what to do or advise them on how to spend their money.</p>
<p>what about thosse that spend large amounts of money watchin a football or baseball came, to me, I wouldn’t spend the $, but don’t begrudge those that do</p>
<p>*maybe you should be talking to the people that go out for 100 dollar dinners at red lobster, those are the people that spend way too much money at fancy resteraunts *</p>
<p>I really don’t mean to sound like a snob, but I would be really hard pressed to think of any chain that I would consider “fancy”</p>
<p>Ive never eaten at Red lobster- but this is Seattle- we have fish coming out our ears. [This</a>](<a href=“http://www.rays.com/new/?p=1]This”>http://www.rays.com/new/?p=1) is where I would go eat seafood and while it is a “nice” restaurant, its the kind of place where you go for a family birthday or for drinks on the deck- not fancy.</p>
<p>The New Yorker had an interesting article a while back about the difference between the US and the French economies. Essentially, the point was that since Americans have both parents working, there are benefits from that. We pay people to make our food, mow our lawns, and clean our homes. Those are good jobs for the under-educated, for women, and for those who otherwise could not get a good job. </p>
<p>Dollars do recycle downwards through the “food chain” of the economy. When people eat out, some young student can then work a second job. She’ll use the money for her tuition or for spending money - thereby keeping other people employed.</p>
<p>I think one of the greatest joys of living in an urban area are the restaurants. There are all sorts of inexpensive places to choose from, and an incredible variety of cuisines. We always bring what we don’t eat home in take-out containers, and quite frequently that is enough for a meal at home the next day.</p>
<p>I’ve always known that you can save tremendously on the restaurant bill by foregoing beverages and dessert. Water is free; and tea is free at Asian restaurants. Sodas are way overpriced. Alcohol especially has a huge markup, so its not usually worth ordering except for special occasions.</p>
<p>I had a serious weight problem and began dieting successfully a couple of years ago (I’m now as thin as I would ever want to be) - and I didn’t give up restaurant food. I did learn to order and eat more wisely - grilled rather than fried foods, for example. If the portions are too big, then deliberately only eat half and take the other half home. You can even eat healthy at fast food restaurants, though you will soon discover that MacDonald’s charges a lot mor for a salad than for a calory-laden greaseburger… so I wouldn’t do fast food unless there is no alternative (such as when you are on the road and it is the only place in miles that even looks halfway clean). </p>
<p>I can eat at home more cheaply but I could never prepare the same array or quality of foods at home, and if I buy the ingredients necessary to duplicate what is offered in restaurants, the home meal isn’t cheap any more. </p>
<p>Obviously if money were very tight, I’d know that sacrificing restaurant meals would be a good belt-tightening strategy… but when I was poorer I also knew that some types of restaurant meals were cheaper than restaurants, especially if I had to feed a crowd of kids. I could do pretty well with a big box of 59 cent Taco Bell tacos or a bucket of chicken from KFC. I don’t claim to believe that this is healthy, but it was fast and cheap and the kids were happy. </p>
<p>I do see from some of the posts that many are stuck with the typical suburban offerings of fast food vs. Olive Garden vs. Red Lobster… so I can see the source of the sentiments. If that was all I had available, I’d want to avoid eating out, too! But life in the city is different. One of our family favorites is a local chinese restaurant which is cheap, and o.k. but not really great, but the staff always recognizes us and has known my kids since they were very young. So I went in yesterday with my 23 year old son, and when we were seated the owner asked where my daughter was going to college and asked my son if he was in college and where… and it was just nice to have that sense of belonging.</p>
<p>Calmom is right about suburban v. urban dining out. Urban areas have things like cheap pizza by the slice. $2.75 in one of my favourite places in DC gets you wood-fired thin crust pizza topped with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and other goodies. It’s just pretty food that looks (and tastes) incredibly good. Cheaper than the Metro fare for going home & going back out again.</p>
<p>It’s amazing to me how little people recognize the SOCIAL aspect of eating out. It’s an opportunity for everyone to socialize without the added stress of cooking and cleaning. </p>
<p>Besides, there are plenty of foods that I enjoy eating at restaurants that I simply cannot prepare at home.</p>
<p>UCLAri:
The social poiint was exactly what I was trying to say about teenagers liking to eat out. When we take our kids out to eat it is so fun. They are happy, talkative (well, for them anyway), and it is just really nice family time. Not that eating at the kitchen table isn’t, but let’s face it, for a regular meal people come from all over the house, eat, and leave.</p>
<p>My new resolution is to try to eat at home at least every other day. </p>
<p>Considering that we currently are living in our house without furniture and no kitchen supplies, this is more of a challenge than you might think. I am extremely thankful for the variety of restaurants in our area, and for a relocation budget that pays for it. I love to eat out. My favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations. My husband says I really don’t like to eat that much, I just like to be served.</p>
<p>It never occurred to me that anybody would care where I ate. Certainly I can, off the top of my head, think of ways others spend their money that bewilders me - manicures and pedicures, spas, buying books instead of using the library, leaving the lights on … Good thing it’s a free country, huh?</p>
<p>People keep saying that it is difficult to replicate the food home. ABSURD! You can go to an expensive five star steakhouse in DC and get the T-bone steak. T-bone steak is ridiculously easy to make at home and cheap too.</p>
<p>Chinese, no different than making an Olive Garden dish. Purchase some soy sauce and you are ready to go.</p>
<p>Any American dish is easy to prepare because of the superflous supply of ingredients.</p>
<p>UCLAri, how is eating out social? Personally, I don’t find a loud, baby screaming restaurant too social. Couple that with strands of hair in your food for an unpleasant time, IMO. Eating at home is much more sociable, personally.</p>
<p>Ethiopian, get some tortilla wraps, refried beans, and meat.Cheap!</p>
<p>Huh? You are the one that needs to grow up seeing that you can not accept other’s opinion. Truly sad. Tell me, if someone professed their faith in God, would you tell them to “grow up”?</p>
<p>Maybe you need to find some new restaurants if the only ones you seem to eat at are loud with screaming children and hair in the food. Sounds like you’re eating a those really classy “family” restaurants.</p>
<p>You could dedicate some effort into finding a nice quiet local place to eat instead of jumping on restaurants as a whole. I can, off the top of my head, name 10 cosy, quiet local restaurants with excellent food. None are family oriented but are instead restaurants for adults to enjoy a nice evening out with some good food. Screaming children are very rare in restaurants where the choice dish of the night is pan seared tuna steak in an orange demi-glace and chicken fingers are not a menu option.</p>
<p>In fact, there’s a lovely italian place in town where a family can eat dinner for less than $20 and the food is fantastic- and I have yet to encounter a screaming child or hair in my food, or even loud conversation.</p>
<p>Simply put, you’re eating out at the wrong places.</p>
<p>And regardless of whether I could buy a T bone and make it myself (and I don’t eat meat that’s on the bone anyway) if I choose to have someone else make it for me at added expense to me, then the point is really moot. My choice, my money- completely irrelevant if there was a cheaper way to do things.</p>
<p>I believe your opinion on eating out versus cooking at home is a little different than someone’s professing their faith. No, in fact, they would be completely different. One is an opinion, another is a lifestyle choice. Not the same thing at all.</p>
<p>Yes, while your moneysaving opinion is perhaps a lifestyle choice, I’m assured that it’s not as involved with your life as a religion would be. Simply put, it’s just your take on things, and clearly many disagree. What is costly and unnecessary to you is a luxury and a pleasure for others. And just like I can choose a mercedes over a dodge neon, I can choose to eat out over making my own food.</p>
<p>“Huh? You are the one that needs to grow up seeing that you can not accept other’s opinion. Truly sad. Tell me, if someone professed their faith in God, would you tell them to “grow up”?”</p>
<p>Grow up… </p>
<p>Oh, and yeah, if somebody tried to convince me that their view of religion was more correct than mine, I’d tell them to grow up right after I punched them in the nose just for the sheer audacity.</p>
<p>Eating out: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Soft drinks: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Vacations: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Attending private schools: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Video games:A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Driving SUVs or other gas guzzlers: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Sporting events: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Cable TV: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Candy and pastries: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Donating to charity: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Buying new clothes instead of used: A Costly and Unnecessary habit
Alcohol: A Costly and Unnecessary habit</p>
<p>I could go on, but the point is that one person’s “Costly and Unnecessary habit” is what makes life worthwhile for someone else. EVERYONE has some habits that others consider wasteful. It’s simple: within the bounds of what is legal, everyone should spend their own money however they wish.</p>
</p>