<p>Aqua, I know. My sister (who lives in metro NYC) and her DH eat out at least five nights a week and it just boggles my mind knowing what they must spend on eating out. And the nights they don’t eat out she picks up something to eat from Balducci’s - the expensive market. I was with her last week shopping and we picked up a flank steak for dinner and it was $16 a pound!</p>
<p>I love Balducci’s. But I agree they are quite pricey. They have the best reuben sandwich I’ve ever had. The corned beef literally melts in your mouth. I believe it’s made with Kobe beef.</p>
<p>I get the impression that many people who live in NYC eat out frequently.</p>
<p>I’m going to take a few minutes to compile the results of the responses I’ve received so far. I’ll report back for anyone who is interested. I’d really like to hear from more CC members.</p>
<p>Consider that I live in a low cost area (with a small family) Our weekly grocery budget is about $75/week. Add in $50-$75 for eating out and we’re still only spending $125-$175 a week for food. Not too bad. Plus, my husband and I both work and we have a large (for our area) income. So…as a percentage of our income, our food costs (even eating out 3 times a week) is pretty low.</p>
<p>Here are the results of the responses I’ve received so far for anyone interested.</p>
<p>Eat dinner out (includes carryout) – 6.5 times per month
Eat lunch out – 10 times per month</p>
<p>I did the math and as an overestimate, we spend about $2000 getting restaurant food each year.</p>
<p>But we eat out so much that we only go grocery shopping every other week or so and get around $50 worth of groceries and toiletries. We know the places with cheap deals and we’re both cheap eaters :)</p>
<p>Dinner, about once or twice a month at a standard sit down place. usually at a ruby Tuesday typed price range. </p>
<p>About two or three times a year at a nice place in place of the above… Usually for special occasions… Between twenty and thirty dollars a plate.</p>
<p>Might order a pizza once a month.</p>
<p>Lunch… Maybe one or twice a month at a deli or steak shop type place.</p>
<p>I do occasionally go through a drive through for lunch or dinner.</p>
<p>We do have a cafe in our work building so I do occasionally get lunch there when in the office.</p>
<p>I too have seen some strangely long waits at places. You’d think people would eat out less in a lesser economy. This also could be why people never have money…</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID BIONIC using CC</p>
<p>Is there any one else who would like to contribute to my informal survey? The results so far:</p>
<p>Eat dinner out (includeing carryout) – 6.5 times per month
Eat lunch out – 10 times per month</p>
<p>H wanted to go out to lunch while we were shopping this weekend. There was an hour wait at the restaurant. No way! I’m actually glad there was a wait because we probably would have spent too much money and consumed way too many calories. Had a nice healthy lunch at home instead.</p>
<p>Well if you wanted to go to brunch/lunch in Williamsburg/Greenpoint yesterday… at the restaurant formerly owned by Heath Ledger and partners… it was a two-hour wait. The D’s and I ate at another hot spot on Franklin St where we were seated right away but the service was so slow we could have waited the two hours… The food was very good… but it did cost $46.00 before any tip and they only took cash to boot.</p>
<p>Too much, probably. I enjoy cooking from scratch most meals during the week , but on average we go out to eat or bring in food two or three times on the weekends. We’ll go out during the week frequently as well, sometimes for business related dinners. Lunch out or bring it in about twice a week.</p>
<p>I eat lunch out 5 days a week (work days, casual places - usually slow fast food like rusty taco or company cafeteria) and dinner out probably 1 or 2 days a week (weekends). </p>
<p>Our family is not big into leftovers. So every meal has to be cooked to order and while I will cook during the week (something simple like grilled meat or fish and potatoes and salad), I’d like not to do this multiple times a day during the weekend.</p>
<p>My husband and I share the app and main course and unless it is special occasion don’t order alcohol. We usually order a desert, which our family of four splits.</p>
<p>bookmama: if you care, check out:</p>
<p>groupon
giltnyc
scoutmob
blackboardeats
savored
livingsocial
restaurant.com</p>
<p>I could go on and on; I don’t remember the last time I paid full price for a meal in NYC and we eat out ALOT; mostly dinners though (never to rarely breakfast or lunch)</p>
<p>For your survey: Lunch: maybe 4 times a year (I carry to work)
Dinner: probably 4 times a WEEK; but that includes meals that literally cost under $20 with tax and tip…</p>
<p>My most famous find is a great tiny pasta place in NYC on restaurant.com that I literally paid $4 for a $25 certificate…</p>
<p>We have cut back eating out in the past couple of years not due to expense but due to wanting to have more control over the calories. The upside is we are probably saving some money.
H and I eat lunch out once a week together. Last week the bill was $28 including the tip. This is a sacred happening and we both know not to make other plans. Otherwise H has lunch out once a week with business partner but otherwise always brings his lunch. Breakfast is almost always at home unless H makes a special date with one of the kids. I have lunch out about 2 times a month with a friend.
Dinners- we used to eat out once a week and bring home take out once a week. That has been greatly reduced. No set schedule. Some weeks we will eat out two or three times and then go three weeks with only eating at home.
My S eats lunch out everyday. His GF brings her lunch. He can afford it both in his waist and wallet. His sister has pointed out how much he would save by bringing his lunch. I think they eat dinner out once a week.
Older D rarely eats out now that she is back in the US. Both wallet and waistline are important to her.</p>
<p>Another site like Groupon that will offer restaurant deals is Rue La La. Other home goods/clothing/vacation offerings on it as well. Rue restaurant deals only for these cities: NY, LA, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.</p>
<p>^And Philadelphia. We’ve eaten at some very good restaurants using RueLaLa deals.</p>
<p>We eat out a lot. I eat lunch in the cafe in my office building every day almost. My daughter eats out on the go because of her school schedule. My husband eats out once (fast food) during the week.</p>
<p>As a family, we eat out every Sunday after church and sometimes one meal on Saturday.</p>
<p>I appreciate the additional contributions to the survey. Keep 'em coming!</p>
<p>Living alone, I eat lunch out on Fridays (we generally go for Indian buffet ~$10 or I walk to the deli across the street for a $10 sandwich combo type thing) and will generally get Whole Foods takeout for dinner on Saturday as a treat for roughly $8-10.</p>
<p>With my BF around, same eating out for lunch on my end, but we tend to go out for dinner or get takeout 2-3 nights a week (generally Friday-Sunday). I’m excited to start trying all the restaurants in DC with Groupons :)</p>
<p>We go out and eat in a restaurant about 6 times a year. We do bring food home from somewhere (pizza, Panera, Chipotle, etc.) about once every 10 days.</p>
<p>We used to eat out a lot, but then I got Quicken and started to see how much we were spending. We cut back in preparation for our ‘college diet’ phase of life. I cooked so much at home that I became a much better cook and now don’t really enjoy going out too often because our home cooked food is better than the stuff we can buy. </p>
<p>Didn’t expect that to happen. I don’t really like to cook.</p>
<p>Oh, and husband eats out for lunch about twice a month, though I object.</p>
<p>Dinners we probably eat out or take out 5 times a week. My wife works and I am a terrible cook. We don’t eat out at fancy top of the line restaurants that often, but we probably spend $25,000 to $27,000 a year on food for 3 people. Something close to that. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Lots of organic food. </p>
<p>We don’t spend a lot on gasoline or upkeep on cars. I drive fewer than 5,000 miles a year and my wife and I both own a prius. My gas bill is probably 500 a year. My wife’s maybe 1,000 a year. </p>
<p>Our gas and electric bill is probably less than 1200 a year.</p>
<p>We used to spend a lot on vacations, but the last several years, we
don’t. </p>
<p>Our property taxes are not high for the area where we live.</p>
<p>No mortgage.</p>
<p>Our health insurance costs are high because we aren’t getting that perk.</p>
<p>Just to put things in perspective.</p>
<p>We probably pay more for food than most, but we pay less in other areas.</p>