eating out / getting takeout

[romily]

How often roughly do you get takeout or eat out - eating out no matter if it's fast food or fancy restaurant, take out no matter if it's your local Chinese or food pre prepared.

Reason I'm asking is that I rarely do either, and got the impression recently I'm the minority - plus my whole facebook feed is full of "get these pre prepared meals from great chefs delivered" and I'm just - you want £7 for spaghetti bolognese are you nuts? The only one that tempted me were some mexican pre prepared meals, but they worked out at around £12 per dish, and no chance to try to see if I like the taste, so no thanks...

I think the last time I ate out was when I met with a friend in December. We meet every 6-10 weeks, and go out for lunch - but that's the only occasion besides work I eat out. Can't even remember the last time I had a takeout. prices just have become so ridiculous, and I know how much I spend on a meal batch cooking exactly how I like it - for example Spagetti Bolognese the way I like it works out around £2.50 max per portion, and that's with tons of parmesan. So why would I pay £6.50 to get it delivered? Or £14 in a restaurant?

[tinaja]

I don't get take out or eat out often. Mainly cost for below average food. Exception meeting my friend at the taco place. Good food and good company. It's a very small business with great people running it. Some former friends and I used to go out for some high end dinners. I am kind of glad that is over. Not sure why. Most of the time, I enjoy cooking so I can feed myself some tasty food. Like today, I might make bread.

[lillielangtry]

Oh honestly quite a lot. I probably eat in a restaurant with a friend at least once every two weeks, sometimes more. I also sometimes get takeaway if I don't want to cook. I live round the corner from a main road with dozens of restaurants and fast food options, ranging from Thai, Turkish, Italian, German, through to McDonald's and doner kebab (which I personally don't like).

I like cooking but I don't necessarily want to do it every day. I don't worry about the money; I'm not extravagant in many ways and seeing my friends is important to me. Obviously if I needed to save, it'd be one of the first things I'd change.

Oh yes - once or twice a week I eat lunch in the canteen at work as well. That can be pretty healthy if I choose the salad bar, which I do about half the time. They have a range of veggies I wouldn't buy for just one person, or two.

[sprite]

Takeaways about twice a month? Typically something I don't have ingredients for at home, and often timed for evenings when we don't want to cook.

Eating out, probably twice a month. Again, for food we don't make as well ourselves, or to spend time with friends, or because it's logistically easier. Like, we got to Ikea about once a year, and he likes their meatballs (I like their vegetarian chili, no idea why, it's just surprisingly tasty), so we may as well eat there.

[sophie]

Take out (or delivery) is extremely rare for us.. maybe twice in the past 3 years? Going out.. probably once a month or so. I like to cook so going out is not a treat unless it a reason to go with friends or something I don’t make.

[sprite]

I think if I worked full time, I might get some of those pre-prepared meals, just to make certain nights easier. If I worked full time and had kids, I would definitely get those meal kits. Yes, they're more expensive, but it's less planning, less work, less shopping... more time to take care of family stuf.

[Webs]

I don't like to cook. I work in the office 3 to 4 days a week. I'm not good in the mornings and not a planner. So I generally budget for breakfast and lunch in the office to be take out.

[Liiisa]

Yeah I was going to say, sure it's expensive and not as tasty as cooking at home, but if you're stressed out, have a long commute, have little kids, don't feel well, etc....

I would eat almost all my meals in restaurants because I really like eating in restaurants. That's expensive, though, so I don't.

We go out when we get together with friends, or might grab carry-out every couple weeks. I'd rather spend a lot on really good meal rather than have lots of mid-range things.

[lisamnz]

we don't eat out that often, with kids it's nicer usually to eat with friends at someone's house.

But we probably get takeaways once a week on average. Mainly because during term time there is one night per week when both of the kids have activities on until dinner time and by the time we'd got home and cooked something they'd be past it, so we often get them something to take home and eat, and either get takeaways for ourselves as well or cook something that we eat later. The favourites are Thai and a local burger place. Sometimes a local pizza place.

[leela]

I don't buy takeaways at all, unless I'm in a group. There's something a bit soulless to me about eating a takeaway alone, at home.

Though if grabbing a sandwich from pret when I'm out shopping, counts, I do that occasionally.

Eating out? Whenever I visit a London friend, and my oldest friends and I go out for lunch maybe once every couple of months.
And I meet my kids for coffee and cakes or something fairly regularly.

I'm much more enthusiastic about eating out than takeaways.

[Webs]

Jan 23, 2024 19:42:52 GMT -5 leela said:

I don't buy takeaways at all, unless I'm in a group. There's something a bit soulless to me about eating a takeaway alone, at home.

Do you make yourself meals and eat alone at home? Do you eat alone when traveling?

What's the difference?

It always amazes that such harsh judgments come from people who travel so much.

[groo]

I'm 20km out of town, so home deliveries are out of the question, but if I'm out and tired and don't feel like cooking I'll grab a takeaway Chinese or Thai meal or perhaps a pizza and take it home.

Such takeaway will often last me for 2 or 3 meals.

Up here a lot of the surf clubs have good, relatively inexpensive restaurants and generally a superb ocean outlook. I not infrequently eat at these. Takeaway seafood and a picnic table by the beach is another option.

[shilgia]

I mean, I'm not going to argue with you that cooking spaghetti at home is cheaper than spaghetti out. Sure. But spaghetti at home needs to be prepared, and while that costs no money, it costs time. And sometimes it's worth a bit of money for a few hours off.

I don't get takeout often, but I do every now and then. I would more often if it were cheaper (and maybe healthier). Whether it tastes exactly how I would make it at home does not enter the equation for me.

As for dinner out, that's more to do with social occasions. I just got home from a work dinner this evening. Tomorrow I'm having dinner with a friend. The rest of the week is dinner at home most likely, unless something else comes up.

[ozziegiraffe]

I generally get Asian takeaway about once a week after shopping. Virtually never buy lunch at work, as my workplaces only have canteen on Fridays, a day I don’t work. When I’m working, I batch cook on weekends, and freeze two or 3 serves, which I reheat on work nights. I couldn’t afford packaged meals all the time, but do use them occasionally, especially if I’m busy and/or tired. Then I get them from the supermarket.

[Liiisa]

Of course then there's that really good pizza slice place near my office, which has prevented me from bringing my lunch very often since it opened. I don't like ordering pizza delivery because in my opinion, pizza needs to be HOT to be good.

[psw]

I cook as little as I possibly can. I cooked for over fifty years and that's enough. "Real" cooking for one person is not worth the effort.

Luckily there are plenty of places near me that sell good quality prepared food at reasonable prices. I'm not traveling, I'm not buying much clothing, my general overhead is low with a paid-off mortgage, so at this stage of my life I eat a lot of takeout and prepared dishes. Most of the prepared dishes or meals are enough for two or three servings.

I actually eat out maybe once a week so that I can sit and be served with no prep or cleanup at home. There are a couple of salad bars near me so I can get exactly the quantity I need instead of buying bags of veggies which will rot in the fridge. Works for me. ymmv.

[groo]

" "Real" cooking for one person is not worth the effort."

Weeel .... hardly ever....

Come winter I'll probably go back to a bit of proper cooking. A ready cooked roast from the supermarket can last 4 or 5 days, however, and can be served up in a variety of ways. If you're desperate and all you want is fuel then the coffe's free for seniors at McDonalds if you purchase a food item and their coffee aint all that bad these days, since they got rid of those dreadful drip filter things.

[romily]

For me it's really the cost / benefit ratio - I could not afford to eat out multiple times a week, the portions are too big (so food waste which I hate), and the quality of the food isn't great enough to make me even want to spend the extra money. I understand the laziness of not cooking during the week, which is why I batch cook at weekends and always have frozen portions of all different cuisines in the freezer, in a portion size that works for me. I really perfected that system for me and it saves me a fortune in money, and time!

For example I'll make a bolognese sauce at the weekend - I will freeze 5 portions, so then I only have to boil some pasta when I fancy it during the week. Or last weekend I did a slow cooker Thai sweet chili chicken wit udon noodles, and have 5 portions of that in the freezer. And I know exactly what is in the food which matters to me as well. Plus I'm a cheapskate by nature I guess!

Eating out is more a social thing for me. When traveling I have to eat out if I don't have an air bnb but don't enjoy sitting in restaurant on my own at all. Prefer to grab some street food or the like. But I like having a kitchen in the air bnb - especially for breakfast, where I just want a brief snack after I wake up, and don't feel like going out and spending a fortune. And it gives me options - some meals I might eat out, or pick something up at a food truck, or similar.

Do I enjoy cooking? I don't hate it, don't mind it, but don't get a kick out of it either. I'm just very budget conscious, I blame my grandmother!

[wombatrois]

Going out for a meal is one of our favourite pastimes! We do it often. Much more when we are in the city, so every fortnight when J comes up we will go out multiple times. Much less often in our home town, but we do sometimes.

This weekend is a long weekend, so we will probably eat out two of those nights - not necessarily at expensive places, but still eat out. For e.g. Saturday night we are going to a Fringe Festival event, so will eat at a moderately priced Thai place close to there that does the best whole fish dish.

Friday night we will either eat out or get take away. Take away is almost always fish and chips, although we have taken to buying some amazing pizzas close to here and taking them over to eat with Dad. Dad has discovered pizzas are good in his old age :-D

Most places we go tend to be places with smaller or bigger plates that are intended for sharing, so we tend to just get a few different dishes and share, rather than the entree (starter), main (entree) and dessert (dessert) of ye olde fashioned times. We can't abide degustation style places - over priced and the food is too fussy, so we're heavily into Asian, middle eastern and modern Australian (for want of a better term).

I also love to cook, but have less time to do more adventurous cooking at the moment and stay with salads and X, one pot dishes or a range of smaller dishes (mezze) - a lot pre-cooked or prepared and eaten over a few nights. Tonight I had a pre-prepared giant cous cous salad with haloumi drizzled with honey. Last night was spaghetti with a chilli tomato sauce with some veggies on the side.

ETA I almost always take my breakfast and lunch to work - that way I know I will have delicious meals. Occasionally I'll buy lunch, but not often and invariably is a fabulous filled baguette from a local Swiss patisserie.

[leela]

Jan 23, 2024 20:34:45 GMT -5 Webs said:

Jan 23, 2024 19:42:52 GMT -5 leela said:

I don't buy takeaways at all, unless I'm in a group. There's something a bit soulless to me about eating a takeaway alone, at home.

Do you make yourself meals and eat alone at home? Do you eat alone when traveling?

What's the difference?

It always amazes that such harsh judgments come from people who travel so much.

Harsh judgement? There was no judgement intended in my post whatsoever. I simply expressed that when I sit at home alone eating a takeway, it just doesn't feel right. To me, it feels soulless. Other people can do it very happily of course, and I'm glad they do.

Since you ask, eating alone when travelling solo is about the only time I wish I had company. I rarely eat at formal restaurants, and when possible, eat streetfood or at casual cafes.

I've no idea why I don't enjoy eating alone. And my cooking for myself at home is fairly functional. I'm much happier cooking for and eating with guests and family.

But then, for nearly 40 years, that's what I did. Eating home alone still feels relatively new and abnormal for me, even though I'm far from unhappy living alone.

[tinaja]

I will add that when I was working in an office we had an extensive cafeteria. Sure you would get tired of it after x years. But if I didn't have leftovers to bring in, I ate there a lot. Then food trucks started coming to our street. Yum. I spent a lot while working there. Coffee from the coffee bar. Sometimes breakfast. Lunch usually and snacks. I know that I ate a lot more in the office. Now I eat a small late breakfast and an evening meal. If I am running errands late afternoon is when I tend to pick something up. I have never fed a family so it's me and nobody else. Friends and I share home meals on occasion. I think that I am due to invite them.

[Liiisa]

Since I've never lived alone, I rather like those times when I can sit and quietly enjoy a meal by myself. Everyone is different!

[crazycat]

We never order take away and there are only a few places that are both safe for coeliacs to eat at and have kid friendly gluten free options that are coeliac safe. Generally we just eat at home and if we are out and about, I take lunch boxes for the kids in case we can't find food for them. I always have a bag full of snacks.

If I go to the shops at the weekend on my own, I will often grab lunch at the food court and enjoy a quiet 30mins eating and reading my book.

Mostly I eat out with friends but that probably only happens every couple of months.

[sprite]

Jan 24, 2024 8:35:17 GMT -5 wombatrois said:

Most places we go tend to be places with smaller or bigger plates that are intended for sharing, so we tend to just get a few different dishes and share,

I wish we could do this, but partner is really, really, obsessed with having his own plate of something. Even when there are 6 things on the menu that he wants to eat. As a result, I have a couple of friends I love eating with, and sometimes prefer eating out with them!

rarely buy lunch for work, because it's rather expensive here.

[ozziegiraffe]

I enjoy eating alone when out. I always have an ebook on my phone, and combine that with people watching.

[Webs]

I just came home and everything in my fridge causes me to cringe. I ordered in some tacos. Sure I could have made a bowl of spaghetti. Or heated up some left over chicken, or some soup. But standing hurts today.

[ozziegiraffe]

I get that standing hurts!

I think part of our choice depends where we live. Until recently, the only thing we could get delivered here was pizza.

[groo]

Jan 24, 2024 18:37:15 GMT -5 Webs said:

 But standing hurts today.

I have a small table in the centre of my kitchen and I have recently added a comfortable office chair to it. I can now sit to prepare meals and wheel aceoss to the refrigerator and benchtops as necessary.

[ozziegiraffe]

That wouldn’t fit in my current kitchen, but it just might in the retirement village.

[sprite]

Yes, I think that the cost/benefit ratio can be different for each person. Sometimes the cost is money, other times it's time, or energy, or health.

Sometimes I swing by the supermarket on the way home, because they do a sort of 'takeaway' thing. There are sides, mains, and desserts that can be bought in a combo, so two people can eat for 10 quid. Just needs heating up at home, and often the choices they have are just as good as what would cost twice as much from the restaurant. THe only downside is that it's mostly either chicken or vegetarian--those are cheapest to make.