Takeout or dinner out -- how often for elem school families with working parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not 3-4x a week! Once a month probably. (Not counting my group activity 2x a month where we all chip in for pizza since that's not our household's decision.) When we don't have time to cook we pull a frozen meal out, or make frozen ravioli, pasta, or eggs and toast with fruit and salad.

Kids buying lunch at school is different. My kids prefer packed and my husband packs them at night, but I'd be fine with them each buying lunch for $3/day if they wanted to.

Yeah, we definitely pull out frozen meals a lot, or do some sort of pasta/noodles or grilled cheese or something like that. We try to always keep fruit around, so that's easy. My kids don't get home from school/activities until 5 sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not 3-4x a week! Once a month probably. (Not counting my group activity 2x a month where we all chip in for pizza since that's not our household's decision.) When we don't have time to cook we pull a frozen meal out, or make frozen ravioli, pasta, or eggs and toast with fruit and salad.

Kids buying lunch at school is different. My kids prefer packed and my husband packs them at night, but I'd be fine with them each buying lunch for $3/day if they wanted to.

Yeah, we definitely pull out frozen meals a lot, or do some sort of pasta/noodles or grilled cheese or something like that. We try to always keep fruit around, so that's easy. My kids don't get home from school/activities until 5 sometimes.

Yes and I find it faster and lower stress than takeout since you have to drove to pick up stuff (delivery is just a luxury we don't want to pay for, generally).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Average of 3 nights a week of takeout. My spouse doesn't cook, so it's only a question of how often I want to cook. I work full-time and have kids in activities, so it's 4 or fewer nights a week. My spouse prefers takeout to my cooking, and money isn't tight, so they never complain.

This is us too plus we pick up breakfast and lunch many days.

[Anonymous]

Once a month on average, maybe a little more during baseball season. Kids buy lunch at school but parents pack lunch for work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not 3-4x a week! Once a month probably. (Not counting my group activity 2x a month where we all chip in for pizza since that's not our household's decision.) When we don't have time to cook we pull a frozen meal out, or make frozen ravioli, pasta, or eggs and toast with fruit and salad.

Kids buying lunch at school is different. My kids prefer packed and my husband packs them at night, but I'd be fine with them each buying lunch for $3/day if they wanted to.

Yeah, we definitely pull out frozen meals a lot, or do some sort of pasta/noodles or grilled cheese or something like that. We try to always keep fruit around, so that's easy. My kids don't get home from school/activities until 5 sometimes.

Yes and I find it faster and lower stress than takeout since you have to drove to pick up stuff (delivery is just a luxury we don't want to pay for, generally).

Same, kids are older now but I’ve always been the cook and have always packed lunches. DH buys lunch at work when he’s at the office. It as varied but typical week might be eating out once, takeout once, but that might be weekend lunch.

I learned that perfect could be the enemy of the good with meal planning and to keep easy stuff in the freezer for those nights when I just could not really cook…that’s when it’s scrambled eggs and frozen French fries, frozen pizza, ravioli and broccoli, meatballs from TJs and garlic bread

I mostly cook from scratch but you need slack for when you are exhausted, sick, etc

I find these options easier than takeout and certainly cheaper and often at least somewhat healthier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not 3-4x a week! Once a month probably. (Not counting my group activity 2x a month where we all chip in for pizza since that's not our household's decision.) When we don't have time to cook we pull a frozen meal out, or make frozen ravioli, pasta, or eggs and toast with fruit and salad.

Kids buying lunch at school is different. My kids prefer packed and my husband packs them at night, but I'd be fine with them each buying lunch for $3/day if they wanted to.

Yeah, we definitely pull out frozen meals a lot, or do some sort of pasta/noodles or grilled cheese or something like that. We try to always keep fruit around, so that's easy. My kids don't get home from school/activities until 5 sometimes.

Yes and I find it faster and lower stress than takeout since you have to drove to pick up stuff (delivery is just a luxury we don't want to pay for, generally).

Same, kids are older now but I’ve always been the cook and have always packed lunches. DH buys lunch at work when he’s at the office. It as varied but typical week might be eating out once, takeout once, but that might be weekend lunch.

I learned that perfect could be the enemy of the good with meal planning and to keep easy stuff in the freezer for those nights when I just could not really cook…that’s when it’s scrambled eggs and frozen French fries, frozen pizza, ravioli and broccoli, meatballs from TJs and garlic bread

I mostly cook from scratch but you need slack for when you are exhausted, sick, etc

I find these options easier than takeout and certainly cheaper and often at least somewhat healthier.

Since this is dcum just clarifying that I do work full time. I’m just the only cook in our house beyond really basic stuff.

[Anonymous]

Once a week we get take-out. I used to never eat out, but then I became a mom --It's now a fun ritual of bonding time. Never junk or fast food, though.

[Anonymous]

We order out 3-4 times a week. We buy less groceries so it’s a wash money wise. No one likes cooking and we’re generally not good at it. DH wants us to cook at home more and has taken the lead in cooking more. It does make more dishes, which causes more arguments. Kids either pack or buy. Their choice. The youngest tends to pack more. The oldest usually purchases.

From the amount of door dash I see being delivered to the neighbors, it appears other families are ordering out some nights a week as well. I generally order ahead and pick up food on my way home.

[Anonymous]

We live in DC so we often walk down the block for brunch or dinner if the mood strikes, maybe 2-3 times a week. Usually Friday nights or weekends. My kids are kind of spoiled by it but we often run into other families so it seems like we’re all doing it! If we lived the burbs and it was more of an effort to eat out or pick up anything, we’d do it less.

[Anonymous]

We’ve cut back so we just ordered takeout this weekend because it has been so long and we double checked and it wasn’t for two months as a family. DH and I have a date night once a month and are out in December.

I do let the kids get school lunch when they want because it’s not worth the battle to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not 3-4x a week! Once a month probably. (Not counting my group activity 2x a month where we all chip in for pizza since that's not our household's decision.) When we don't have time to cook we pull a frozen meal out, or make frozen ravioli, pasta, or eggs and toast with fruit and salad.

Kids buying lunch at school is different. My kids prefer packed and my husband packs them at night, but I'd be fine with them each buying lunch for $3/day if they wanted to.

Yeah, we definitely pull out frozen meals a lot, or do some sort of pasta/noodles or grilled cheese or something like that. We try to always keep fruit around, so that's easy. My kids don't get home from school/activities until 5 sometimes.

Yes and I find it faster and lower stress than takeout since you have to drove to pick up stuff (delivery is just a luxury we don't want to pay for, generally).

+1. Quick homemade meals are literally easier for me. My BIL is the pro takeout type but he is also extremely overweight they pay the extra for delivery.

[Anonymous]

A store rotisserie chicken and bagged salad counts as what? Not an easy answer Op. And when we eat out, we always take some home. That becomes left overs. And we stretch it into several meals - adding more pasta, etc. It's not even the same meal as before.

[Anonymous]

My neighbors in 20015 get DoorDash six nights a week and then go out to eat the other night. They also get DoorDash four times a week during the day when he is working from home. This morning they got DoorDash coffee on a Sunday morning. Also some other mornings.

[Anonymous]

We eat out or get takeout roughly 4-5 times a month, kids are 2nd and 5th. We get takeout more when we have visitors or when it’s peak season for sports and one or both kids has something every day M-F.

When the pandemic started it seemed like everyone got takeout WAY more than us. At the time we got takeout once a month and we had very few weeknight obligations.

I would guess many families we know in the neighborhood get takeout 2-3x a week.

[Anonymous]

We do it 4x a week but we have no childcare or housecleaner help