I stopped eating out and I don't think I'm going back

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be ok eating out more because I’m lazy. But everything is so low quality and greasy and soooo salty. I looked up a somewhat upscale chain near us and some of the dinners had 2000+ mg of sodium!

Obviously. Chains just heat up frozen over-preserved slop so they are consistent at all locations.

I guess I shouldn’t have said chain. Local chain that has a few locations, and offers lighter bites and health conscious food, not like… Outback Steakhouse.

[Anonymous]

We eat out a lot less now. A bowl of ramen is $20 some places, with very little meat. Portions are much smaller. We go it about 3 times a month, used to be 4-6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to eat at home more but get sick of staying in the house. At least going out to eat gets me out. Anyone else?

I/my family will go out for coffee/tea once a week or so to scratch that itch. (Which still ends up being very pricy!)

We also go to the park, go on walks etc so we’re not just in the house all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For January, I wanted to eat exclusively at home, which I mostly accomplished save a couple of small things while traveling and a very lavish dinner for a friend. Otherwise, all meals for the family have been prepared and eaten at home, and my wallet is fatter, I'm slimmer and SO much happier. I don't see myself going back to takeout/eating out multiple times a week anytime soon. Anyone else?

Same, OP. Our family was only eating out on weekends/sometimes on Fridays and eventually it seemed like such a waste. Food in the dmv is low quality and overly expensive. We decided to eat out exclusively when we are traveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We eat out a lot less now. A bowl of ramen is $20 some places, with very little meat. Portions are much smaller. We go it about 3 times a month, used to be 4-6.

We noticed this too and rarely go for ramen anymore. What used to be $11-13 is now $20.

[Anonymous]

Going out is such a miserable experience now. Insanely long waits, stressed and harried wait staff, subpar food that is $25 a plate no matter where you go. I regret it almost every time. I miss when you just wanted to not cook dinner and could easily grab something for $40-$50 and it would be decent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Translation: I can’t afford to dine out.

This thread is a cope. Sure, some meals out are clunkers. Who cares. I doubt every meal you prepare is amazing.

Okay? Go eat out then you rich rich person
NP

You are a dimwit.

It's not about being able to afford something, it's about the distaste for being ripped off.

So many restaurants in this region treat their customers with utter disdain and like they are cash cow to bleed dry. They can piss off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For January, I wanted to eat exclusively at home, which I mostly accomplished save a couple of small things while traveling and a very lavish dinner for a friend. Otherwise, all meals for the family have been prepared and eaten at home, and my wallet is fatter, I'm slimmer and SO much happier. I don't see myself going back to takeout/eating out multiple times a week anytime soon. Anyone else?

Translation: I can’t afford to dine out.

This thread is a cope. Sure, some meals out are clunkers. Who cares. I doubt every meal you prepare is amazing.

I agree with you about the people who are like “I haven’t eaten out since 2020!” (shut-ins)? But we have a high HHI and have been subconsciously reducing how much outside food we eat. It used to be takeout every Friday + out to a restaurant with friends a couple times a month. Nowadays it’s about half that - the other times we just make something special at home. Even for our big Christmas party, we used to cater nearly 100% but this time we cooked over half the items bc the catering was mediocre last year and not worth the money. And people told us repeatedly how tasty our homemade food was this year!

I wouldn’t mind paying 20% or even 50% more for high quality food but that is not happening and it feels like a waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For January, I wanted to eat exclusively at home, which I mostly accomplished save a couple of small things while traveling and a very lavish dinner for a friend. Otherwise, all meals for the family have been prepared and eaten at home, and my wallet is fatter, I'm slimmer and SO much happier. I don't see myself going back to takeout/eating out multiple times a week anytime soon. Anyone else?

Translation: I can’t afford to dine out.

This thread is a cope. Sure, some meals out are clunkers. Who cares. I doubt every meal you prepare is amazing.

I have a comfortable income and I rarely ever eat out. It happens when traveling but at home? Just about never. I'm an excellent cook and I know the value of cooking food at home versus eating out or getting prepared food. Many restaurant meals are meh. I also work 50+ hour weeks so lack of time isn't an excuse either.

[Anonymous]

I can't imagine eating out more than once a week. The sodium. An no i don't go get coffee, it's almost like saying I go get an ice cream shake with a friend. No. so much sugar and calories.

No wonder everybody is so obese, can't sleep and is anxious.

[Anonymous]

Expensive or not, I have no idea where you all found food that was so great before. It always sucked and if it didn't, it was so small that I left the restaurant hungry.
I don't care for Italian, so sushi, pho, and Ethiopian it is once a month. The last take-out -Chinese, two dishes only, got thrown out.

[Anonymous]

Although I am a good cook, I despise it. So, we do get takeout a fair amount. I found an Indian takeout place with good, reasonably priced food. I spend $60 or so, once a week, on 4 dishes that last the 3 of us several meals. It’s money well spent.

We also go to our favorite Thai place once a month or so. Their prices have gone up substantially, but the food is very good and we have been going for 15 or 20 years. It’s like $100 per meal for the 3 of us. Everything else is Chipotle/Potbelly (love their Powerhouse salad), which is decent food for the price and convenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expensive or not, I have no idea where you all found food that was so great before. It always sucked and if it didn't, it was so small that I left the restaurant hungry.
I don't care for Italian, so sushi, pho, and Ethiopian it is once a month. The last take-out -Chinese, two dishes only, got thrown out.

The nearest good Chinese place to DC is in Philly. There is one hole in the wall we go to where we get one specific thing (and only on weekday lunches) which is very good. Otherwise, we wait until we go up to NYC for good Chinese food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't imagine eating out more than once a week. The sodium. An no i don't go get coffee, it's almost like saying I go get an ice cream shake with a friend. No. so much sugar and calories.

No wonder everybody is so obese, can't sleep and is anxious.

I used to get drip coffee. Now Starbucks doesn’t even do that. Dunkin’ cream makes me sick. And the local chains are quite a drive. I finally bought a drip coffee makers. And if I need to rely on Starbucks I deal with a burnt espresso americano.

[Anonymous]

Is it possible that the food is the same garbage, but we are more aware of it? With the rise in people spending more on food (emphasis on produce, humanely raised meats, pasture eggs, etc), have our taste buds finally shifted back from processed foods a bit? Most restaurants are just serving warmed garbage food that came off the national brand supply truck.