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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

That's amazing. I would say I use DoorDash too often, but this is a whole different level.

[Anonymous]

We try to limit take out to once a week. I do get rotisserie chickens and other ‘prepped’ grocery foods though, to cut down on cooking pans. Also we do frozen pizza and fries at least once a week, and I try to cook double meals to be used as leftovers like salmon and rice. So that takes you down to only a couple nights of real ‘cooking’ and cleaning pans a week. We also have cleaners come once a week which helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We try to limit take out to once a week. I do get rotisserie chickens and other ‘prepped’ grocery foods though, to cut down on cooking pans. Also we do frozen pizza and fries at least once a week, and I try to cook double meals to be used as leftovers like salmon and rice. So that takes you down to only a few nights of real ‘cooking’ and cleaning pans a week. We also have cleaners come once a week which helps.

Should add we are parents of 3 kids under 8 with scouts, sports, and no aftercare. Mom (me) works half time.

[Anonymous]

Take out is lazy. We always have freshly prepared food by our personal chef.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take out is lazy. We always have freshly prepared food by our personal chef.

Well played - thanks for the laugh!

[Anonymous]

I usually get takeout once during the school week, but more so on the weekend. I plan all my meals out to ensure they are easy to make (one-pot dishes or tray bakes).

[Anonymous]

3 teens so not sure if this skews your results but DH eats lunch out most days and we get breakfast or dinner takeout for some combination of people around 3 times
A week.

[Anonymous]

I think it varies a lot. We only do take out / eat out on weekends barring dinner going horribly wrong. But I know lots of families that do takeout almost every night.

[Anonymous]

We often eat out once at a restaurant on the wknd for lunch, typically after/between kid activities. Usually 1 more expensive takeout meal like Thai and one cheap like pizza during the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

That's amazing. I would say I use DoorDash too often, but this is a whole different level.

Mine get delivery pretty much any day both are home (they have no kids, they are a DINK couple who travel a lot). They just remodeled their kitchen and I don't think they've ever used it.

[Anonymous]

We do takeout more on the weekends than the week.

My kids buy lunch most days at school. If they want to pack, they can, but they do it themselves. They are 8 and 10.

We ease up our standards of what "cooking" at home is like pretty often too. Noodles and jarred sauce? Counts. Frozen Trader Joe's meals dumped into a skillet with microwave rice and raw veggies? Counts.

So find ways to make cooking easier and faster to aid your life.

[Anonymous]

I definitely rely on convenience foods (jarred sauce, etc.) so no high horse here whatsoever, but I have to say I'm surprised by the frequency in some of these responses. Though perhaps I shouldn't be....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely rely on convenience foods (jarred sauce, etc.) so no high horse here whatsoever, but I have to say I'm surprised by the frequency in some of these responses. Though perhaps I shouldn't be....

If jarred sauce is your concern then you probably shouldn’t be suprised. Most of us do not can our own tomatoes and therefore are buying jarred sauce or canned tomatoes from a store.

[Anonymous]

I use a lot of pre-prepped food items and get a prepared meal from a local chef once per week (not in DMV). Takeout dinner happens maybe once every other week. Kids buy lunch at school. I don’t remember the last time I door dashed anything.

[Anonymous]

We usually get take out once during the week on a day that we all have activities. We also get take out or eat out at least once on the weekend. I cook 3-4 dinners, 1 night is leftovers, and I often use parts of an earlier dinner to create something new later in the week. I work full time but enjoy cooking.