Spending on Takeout/Delivery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A recent story from the NYT (linked below) discusses takeout and delivery spending. The topic isn’t anything new and I’m sure this has been discussed ad nauseam, but I continue to be fascinated by people’s spending habits in this area. One family highlighted in the article spends ~$700/week on takeout (2 adults + 2 kids). This seems so high, but maybe my household (2 adults + 1 child) are just on the very low end of takeout spending. I think annually we probably spend no more than $1500 on takeout/delivery and make $270K per year (combined).

Anyways, if anyone is willing to share what their household spends on delivery/takeout I would be interested to know.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/dining/food-delivery-apps-doordash-uber.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

I fear the bigger issue with this is how it's been normalized for GenZ. Even kids in college are getting food delivered by robots using Uber Eats. The fees of these things just compound the rapidly escalating food itself.

I'm old enough to remember when you could get pizza and Chinese food delivered from the restaurants themselves. You'd throw the delivery person a few dollars as a tip, but that was it. Now you can get Taco Bell delivered and you end up paying $40 for a $13 meal. And kids today think this is NORMAL.

[Anonymous]

$700/week is crazy!

I know a family who would be similar - she's a lawyer, he is the default parent but still working and having to drive around the city for meetings. Her parents live close by and will bring by food, or she eats at the office and dad+2 kids eat with grandparents. They started buying the food kits (blue apron type) so they do cook a few nights a week, but I swear to god, that family could live off wendys and a&w. And theyre so skinny!

I went crazy ordering during covid and had to cut back. We are just 2 adults but it's always minimum $50 for two meals plus tax, tip, delivery fee. Even a few nights a week we were hitting $200, which was about my limit.

I also noticed how much smaller the delivery portions were. For example, I go to this sushi/ramen restaurant, and you get a big bowl of ramen. I can eat half, pack the rest to go and it almost fills their takeout container. Order delivery (or even pick up) and they only fill up the regular takeout container, so getting half the amount you'd get in-restaurant, plus you're paying extra. So that was another reason I stopped. I am pretty cheap and don't like feeling cheated XD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spend close to $0.

We never get delivery.

Ditto. The very few times I order out, I go pick it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We go out once a week dinner for 3 at Thai place was $90 all in.

It wasn’t even great. It was ok. Pretty salt and portions were small. Won’t go back. Will try another Thai place.

Going out is a treat. We should enjoy it. And sometimes the food and/or service is meh.

This is the biggest issue for me. More often than not, restaurant food is disappointing these days. For many reasons. We have found that cooking at home is genuinely a better option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how people eat out so much.

Eating out 2-3x a month, ok. But getting takeout constantly? Just cook something simple at home. Make a lot. Eat leftovers.

The internet makes it seem like you need to eat a new/fun meal all the time, but you really don't. That shit is also terrible for your health, as well as your wallet.

I hate cooking and am not good at it. I’m pushing 50 so have accepted this about myself after trying for decades. So I get takeout a couple times a week, always ordering enough food for three or more meals at a time. I’m okay with it.

[Anonymous]

It looks like we spend around $780 a month on all non-grocery food (coffee, restaurants, takeout). Two adults, two teens, HHI around $250k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I looks like no one else has posted it, so here is the short video from Saturday Night Live

Uber Eats Wrapped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx7Vv5pqpHg

Billions are spent on takeout and delivery but most people are in denial.

Thanks for sharing. Hoo hoo!

[Anonymous]

We don't keep track of this as well as we should.

Let me think about the average month. This does NOT include eating in restaurants or my teen eating with friends.

We probably get pizza twice, at $50 each.
Thai or sushi twice at $80-100.
We'll pick up Cava or something twice for $38.
I might grab something random for let's say $40.

So, that's about $400. Which feels like a lot for a family of three adult-sized eaters. We usually have leftovers from pizza and Thai though.

[Anonymous]

A couple years ago we had slipped into this habit or ordering Uber Eats once a week or so. One of those year end summaries from our credit card really woke us up to how much we were spending and we cut way back. Now we probably only do Uber Eats once every few months. We do pick-up from a few local restaurants once or twice a month but we avoid the fees which almost doubles the price. We also found some frozen pizzas we like and frozen Indian food from Trader Joes that takes the place or some of our old orders. So we keep those on hand for nights when we are to tired or busy to cook.

[Anonymous]

My family of 4 spends about $800 on eating out for the month. Another $800 for groceries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I fear the bigger issue with this is how it's been normalized for GenZ. Even kids in college are getting food delivered by robots using Uber Eats. The fees of these things just compound the rapidly escalating food itself.

This. My teen is always asking for DoorDash and I'm always saying no!

[Anonymous]

For two adults and one dc, we spend about $200/week on delivery. Friday night and Sunday morning breakfast are our traditions. Rounding up because DH has breakfast or lunch delivered once per week working from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how people eat out so much.

Eating out 2-3x a month, ok. But getting takeout constantly? Just cook something simple at home. Make a lot. Eat leftovers.

The internet makes it seem like you need to eat a new/fun meal all the time, but you really don't. That shit is also terrible for your health, as well as your wallet.

When you and your spouse work 60+ hours a week, every minute not spent working is precious. And if you have a job where you're always on call, it can be really challenging to even make the weekly plan where you take inventory of what you have, build a shopping list, and procure the groceries.

I cook only 1-2 days per week. On Sunday, I do a big batch recipe that serves as lunches during the week. I also often cook on Friday night. The other nights are takeout or the healthy meal service I use.

Food prep is hard. Even simple, balanced meals require a good amount of labor. Making my own food is very low on my priority list when I have so much else going on.

Making pasta with meat sauce takes not that much longer than entering a door dash order and throwing away the massive pile of packaging. Or something like baked potato and pork loin is even faster.

But more importantly that much takeout is really unhealthy. If my spouse and I both worked that much I would use the money to hire cook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I looks like no one else has posted it, so here is the short video from Saturday Night Live

Uber Eats Wrapped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx7Vv5pqpHg

Billions are spent on takeout and delivery but most people are in denial.

Just have to thank the PP for providing that SNL link. Made my day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A recent story from the NYT (linked below) discusses takeout and delivery spending. The topic isn’t anything new and I’m sure this has been discussed ad nauseam, but I continue to be fascinated by people’s spending habits in this area. One family highlighted in the article spends ~$700/week on takeout (2 adults + 2 kids). This seems so high, but maybe my household (2 adults + 1 child) are just on the very low end of takeout spending. I think annually we probably spend no more than $1500 on takeout/delivery and make $270K per year (combined).

Anyways, if anyone is willing to share what their household spends on delivery/takeout I would be interested to know.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/dining/food-delivery-apps-doordash-uber.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

I fear the bigger issue with this is how it's been normalized for GenZ. Even kids in college are getting food delivered by robots using Uber Eats. The fees of these things just compound the rapidly escalating food itself.

I'm old enough to remember when you could get pizza and Chinese food delivered from the restaurants themselves. You'd throw the delivery person a few dollars as a tip, but that was it. Now you can get Taco Bell delivered and you end up paying $40 for a $13 meal. And kids today think this is NORMAL.

+1
I agree. That there are younger people who think it is normal is concerning. I mean, sure, pay for delivered food here or there as a unique treat but that is not at all what is occurring with a lot of the younger generations. A sense of what is a good value and application of one's money is skewed big time.