Spending on Takeout/Delivery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, but also inflation is very real. Even the standard 3% YoY adds up fast. Of course fast food isn’t going to cost the same as 2000 or even 2020.

[Anonymous]

I don’t like eating in full service restaurants because trying to make eye contact with a busy server when you need something just sucks. Say what you want about Panera or Chipotle, but at least I know I can get a refill any time I want. That’s worth a lot to me.

And I don’t do delivery services because I hate the stress and guilt of not knowing whether you’ve tipped enough. Why put yourself through this if you don’t have to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like eating in full service restaurants because trying to make eye contact with a busy server when you need something just sucks. Say what you want about Panera or Chipotle, but at least I know I can get a refill any time I want. That’s worth a lot to me.

And I don’t do delivery services because I hate the stress and guilt of not knowing whether you’ve tipped enough. Why put yourself through this if you don’t have to?

… Not everyone has debilitating social anxiety?

[Anonymous]

I have literally never paid for food delivery in 10 years time. I do pick up take out once or twice a week. For a famoly of 3 its usually $40ish.

Paying for food delivery is so wild to me. Why?? Why cant you just go pick it up? Such a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have literally never paid for food delivery in 10 years time. I do pick up take out once or twice a week. For a famoly of 3 its usually $40ish.

Paying for food delivery is so wild to me. Why?? Why cant you just go pick it up? Such a waste.

Some people are short on time, or their time is worth more than driving to the restaurant to pick up.

[Anonymous]

We rarely use DoorDash / UberEat.. the only time I can remember was right after I delivered at VHC and the nurses recommended it over ordering directly from a restaurant (cafeteria was closed). I cannot stomach the ridiculous fees (on top of marked-up menu prices!!!). Not enjoyable or a “treat” to feel like you’re getting majorly ripped off..

We will do takeout maybe once a week, but order directly from the restaurant and pick up ourselves. Probably $50-80 each time, which is enough for two adult meals plus leftovers. A lot of pizza places have really gotten expensive (even for pickup) so my preference is always Harris Teeter’s $10 deal (reminds me of Costco pizza - not gourmet by any means by I love it and it provides easily two meals for each of us).

Any food order a luxury (growing up, this was a few times a year treat) but our HHI is just over $600k so it’s not out of budget.

[Anonymous]

We never do DoorDash, but do order out every week or two for a family of 4, go out as a family every week, and go out as a couple every week. It is a lot, I'm kind of horrified by the amount we spend. Like, for a family of 4, it can easily be $150 for a dinner that's not just fast food. That's $600 per month, which is over $7,000 a year. So in total, we must spend tens of thousands of dollars on eating out. I justify it to myself that:
- We both work full time, if we didn't, we wouldn't eat out so much
- We're supporting the economy
- Everything has gotten more extensive, including groceries

Honestly, we take turns cooking, and it's stressful making sure there's enough food at all times for the family as it is, I don't think I could handle only eating out once a month or something like that (again, if I somehow lost my job, this would become part of my job, but this is how it feels for now.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

Most takeaways and Uber eats is unhealthier than cooking a typical meal at home. It's not difficult to make basic simple meals. People just crave sugar and fat and salt. It's glorified junk food. Yes, you can order a salad but that is not what most people are doing.

When people say they are too busy to cook, that isn't true. Many people work full time, raise kids, and still cook every night. You just chose not to cook probably because you don't like cooking or can't be bothered to be disciplined about it. That’s fine. I am not judging you. But it is a conscious choice to spend money on takeaways and deliveries, and the vast majority will not be as healthy as what you can make at home. Restaurants amp up the salt/sugar/fat versus the equivalent you could make at home. Including pastas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

I'd be very interested to hear what you consider a healthy homecooked meal and a healthy DoorDash meal. I'm not being passive aggressive, to me its wild to think that pasta with meat sauce isn't healthy when compared to delivery. Interested in your perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spend close to $0.

We never get delivery.

Same. And I'm not particularly frugal about food, I have really high standards for grocery quality and we eat at restuarants a couple times a week but always either go there or pick up ourselves. I did Doordash a few times during Covid and just found the extra fees unfathomable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

Most takeaways and Uber eats is unhealthier than cooking a typical meal at home. It's not difficult to make basic simple meals. People just crave sugar and fat and salt. It's glorified junk food. Yes, you can order a salad but that is not what most people are doing.

When people say they are too busy to cook, that isn't true. Many people work full time, raise kids, and still cook every night. You just chose not to cook probably because you don't like cooking or can't be bothered to be disciplined about it. That’s fine. I am not judging you. But it is a conscious choice to spend money on takeaways and deliveries, and the vast majority will not be as healthy as what you can make at home. Restaurants amp up the salt/sugar/fat versus the equivalent you could make at home. Including pastas.

You’re not a morally superior person for preferring to cook (and yes, you’re acting that way despite claiming you’re “not judging”). I could absolutely eat only home cooked food if I wanted. It would also mean approximately 25-50% of my time spent not working during the week would be taken up by cooking. No, that’s not worth it to me. My free time is precious.

I can and do prioritize eating healthy foods and exercising (a good chunk of my non working time is devoted to exercise). I am selective about where I order delivery from. Sweetgreen, CAVA, and other Mediterranean spots are big contenders. Restaurants are as variable in quality as the food we make at home. And for the meal service I use, I get full nutritional info. I specifically chose this local service because the sodium content is not elevated like with Factor or similar national services.

And to your point that most people work full-time, raise kids, and cook at home, that’s absolutely not true in dual big law attorney households. The hours are extreme, and very few people with kids are devoting their free time to daily scratch cooking. Most rely on take out, hired help, meal delivery, or a combination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

I'd be very interested to hear what you consider a healthy homecooked meal and a healthy DoorDash meal. I'm not being passive aggressive, to me its wild to think that pasta with meat sauce isn't healthy when compared to delivery. Interested in your perspective.

Jarred pasta sauce, pasta, and ground beef aren’t great. They’re not the worst, but red meat is inflammatory and high in saturated fat. Jarred pasta sauce often (not always) has added sugar and high sodium content. Pasta is refined carb.

A hummus bowl with roasted eggplant and cauliflower is a lot healthier. Than a spaghetti with meat sauce meal. I get hummus bowls all the time.

To be clear, I eat pasta and jarred sauce from time to time because it’s an easy cheap meal. But it’s not a meal I feel awesome about and like to have more occasionally than as a weekly rotation. In contrast, one of my typical Sunday home cooked meals is a slow cooker lentil soup with kale, which is the type of home-cooked food I prefer to eat for health content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

Most takeaways and Uber eats is unhealthier than cooking a typical meal at home. It's not difficult to make basic simple meals. People just crave sugar and fat and salt. It's glorified junk food. Yes, you can order a salad but that is not what most people are doing.

When people say they are too busy to cook, that isn't true. Many people work full time, raise kids, and still cook every night. You just chose not to cook probably because you don't like cooking or can't be bothered to be disciplined about it. That’s fine. I am not judging you. But it is a conscious choice to spend money on takeaways and deliveries, and the vast majority will not be as healthy as what you can make at home. Restaurants amp up the salt/sugar/fat versus the equivalent you could make at home. Including pastas.

You’re not a morally superior person for preferring to cook (and yes, you’re acting that way despite claiming you’re “not judging”). I could absolutely eat only home cooked food if I wanted. It would also mean approximately 25-50% of my time spent not working during the week would be taken up by cooking. No, that’s not worth it to me. My free time is precious.

I can and do prioritize eating healthy foods and exercising (a good chunk of my non working time is devoted to exercise). I am selective about where I order delivery from. Sweetgreen, CAVA, and other Mediterranean spots are big contenders. Restaurants are as variable in quality as the food we make at home. And for the meal service I use, I get full nutritional info. I specifically chose this local service because the sodium content is not elevated like with Factor or similar national services.

And to your point that most people work full-time, raise kids, and cook at home, that’s absolutely not true in dual big law attorney households. The hours are extreme, and very few people with kids are devoting their free time to daily scratch cooking. Most rely on take out, hired help, meal delivery, or a combination.

For many, once you hit a certain income level, the scarce resource becomes time, not money. This is hard for people to understand who haven’t been or aren’t in that position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

a) Pasta with meat sauce isn't very healthy.
b) They take a hell of a lot longer and require more planning than order DD.
c) I will do some of these "quick cook" meals occasionally, but, often, premartinated meat isn't great health wise and still ends up requiring cooking a veggies, which often requires chopping, pots and pans, and sufficient advanced planning if you want to use fresh veggies.
d) You can order healthy DoorDash? You can also cook crap at home.
e) The 3x a week meal service is paying for cooking at home. We don't make private chef money (I priced it out), even with long hours, but we can swing this healthy meal service that's $25/meal.

Most takeaways and Uber eats is unhealthier than cooking a typical meal at home. It's not difficult to make basic simple meals. People just crave sugar and fat and salt. It's glorified junk food. Yes, you can order a salad but that is not what most people are doing.

When people say they are too busy to cook, that isn't true. Many people work full time, raise kids, and still cook every night. You just chose not to cook probably because you don't like cooking or can't be bothered to be disciplined about it. That’s fine. I am not judging you. But it is a conscious choice to spend money on takeaways and deliveries, and the vast majority will not be as healthy as what you can make at home. Restaurants amp up the salt/sugar/fat versus the equivalent you could make at home. Including pastas.

You’re not a morally superior person for preferring to cook (and yes, you’re acting that way despite claiming you’re “not judging”). I could absolutely eat only home cooked food if I wanted. It would also mean approximately 25-50% of my time spent not working during the week would be taken up by cooking. No, that’s not worth it to me. My free time is precious.

I can and do prioritize eating healthy foods and exercising (a good chunk of my non working time is devoted to exercise). I am selective about where I order delivery from. Sweetgreen, CAVA, and other Mediterranean spots are big contenders. Restaurants are as variable in quality as the food we make at home. And for the meal service I use, I get full nutritional info. I specifically chose this local service because the sodium content is not elevated like with Factor or similar national services.

And to your point that most people work full-time, raise kids, and cook at home, that’s absolutely not true in dual big law attorney households. The hours are extreme, and very few people with kids are devoting their free time to daily scratch cooking. Most rely on take out, hired help, meal delivery, or a combination.

I also exercise 5 days a week, too. I probably spend as much time at the gym as I do cooking altogether. I'm just disciplined about it. The difference is that I enjoy cooking, and you don't, so you don't prioritize it. I do understand, I come from a family that employed cooks in previous generations. It is very easy and in many cases, quick to cook healthily at home. Simple roast chicken with a green salad, easy easy. What amused me was some of the implications in your posts. Most people who order takeaways regularly are eating more unhealthy than a family who cooks every night. We can twist it and show the exceptions, and, sure they exist. But whatever strategy you managed to make work for yourself isn't going to be applicable to most people who rely on Uber eats or doordash.