Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Panera for 3, 5, 7 yr old + me and DH. I brought along my own cream cheese and fresh fruit to cut down on cost and make it a bit healthier. Cost was $17.

Seriously, you can't pay for cream cheese at Panera?

+1

So strange.

Anonymous wrote:Dh and I went out to dinner last night

Shared an appetizer
Each got an entree
I got two glasses of wine, he drank soda
We got a dessert to go

Total cost including tip was about $100. That is pretty standard for our "date nights."

We don't go out to eat very often.

This is us. DH & I go out just us maybe 3 times a year. When we take DD, its usually more casual places so bill it ranges $30-50, depending on restaurant. We do not eat dinner out that often maybe once a month. DH does buy lunch 1-2 times per week and DD & I will have lunch out once a week. I get a Starbucks mocha 4/7 days of the week.

About $50. I work in a restaurant, don't want to go to one on my day off.

weekday lunch at Raku for two: $30

Weekday lunch at Bistro Provence: $ $150

Eating out is probably my family's main splurge. We spend between $600-800 a month. Two adults, three teenagers.

Anonymous wrote:Panera for 3, 5, 7 yr old + me and DH. I brought along my own cream cheese and fresh fruit to cut down on cost and make it a bit healthier. Cost was $17.

Seriously, you can't pay for cream cheese at Panera?

Anonymous wrote:I always love the DCUMers who claim they take the whole family out once or twice a week and never spend more than $40.

ours is about $50. 2 adults and 2 kids. No appetizers or alcohol. We don't eat at fancy places so 2 salads/sandwiches/burgers/entrees + 2 kids meals is about $50. And we go out to eat 2-3x/week.

Anonymous wrote:I always love the DCUMers who claim they take the whole family out once or twice a week and never spend more than $40.

We can't get out of a restaurant for less than $100. Which is why we don't go very often, and never for breakfast. Paying someone to cook your breakfast is nuts.

If you're eating fast food or chipolte then sure you could manage for less than 40.

We spend anywhere from $200 to about $300 to eat out. We do this about 6 times a year. We have two teenagers

Anonymous wrote:I love going out for breakfast! We spend between $35 and $65 for a family of four (1 yr old and 4 yr old) for lunch and dinners.

About the same for 2 adults and two 2-yos. We look for places that have discounts for kids under certain ages (including some that kids under X eat free). Even when they eat, they often can share one kids entree and we often just get them extra fruit, so they cost under $10 for the both of them. We like more casual dining so we tend to go out to places like Ledo's, Silver Diner, Shane's Rib Shack, etc. We rarely go out to fancier places. And if we haven't eaten out some other time during the week, we usually go out to eat on Friday nights. So we eat out roughly once/week.

I eat at Subway most days for lunch because there is one in the cafeteria at work and it's convenient. So my lunch is around $5/day. My wife does the same (her cafeteria also has a Subway) for the days she goes in, but she teleworks 2-3 days a week and usually makes lunch at home or has leftovers.

Family dinners out usually cost $40-$50. That's typically an appetizer and two entrees split between me, DH, and our 3yo. We just go to neighborhood casual places like Uncle Julio's, Fireworks, Le Pain Quotidien, Rustico, etc.

Date nights are more infrequent but also far more expensive. We usually splurge every couple of months and spend $200 on dinner/drinks. I convince myself that this is reasonable because my in-laws provide free babysitting on those nights, so we don't have a babysitter bill on top of that.

Then, there's the over-the-top outings after my annual bonus payout that cost us $500+.

I'll go out to for breakfast on the weekend sometimes because DD is well behaved in the mornings (toddler) and because DH and I both love brunch. Maybe $30-40 for a nice brunch. DD usually eats an appetizer as her breakfast or brunch.

Other than that, we do take-out when we are busy/tired for things like pho or kabobs. Maybe $20 a pop for all three of us to eat. I do a LOT of cooking from scratch and actually prefer the taste of my food to most restaurants' food (I'm not saying I'm some amazing chef, I'm just saying I know how to make things the way I like at home) and only really complicated ethnic food is either too time-consuming (pho) or too complicated (kabobs) to cook at home I've cooked both and I'd rather just do takeout for that sort of stuff!

Panera for 3, 5, 7 yr old + me and DH. I brought along my own cream cheese and fresh fruit to cut down on cost and make it a bit healthier. Cost was $17.

Crabcake eggs benedict- YUM!!!!

Family of 4. Kids are 9 and 12 years old.

We eat out once a week. Bill is usually $50-$75 dollars for our typical sit down restaurant. Everyone drinks water except for DH who drinks soda.

We splurge at Morton's once or twice a year- that's usually $200.

A fast food place like Quiznos or Chick Fila is about $25.

Anonymous wrote:I always love the DCUMers who claim they take the whole family out once or twice a week and never spend more than $40.

We can't get out of a restaurant for less than $100. Which is why we don't go very often, and never for breakfast. Paying someone to cook your breakfast is nuts.

Last time I had breakfast out, I had a crabcake eggs Benedict. You may think it's nuts, but to me, it was delish!