Growing up from the age of 7, I had to cook a meal for the family every week. I hated it. I hate cooking, hate cleaning up from cooking. I don't cook a lot. Now with Door Dash and Uber Eats, getting food delivered is even easier. I might order four meals from a chinese restaurant and eat those for a few days. I make scrambled eggs, meat sauce and pasta, and a few other easy things. But I hate cooking and don't make big formal meals. I never host for holidays. I never host parties.

Because of Covid and because I'm single, I rarely eat out. But I pick up salads for dinner on the way home from work, get food delivered, anywhere from 1-5 times in a week.

We cook at home most weeknights, go out to fast food for lunch on Saturday and Panera on Sunday, but it runs into $$$. Hubby is a teacher and wants to eat out on the weekends. He and I both eat leftovers for lunch and might even have a leftover night with the kids once month. If we are pressed for time, we might go to chilis or applebees for dinner during the week and pizza gets ordered in about once a month.

We both cook, but don't like each others food very much. I feed the kids breakfast and pack lunches. Dad will cook weeknight dinner or I'll throw something in the crock pot. We're both cheap. Our HHI is comfortable, but not high anymore (careers changes for us both).

Plus, eating out all the time is not good for you, your pocketbook and/or your waistline. It can also kill your tastebuds for healthy food.

Takeout 1-2 times a month these days? Growing up, I went to restaurants 1-2 times a year outside of travel so my current habits feel super indulgent.

Most weeks we have pizza or take out once a week. I don’t love cooking as my kids are variably picky and cooking is so constant, so I love the break (and it’s the one night a week we let the kids have a picnic in front of the television).

Some weeks we get take out two or three times.

But we had no income for nearly a year, and then we only ate out (and by “ate out,” in our year of the lord covid, I mean takeout in our home) when someone gave us a gift card.

We cook a lot and both DH and I are decent cooks. But two elem kids, 2 full time jobs means just a lack of time. We get takeout 1-2 times a week. That's because of covid though - pre-covid we'd just eat out 1-2 x a week.

Also *what* you cook matters - we are second generation and generally cook our ethnic food most nights and it takes a long time (longer than i'd guess an "average" american dinner).

Takeaways or going to a restaurant? Maybe biweekly.

But I do get croissants from our favorite bakery every Sunday morning and we also get various prepared foods from supermarkets/delis.

We don't eat out as much as we used to. It's become noticeably more expensive and COVID actually made us realize how little we missed dining out or getting takeaways. Takeaway food tends to be rich and heavy. I do enjoy cooking even if most of what I cook is fairly simple and uncomplicated. But I like the process and being in the kitchen.

We cook at home on weekdays and eat out on Saturday and Sunday for lunch. My mom is a fantastic cook and she rarely eats out.

We do meal delivery 4 nights a week and take out the other 3. I dont know how to cook and dh does and used to, but decided he hates it. It’s expensive.

I love cooking. We probably eat out or order in 3-4 times a week. I only cook when I’m in the mood. And there are so many great options. We travel a lot too, so then it is more.

Eat out maybe once a week. Will occasionally pick up chipotle for the kids if I am too tired or busy to cook.

rarely order takeout because if I am going to pay for restaurant food i want to eat it freshly prepared.

We got pizza takeout this past weekend, but we do that maybe twice a year.

I enjoy cooking and am always trying to watch my weight which is also a big reason we don't eat out more often.

I love to cook but with work and 2 little kids i get really burned out coming up with dinner every day. We have takeout 1-2ce a week now.

OP here - our HHI is high but we're near retirement and want to save as much as we can. However, it's always been like this for us. I do like cooking - and am a better baker than cook but I never realized how many don't know HOW to cook. I grew up poor (so did husband and on a farm with no restaurants in town) so this is normal for us I suppose. I didn't eat at a restaurant until I was 10.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you also ask what their favorite meal is that DAD makes?

Exactly what I thought. Bingo. Why is Mom being held to account for the lack of meals cooked at home?

this is the third time I've answered this. Yes!

We usually eat out Friday for dinner, Saturday for lunch/brunch, and Saturday for dinner.

We'll sometimes eat out through the week if it's going to be a crazy night with kids and adults going in all different directions, but that happens maybe once or twice a month.

The biggest thing that I had to learn was that it was okay to have a sit-down family dinner at home even if members of the family were missing. I realized this about 5 years ago when I went through the same Chick-fil-a drive thru three separate times to feed my 4 kids and the person at the window said something about recognizing me. Also, learning that it was perfectly fine for a kid to eat a sandwich for dinner if they didn't like what I cooked. I used to fret and either make a meal that everyone loved (those got old fast b/c of too much repetition) or make separate meals to please everyone (exhausting).

Sunday is family dinner day in our house. With the exception of a school activity or sports activity, we eat at home and spend the day together as a family. The kids all know that they can't hang with friends that day, which they're fine with because we're pretty lenient through the week.

My wife cooks and anyone who is home at 6:30 or 7 when it's finished can eat dinner then. Everyone else can eat later when they come home from their activities.

Anonymous wrote:Did you also ask what their favorite meal is that DAD makes?

Exactly what I thought. Bingo. Why is Mom being held to account for the lack of meals cooked at home?