I am living on a tight budget, like many people I know. For my family, going out to eat at a restaurant seems frivolous, considering what little spending money we have. We are lucky if we can afford Chinese food take out once a month. I was wondering if other people feel that eating out at a restaurant is simply not worth it. If I go out to dinner with my boyfriend, it will cost at least $40, and all I can think about is how much groceries I could buy with that same $40. I wouldn't call myself cheap, but I would call this frugal. In this economy, do people like myself have any effect on the food industry, or is the restaurant business still going strong? Is eating out even worth it? It just seems totally unnecessary.
Having worked in restaurants for several years, I would say it's not really worth it. The only time I would make an exception would be if it would cost me more to buy all the ingredients to make the dish at home. With Chinese food, that is often the case - by the time I buy all the specialty ingredients I don't normally eat, such as 5-spice powder, sesame seeds, the sauces, cashews, bok choy, bean sprouts, etc... I could easily blow $40 on that stuff at the store and end up not using up most of it before it goes bad - whereas I can pick up some Chinese takeout combo meal, and there's usually enough in one of those things for like three meals. It's the same thing with certain sub shops, like DiBella's Subs - their large sub is like $8, but it's enough for four lunches, easily. They put like a pound of meat on those things, if not more. It's much cheaper than me buying the hoagie rolls, all those lunch meats and cheeses, and other ingredients to make one myself. But if you are looking to save money, eating out at a sit down restaurant is definitely wasting money. They charge like $2.50 for the pop alone at most places, and you have to factor in a tip as well.
I would tend to agree that if you are on a tight budget, cutting the eating out expense is one of the smartest and should be one of the first things to go. In my opinion, it is definitely a luxury. That said, when I do it, it is worth every dime. Eating out is one of my most favorite ways to pamper myself. We actually try to save up for date nights, so we don't feel the pressure of blowing a weeks worth of our grocery budget on one meal. This makes it guilt-free to me. We also celebrate financial windfalls with a nice meal. For my family, eating out has always been associated with celebration, and so I think I'm sort of engrained with that thought. But this is also what makes it special to me. We don't do it very often. And certainly I'm not buying Starbucks every day, or fast food every week, which also adds up (we never eat fast food).
Oh sure it's worth it - then again we have so many restaurants around that it makes more sense it seems for me than you. Like eating out isn't generally going much past 30 and that's with several of us on the tab. Like we have the Applebees and Ihops, but we also have Cabanas and Red Robin. The first group is fine, but the second group can get rather painful to be honest. Still eating out is more a treat than anything so wondering if it's worth it seems rather counterproductive.
I definitely think that going out to eat at a restaurant is worth the money! I love the entire experience of eating out. I love getting great service and looking at the menus. I love all of the fancy drinks that are offered, and the atmosphere of restaurants. Eating out at a restaurant is a great way to treat yourself, and it's a great way to hang out with friends and to get to know people better. I love trying out new restaurants and trying new cuisine that I've never sampled before. The only downside can be if the restaurant is bad, then it's a big disappointment having spent all that money to eat mediocre food.
It also helps if your job happens to involve going out to lunches and dinners with various vendors who are trying to win your business, or if your company occasionally has get togethers and other events at restaurants. I take full advantage of that, lol, and I've had some of my best meals out at restaurants because of it. In many cases, these are places I likely would never have gone to on my own dime. I worked in internet marketing, for example, and a few times a year, our account managers from Google and Yahoo and Bing would come into town and want to take us out to lunch. They would ask for some suggestions on where to go, and of course I would pick some of the most expensive places ;-) I look at it this way, the places they are travelling from, such as the Bay Area in San Fran, the cost of living is way higher than here in Cleveland - so what is expensive here is probably nothing to them. Plus the company I was working for was spending a lot of money each month with them.
I think from time to time you just need to treat yourself and your boyfriend to something special and forget about the grocery bills. One can get so stuck in a rut that one forgets how it feels to really enjoy something. If you do a bit of research, you will find out where the better quality restaurants are, and you can get an idea about their prices. Why not make a special effort, to at least once a month, go to a really nice place and have a three course meal without any worries at all? I recommend it to stay happy and alive
As a person that is on a tight budget too, I feel that food being sold outside are overpriced. Some of the food they sell definitely do not worth the price we pay. Most of the time, I find the food can be cooked by myself for 1/3 of the price they charge for it. However, I don't blame them all because some of them have hefty operational costs to cover.
Going out to dinner shouldn't be compared to eating at home. Cost wise eating at home will always win out. Going out to dinner is something you do to enjoy the experience. You have a nice meal where you don't have to cook or do dishes, maybe a glass or two of wine, and good conversation. Forgo the take out food and save the money for fewer, but nicer dining experiences. If you are dining out and distracting yourself with the cost, you are probably not enjoying yourself.
Eating out should be done at most twice per week. Sometimes it is just best that you cook and eat your own food. I think people are just lazy these days to cook their own meals. I have been a person who always eats out in restaurants. I guess some good old habits.
I'm on a tight budget as well, but I do think it's worth it to go out sometimes, eat at a nice restaurant and have some fun with friends or family. I couldn't do that always, but a few times a month is fine. Just yesterday I spent 25 bucks in a dinner, and I felt bad because it was only a burger and a Coke, but I had a great time with my friends so I felt it was worth it. You also don't have to choose expensive restaurants, there are great restaurants that are affordable, and some where you can even take coupons to make it cheaper.
On another note - sometimes it's for special occasions! And on that note have you looked up and signed up for some of the many opportunities to get discounts and free meals for your birthday? I have and that means I get to do a lot of guilt-free eating out.
It's not worth the money in some cases, but it is nice to treat yourself and your family every once in a while. I like to make extra money on the side just for that so it's not coming out of other money. I think it's good to do little things to cut back on the total by ordering water instead of drinks and have everyone chip in a little with a tip. It's also good to check around your town for good deals. I also like to eat at places that offer unlimited bread or chips and salsa or things like that so there's no need to order a big plate of food. LOVE & DEALS, DH
If you go out to eat, you should expect to pay more than the food is worth. It's also just normal to pay more because someone is serving you, you are eating in their building, you are using their electricity, heating and water and someone is cooking the food for you. If I write it down like that, I think the amounts we pay is even quite low. As long as I get enough food, it's good for me. I don't want to pay $20 for a meal the size of the palm of my hand.
I think that you really pay for the experience. Being able to go out and have someone cook your food, serve you drinks, clean your dishes, all while you get to have a nice chat with whoever you're with - that's what I think is the best part of eating out. Sure, it's not cost effective and typically much more unhealthy, but most of the time, it's nice to be able to get out every now and then.
