How often do you eat in a restaurant?

[George Leppla]

I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.

And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.

How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?

George L

[Ophelia]

"George Leppla" <geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote in message
news:km5s4...@news7.newsguy.com...

You will see in another thread. Never if we can manage it:)
--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

[jmcquown]

Not even once a week. Once a month, *maybe*.

Jill

[S Viemeister]

On 5/5/2013 10:59 AM, George Leppla wrote:
>

We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.

[George Leppla]

I should mention that our office is in our home... so most days, we
never leave the house. Going out to eat helps prevent cabin fever....
breaks up the week a little.

George L

[Dave Smith]

Breakfast, lunch, supper, snacks?

I go to a local bakery for an incredible cup of coffee and one of their
terrific muffins almost every day. I have lunch in a restaurant of some
type about once a week, and we go for supper about once ever 2-3 weeks.
I worked on the road and was on an expense account for 28 years. I had
in restaurants almost every day. We loved afternoon shifts. It was nice
to wake up without an alarm clock, but it was nice going out for dinner
with my co-workers and being able to claim it.

[Janet Wilder]

..not more than once or twice a month if we are home. More frequently
when we are traveling.

Since we are in the middle of nowhere, restaurants.com and groupon don't
have many offers, but a local TV station does.

We ate out Wednesday at a local Mexican place after I spent the entire
day being *starved* and in captivity by the US Government. I was on a
jury selection panel. We were kept on one floor of the Federal building
from 8 AM to 4:30 PM with NO FOOD. At about 3 PM they passed out
bottles of tepid water. Talk about Involuntary Servitude!

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

[jmcquown]

On 5/5/2013 11:47 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:
> On 5/5/2013 9:59 AM, George Leppla wrote:
>>
>> I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
>> expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.
>>
>> And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
>> possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.
>>
>> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>>
>> George L
>
> ..not more than once or twice a month if we are home. More frequently
> when we are traveling.
>
> Since we are in the middle of nowhere, restaurants.com and groupon don't
> have many offers, but a local TV station does.
>

Same here, restaurants.com and groupon are useless in this area.

> We ate out Wednesday at a local Mexican place after I spent the entire
> day being *starved* and in captivity by the US Government. I was on a
> jury selection panel. We were kept on one floor of the Federal building
> from 8 AM to 4:30 PM with NO FOOD. At about 3 PM they passed out
> bottles of tepid water. Talk about Involuntary Servitude!
>

Sorry to hear about that. I've only been called to jury selection once
but it wasn't federal, it was county jurisdiction. I was in and out of
there by lunchtime. I know if I'd sat there all day long I'd have been
irritated and irritable... and hungry!

Jill

[KenK]

George Leppla <geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote in

news:km5s4...@news7.newsguy.com:

Zero usually. Once or twice a year - maybe. Too expensive.


--
"Where there's smoke there's toast!" Anon

[gtr]

Probably 2-3 times a week. We always go out on Friday night after the
wife gets off work for cocktails and dinner somewhere. Sometimes the
cocktails in one place and dinner another.

Until recently we almost always went out on Saturday night or too a
dinner party, but that's only about half the time now. On Sunday
nights, we eat out maybe once or twice a month.

For holidays and personal holidays (the day we met, married, birthdays)
we got to significant restaurants either around here or in LA (we live
just south).

But just within OC, there are hundreds of places to explore, so over
time we've worked our way through 30-40 Vietnamese resturants, as many
Japanese and maybe 25 or 30 Korean. There's scads of others, Mexican,
Indian, Italian. We have a lot of grub in SoCal.

We do *take out* from an excellent local Mexican place usually once a
week if the wife's work day goes long or everybody is too pooped to
cook.

[Roy]

When ever I get in the mood for crappy food I indulge...why waste
money on poorly prepared food cooked by some grubby unknown person
in a possibly rat-infested cockroach ridden hell-hole kitchen.
When I cook at home I know what I want and how I want it.

=======

[Ophelia]

"jmcquown" <j_mc...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:aundpj...@mid.individual.net...

When I served on a jury here, there was a kitchen in the jury room and a
very nice lady who cooked our lunch:) We had a menu to choose from and it
was all very nice:)

--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

[Dave Smith]

On 05/05/2013 11:21 AM, S Viemeister wrote:
>
>> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>>
> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.

It's expensive to eat out these days. Some restaurants have gone all
foofoo and charge outrageous prices. For instance, and I am going back
at least 10 years, a local winery restaurant was charging $14.95 for a
bowl of vegetable soup. What the hell can you put in vegetable soup to
make it that price. It was not expensive downtown real estate and high
rent. It was a rural location. A little more recently, about 5 years
ago, a place in our town charged $13.95 for calamari. Appretnly it was
special calamari, breaded in panko and served with their signature
sauce. Big deal.. panko. It's slightly more expensive bread crumbs, and
the sauce.... pretty sure it was bottle cocktail sauce. The main dishes
were even more outrageous.


The cheaper places serve food that most decent cooks can do better at
home. One local place had Shepherds pie, which I had not had in years.
$10.95 for what turned out to be a small portion. I could make enough
for two of us for several nights for half the price and it would be
better.

I do like to go out occasionally for Thai, Greek or middle eastern food.

[gtr]

On 2013-05-05 16:31:52 +0000, Roy said:

> When ever I get in the mood for crappy food I indulge...why waste
> money on poorly prepared food cooked by some grubby unknown person
> in a possibly rat-infested cockroach ridden hell-hole kitchen.

That's all you have available in your entire area as a "restaurant". I
can sympathize. I once lived in Oklahoma.

[Kalmia]

Since January 1st:

the two of us: 26 eat-outs, or 52 meals.
alone: 5 meals

out of town: ( I separate the had-tos from the eat-out near homers) - 8 meals.

Thank heaven, Quicken!!

If yer innerested, the amount spent eating out is about 1/3 of what my groc. bills total. So, doncha tell ME it's cheaper to eat out than at home. AND that eat-out figure includes tax and tip.

[gtr]

On 2013-05-05 17:26:18 +0000, Kalmia said:

> Since January 1st:
>
> the two of us: 26 eat-outs, or 52 meals.
> alone: 5 meals
>
> out of town: ( I separate the had-tos from the eat-out near homers) -
> 8 meals.
>
> Thank heaven, Quicken!!

Hey, if it's a quick cut-and-paste from your records, what were the
names of those restaurants. It would certainly help to explain this:

[Jim Elbrecht]

I just saw a stat recently that says 'Americans' eat 4-5 meals a week
in a restaurant. I don't know if they count McDonalds or the local
fast food joint--

So I went to look-- This page seems to say something different-
http://www.statisticbrain.com/dining-out-statistics/
[citing rasmussen]
47% rarely/never & only 7% >3x.

If that 7% is eating 20+ meals outside the home [and I know several
couples who do that]- then I suppose the average might be 4+.

I'm a 'rarely'. Grabbed a meal in early March-- probably will have a
burger at Jumpin' Jacks this summer.
http://jumpinjacksdriveininc.com/

Unless I'm on vacation or out of town for some reason I'd much rather
prepare my own food the way I like it. [and I like *my* ambiance more
than anything I've seen elsewhere.]

Jim

[sf]

On Sun, 05 May 2013 09:59:42 -0500, George Leppla
<geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote:

>

We ate in restaurants a lot back when I was working, but now that I'm
retired and have more time to enjoy cooking (I like what I make) -
it's only about once a week now. Usually, I have a recipe in mind
that I want to try... but sometimes I run out of steam which is when
hubby suggests dinner out. It's rarely my idea, it's usually his. I
think it's very sweet when he notices things like that.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

[sf]

On Sun, 05 May 2013 11:21:24 -0400, S Viemeister
<firs...@lastname.oc.ku> wrote:

> I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.

Ditto! Isn't it great to be able to enjoy your own cooking?

I have a SIL, that I consider a good cook, who hates her own food.
She raised 5 kids who never talk smack about her food, so it wasn't
that bad. I also have a GF who raised 4 kids that feels the same way,
but I've never been served anything at her house that would even
remotely back up her opinion of her own cooking.

[Janet Bostwick]

On Sun, 05 May 2013 09:59:42 -0500, George Leppla
<geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote:

>

Rarely.
Janet US

[Kalmia]

On Sunday, May 5, 2013 2:09:23 PM UTC-4, gtr wrote:
> On 2013-05-05 17:26:18 +0000, Kalmia said:
>
>
>
> > Since January 1st:
>
> >
>
> > the two of us: 26 eat-outs, or 52 meals.
>
> > alone: 5 meals
>
> >
>
> > out of town: ( I separate the had-tos from the eat-out near homers) -
>
> > 8 meals.
>
> >
>
> > Thank heaven, Quicken!!
>
>
>
> Hey, if it's a quick cut-and-paste from your records, what were the
>
> names of those restaurants. It would certainly help to explain this:

I don't get why you want the names of the restos. Quicken tells me how many transactions I have charged to eating out. Please rephrase your question.

Maybe the figures didn't align properly. The two of us ate out 26 times
( for 52 meals), one or the other ate out alone a total for 5 times, and we had 8 meals away from our home area.

[sf]

On Sun, 05 May 2013 11:56:32 -0400, jmcquown <j_mc...@comcast.net>
wrote:

> Same here, restaurants.com and groupon are useless in this area.

Believe me, they aren't "all that" even when they are available.
There's no way on god's green earth that I'm going to buy a discount,
so Groupon and all their wannabe's are out. I never even look at
restaurant.com. I would use Waiters on Wheels before I used anything
like those two.

Open Table has 1000 point restaurants and every now and then there is
a mid-priced restaurant on the list, so that peaks my interest. The
one I've used most, and not all that often in the whole scheme of
things, is Blackboard Eats (BBE). You get a free code and show it at
the restaurant for the discount. If you decide not to use your code,
there's no money lost because you didn't buy anything.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Sun, 5 May 2013 16:40:33 GMT, "l not -l" <lal...@cujo.com> wrote:


>
>Eating out has no appeal; I traveled a lot for work and ate out three
>meals-a-day, ten to 15 days per week for several years prior to
>retirement.

What time zone has weeks that long? Would be good for vacation, not
so good for work.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Sun, 05 May 2013 09:59:42 -0500, George Leppla
<geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote:

>

Once a month we will eat at a really nice restaurant. Once a week
we'll eat at one of the local family restaurants. About once a week
we have breakfast at McD. Couple of times a month I may bring home a
pizza.

No particular rhyme or reason and rarely much advanced planning.

[pltrgyst]

On 5/5/13 10:59 AM, George Leppla wrote:
>
> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?

I eat lunch out every weekday. Not sure you'd consider all these places
restaurants, though.

I cook supper every night. My wife takes the leftovers to work for her
lunch -- she is the Queen of leftovers!

We eat supper out about once every other week. Usually a fine-dining
destination, sometimes with a groupon.

-- Larry

[Cheri]

"George Leppla" <geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote in message
news:km5s4...@news7.newsguy.com...

>
> I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
> expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.
>
> And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
> possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.
>

> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>

> George

None. We only eat out a couple of times a year. I usually prefer my own
cooking.

Cheri

[Janet Wilder]

Not to mention the pounding headaches.

[George Leppla]

On 5/5/2013 1:22 PM, sf wrote:

> We ate in restaurants a lot back when I was working, but now that I'm
> retired and have more time to enjoy cooking (I like what I make) -
> it's only about once a week now. Usually, I have a recipe in mind
> that I want to try... but sometimes I run out of steam which is when
> hubby suggests dinner out. It's rarely my idea, it's usually his. I
> think it's very sweet when he notices things like that.
>

Becca is one of the best cooks I have ever known and while I am not in
her league, I am pretty good myself. We both love to cook and we work
pretty well together. Tonight we are having Chicken Pot Pie. I cut the
chicken and made the stock and will debone the chicken. Becca will take
that stock and chicken and transform it into Chicken Pot Pie.

Maybe it is the social aspect of going out for dinner... or just
"getting out of the house".

George L

[pltrgyst]

On 5/5/13 1:24 PM, gtr wrote:
>>...possibly rat-infested cockroach ridden hell-hole kitchen.

>
> That's all you have available in your entire area as a "restaurant". I
> can sympathize. I once lived in Oklahoma.

8;)

[Dave Smith]

On 05/05/2013 3:26 PM, George Leppla wrote:

>
> Becca is one of the best cooks I have ever known and while I am not in
> her league, I am pretty good myself. We both love to cook and we work
> pretty well together. Tonight we are having Chicken Pot Pie. I cut the
> chicken and made the stock and will debone the chicken. Becca will take
> that stock and chicken and transform it into Chicken Pot Pie.

You're lucky. My wife and I do not work well in the kitchen so we
developed a rule. If one of us is cooking the other has to stay out of
the kitchen. To give an example...... we were once cooking a roast for
dinner. I had palnned for it to be ready at a certain time. I had the
potatoes carrots and beans all prepped and sitting in cold water. All
they needed was to have some of the water poured off, some salt and turn
on the burner at the right times. I went out to turn on the potatoes
and discovered that she had started the beans. WTF???? The only needed
a few minutes so of course they were to go on last, when everything else
was almost ready.

> Maybe it is the social aspect of going out for dinner... or just
> "getting out of the house".

There is that to it. It is nice to get out, but to a decent place that
is not too expensive.

[gloria p]

On 5/5/2013 9:47 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:


> I spent the entire
> day being *starved* and in captivity by the US Government. I was on a
> jury selection panel. We were kept on one floor of the Federal building
> from 8 AM to 4:30 PM with NO FOOD. At about 3 PM they passed out
> bottles of tepid water. Talk about Involuntary Servitude!
>

That's unusual in my experience. Every time I have been called for a
jury panel or even a trial we have been given a recess of at least an
hour, sometimes as much as two, for lunch and dismissed for the day by
5PM. This has been for municipal, county and grand jury.

gloria p

[gloria p]

On 5/5/2013 1:04 PM, Cheri wrote:
> "George Leppla" <geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote in message
> news:km5s4...@news7.newsguy.com...
>>

>>

>> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>>
>> George
>
> None. We only eat out a couple of times a year. I usually prefer my own
> cooking.
>
> Cheri

I like home-cooked food, too. It's the shopping, storage, prep,
cleanup and doing dishes that I hate. 3x7x52 it's a royal pain.

gloria p

[Ophelia]

"gloria p" <gpue...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:km6fb8$qk2$1...@dont-email.me...

Providing I am not in any rush, I enjoy the prep. and don't mind the clean
up much either:) I do it as I go along. But I do like to have something to
listen to at the same time:)
--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

[Nancy Young]

On 5/5/2013 10:59 AM, George Leppla wrote:
>
> I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
> expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.
>
> And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
> possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.
>

> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?

When I worked, we ate out all the time. Now, I think I'm like a
lot of people where sometimes we eat out a few times a week
(generally like this time of the year when there's so much work
to be done in the yard) and other times, weeks go by and we never
go out to eat.

I could check my American Express card and do a real count, but
I think I could average eating out at least once a week but likely
not as much as twice.

nancy

[Zz Yzx]

On Sun, 05 May 2013 09:59:42 -0500, George Leppla

<geo...@cruisemaster.com> wrote:

>
>I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
>expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.
>
>And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
>possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.
>
>How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>

>George L

Define "restaurant". I eat lunch at Safeway Deli 3 days a week
(salads mostly, occosionaly cold cuts). Wife and I eat lunch at
Burger Cit/vacaville ~ once/month. We may go to "real" restaraunt
(i.e Putah Creek Cafe/Winters, CA; Buckhorn, Winters, CA;
Symposium/Davis, CA) 4 times a year.

On specail occassions (family B-Days, etc.) may be 3-4 more times a
yr.

[z z]

Every day if you count the cafeteria at work. We have 4 plus several
small cold food stations-one cafeteria is for the uppityups. They allow
everyone equal access though.

Since the uppityups get a chef and the bill is on average only $2 more,
I get takeout-I don't need a tablecloth and real silverware where you
are afraid to display bad ettiquette lol. The food is damned good,
serious meat, and the chef is out on the line and will converse with you
about the dish which makes it more fun.

So my main meal is a lunch which is more like a dinner. They have made
money hand over fist just from feeding people lunch at work. The amount
of food served is enormous-I often put half of it in the fridge for the
next day or take home for supper.

5 days a week $40 a week on average-not including my beloved diet coke
(I love those one litres they sell now. 97cents, compared to $4.50 for
3 small bottles at work-one will fit inside my purse so I take it to
work.)

Their food actually helps me to eat low carb because their food is so
meat focused-added plus I don't snooze at my desk in the afternoon.

The peons cafeteria is very much based on carbs-breads pastas rice-yawn
yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn all afternoon-I think they need to rethink
that :-)

[Kalmia]

You forgot PAYING, but really - it all beats starvation.
I tried to estimate how many hours I've spent cooking and cleaning up in my life - scary.

I try to make it 2 x 6 x 45. Leftovers help immensely, plus travel and eat-outs.

[George Leppla]

On 5/5/2013 5:39 PM, Zz Yzx wrote:
> Define "restaurant". I eat lunch at Safeway Deli 3 days a week
> (salads mostly, occosionaly cold cuts). Wife and I eat lunch at
> Burger Cit/vacaville ~ once/month. We may go to "real" restaraunt
> (i.e Putah Creek Cafe/Winters, CA; Buckhorn, Winters, CA;
> Symposium/Davis, CA) 4 times a year.
>
> On specail occassions (family B-Days, etc.) may be 3-4 more times a
> yr.

We like to eat in local places mostly. The local Chinese buffet is very
good and only $7.99 pp for lunch. There is a small Taqueria-Carniceria
we like to go to for breakfast once in a while, especially on the
weekend when they have Menudo. BBQ joints, etc. We like Texas
Roadhouse and do that a few times a year. There are more upscale
restaurants that we will go to for a special occassion.... but normally,
it would be unusual for us to spend more than $30 total for a meal for
the 2 of us.

One thing about the Houston area... it is wall to wall with good
restaurants so the prices are usually pretty low.

Lunch at a local diner yesterday... she had CFS special for $6.99 (inc
two sides and a drink) and I had a 1/2 pound cheeseburger and fries,
also $6.99 plus my beverage (not included). Total bill was $17, add a
$3 tip... paid with a $10 restaurant.com coupon that cost $1.60 and the
rest in case. Total cost $11.60

George L

[Dave Smith]

On 05/05/2013 2:22 PM, sf wrote:

> We ate in restaurants a lot back when I was working, but now that I'm
> retired and have more time to enjoy cooking (I like what I make) -
> it's only about once a week now. Usually, I have a recipe in mind
> that I want to try... but sometimes I run out of steam which is when
> hubby suggests dinner out. It's rarely my idea, it's usually his. I
> think it's very sweet when he notices things like that.
>

My wife and I both took early retirement, but we both got pensions that
paid 50% of old salaries. Knock off the expenses of going to work,
pension contributions (8% of gross), union dues, unemployment
insurance. and all the other work expenses... there was still a little
less disposable income. Going out for nice dinners was one of the first
things that went. It was an extravagance, but we could afford it.

These days... I look at those dinners and think of them as an incredible
indulgence. We now occasionally go out for ethnic dinners we aren't good
at doing ourselves and for an occasional greasy spoon cheap and easy
meal out.

[gtr]

On 2013-05-05 18:40:21 +0000, Kalmia said:

>> Hey, if it's a quick cut-and-paste from your records, what were the
>> names of those restaurants. It would certainly help to explain this:
>
> I don't get why you want the names of the restos.

Because if they were Burger King and cafeterias it would be different
than if they were local wine-pouring Mediterranean or Indian
restaurants. I can see how eating lightly at small-town cafeteria's
might be cheaper than buying groceries.

But "curiousity" might have been an answer too. Fear not, I'm not with the IRS.

> Quicken tells me how many transactions I have charged to eating out.

If you don't have the data (as indicated above: "quick cut-and-paste")
well then you don't. That's fine.

> Please rephrase your question.

How about: "The restaurants, what were their names?"

[gtr]

On 2013-05-05 18:16:43 +0000, Jim Elbrecht said:

> I just saw a stat recently that says 'Americans' eat 4-5 meals a week
> in a restaurant. I don't know if they count McDonalds or the local
> fast food joint--
>
> So I went to look-- This page seems to say something different-
> http://www.statisticbrain.com/dining-out-statistics/
> [citing rasmussen]
> 47% rarely/never & only 7% >3x.

It's tough tto know what these numbers mean without more context. I use
to do market research for a few fast food industry titans and it's
pretty easy to see that a significant proportion of their market are
low-paid folk who try to save both time and money in buying meals. They
have one or two adults that already have 2-3 jobs and don't have the
time or energy to feed their family another way: So they look for
cheap, quick and (when possible) healthy to feed 1 or 2 kids.

Sad, I think, but true.

So it would be nice to know ove the many folks that eat out, what their
income is and the average cost of the meal. It would tell us a lot
about their *reasons* for eating out.

> If that 7% is eating 20+ meals outside the home [and I know several
> couples who do that]- then I suppose the average might be 4+.
>
> I'm a 'rarely'. Grabbed a meal in early March-- probably will have a
> burger at Jumpin' Jacks this summer.
> http://jumpinjacksdriveininc.com/
>
> Unless I'm on vacation or out of town for some reason I'd much rather
> prepare my own food the way I like it. [and I like *my* ambiance more
> than anything I've seen elsewhere.]

I have similar reasons for eating out: I like to eat out for the food I
can't easily prepare from both low to high (shwerma to pike terrine).
But I also like to meet people, and socialize with others, whether they
are bar&grill regulars or chatty and outgoing folk; like us.

We also like to get out of the house.

But as I mention upstream making these choices also depends on whether
you really have any significant choices to make. We have a complete
cornucopia of ethnic foods within a few miles of us. I know everyone
doesn't have that.

[gtr]

On 2013-05-05 19:18:59 +0000, l not -l said:

> Perhaps take-out meals are included in the larger percentage figures. I
> live in an affluent community and every night the area is prowling with
> pizza delivery drivers and the local supermarkets do a very brisk
> business in prepared food.

I think the business world does compute it that way but *I* don't.
Delivery and take-out food limits my options dramatically, takes out
the social factor and so forth. So they can call that eating out, but I
don't.

[Dave Smith]

On 05/05/2013 2:27 PM, sf wrote:

> I have a SIL, that I consider a good cook, who hates her own food.
> She raised 5 kids who never talk smack about her food, so it wasn't
> that bad. I also have a GF who raised 4 kids that feels the same way,
> but I've never been served anything at her house that would even
> remotely back up her opinion of her own cooking.

I wish that I could trade you for one of my SiLs. She seemed to think
very highly of her food. She was a health food fanatic and I think that
she really believed that she was turning out tasty and nutritious food.
In reality, it was horrible. She used to make soups with all the water
from her vegetables because she thought that all the vitamins were left
behind in the cooking water. The had to go somewhere because she cooked
the snot out of everything.


BiL blamed her for his obesity. As soon as he left he house he went to a
convenience store for a chocolate bar. I can appreciate that. I was
never into chocolate bars but the first time we stayed at their chalet
for a weekend I stopped at the first convenience store and bought a
chocolate bar, and I was not in the habit of buying and eating.
chocolate bars.

[gtr]

On 2013-05-05 19:02:32 +0000, pltrgyst said:

> On 5/5/13 10:59 AM, George Leppla wrote:
>>
>> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>
> I eat lunch out every weekday. Not sure you'd consider all these places
> restaurants, though.
>
> I cook supper every night. My wife takes the leftovers to work for her
> lunch -- she is the Queen of leftovers!

Sorry, but wife wife is the Empress of leftovers. She also does the
majority of the cooking. She packs all these little tidbits into tiny
plastic Ikea vessels. She tells me what whenever she eats in the
communal room at work, everbody gathers around to see what curiousities
she brought!

Mos of them much younger, they are intrigued by the food, as they sit
there with there Subway sandwich or burger.

[Julie Bove]

George Leppla wrote:
> I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
> expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.
>
> And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
> possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.
>

> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>

> George L

I've never used a Groupon and wouldn't. Have heard too many complaints.
And currently have a beef with Restaurant.com. I'm not out any money
because I got it through My Coke Rewards. But... The restaurant said they
were losing money so they will no longer take the certificates. And that
was literally the only restaurant in this area that was worth eating at.
The others were either places that we had no interest in or simply had
really bad food. One place seemed iffy. People either loved it or hated it
and the ones who hated it said they got sick from the food. For that
reason, we were afraid to try it.

That being said... My mom loves to go out to eat and will not eat at home.
She usually eats breakfast at home and insists to be taken out for lunch and
dinner. Various people take turns doing that although we try are trying to
weasel out of it when we can because we are getting sick of going out to
eat. And we can't really afford it. And neither can she. She will go so
far as to pay for our meal when we say that we can't afford it. *sigh*

We almost always take her to lunch once a week. She often wants to go to
dinner on that same day and that sometimes happens. But not always. Then
another day, we usually take her to see my dad and then out to dinner. But
sometimes we just can't.

Once in a rare while we will dine out on another day but there are usually
extenuating circumstances. Like we have an appointment that runs late and
we need to eat and maybe be somewhere else soon after.

We also have assorted family meals for birthdays and such but they usually
fall on the same day that we take my mom to dinner anyway. So usually at
the max, three times a week. But lately we have been trimming that back to
one lunch per week.

[Julie Bove]

Dave Smith wrote:

> On 05/05/2013 11:21 AM, S Viemeister wrote:
>>
>>> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>>>

>> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
>> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
>> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.
>
> It's expensive to eat out these days. Some restaurants have gone all
> foofoo and charge outrageous prices. For instance, and I am going back
> at least 10 years, a local winery restaurant was charging $14.95 for a
> bowl of vegetable soup. What the hell can you put in vegetable soup to
> make it that price. It was not expensive downtown real estate and high
> rent. It was a rural location. A little more recently, about 5 years
> ago, a place in our town charged $13.95 for calamari. Appretnly it was
> special calamari, breaded in panko and served with their signature
> sauce. Big deal.. panko. It's slightly more expensive bread crumbs,
> and the sauce.... pretty sure it was bottle cocktail sauce. The main
> dishes were even more outrageous.
>
>
> The cheaper places serve food that most decent cooks can do better at
> home. One local place had Shepherds pie, which I had not had in years.
> $10.95 for what turned out to be a small portion. I could make enough
> for two of us for several nights for half the price and it would be
> better.
>
> I do like to go out occasionally for Thai, Greek or middle eastern
> food.

We dined at a place in San Francisco and this was probably 11 years ago and
they wanted $8.95 for a small plate of organic greens. Say what?

I usually get a rather large bowl of black bean soup. It's excellent and I
think it sells for $7 or $8. I don't really pay mind to the price of that.
It's enough food to make a good meal for me. But if I felt that it was too
much food, I know that the owner would gladly sell me a smaller portion for
a smaller price. He does do this for my daughter. She's not usually a big
eater and she likes a chicken dish but it is twice as much food as she can
eat. That meal sells for $14.95 I think. Sometimes she will get it and
bring half home. But usually she will ask and he will make her a smaller
portion for $9.95.

A taqueria where we eat has a lot of ala carte items so you can order
exactly what you want an in portions that you like.

[Julie Bove]

sf wrote:

> On Sun, 05 May 2013 11:21:24 -0400, S Viemeister
> <firs...@lastname.oc.ku> wrote:
>
>> I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
>> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
>> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.
>

> Ditto! Isn't it great to be able to enjoy your own cooking?

>
> I have a SIL, that I consider a good cook, who hates her own food.
> She raised 5 kids who never talk smack about her food, so it wasn't
> that bad. I also have a GF who raised 4 kids that feels the same way,
> but I've never been served anything at her house that would even
> remotely back up her opinion of her own cooking.

I can understand that feeling. Although I don't dislike my cooking, I can
certainly get sick of things when I've worked with them for too long. This
applies to food, craft projects, art, even writing. If I've worked on
something for too long, I just kind of don't want to see it or hear it or
smell it or whatever, any more.

[Julie Bove]

George Leppla wrote:

> On 5/5/2013 9:59 AM, George Leppla wrote:
>>
>> I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be
>> too expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a
>> week. And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at
>> all possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30

>> total. How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>
>
> I should mention that our office is in our home... so most days, we
> never leave the house. Going out to eat helps prevent cabin fever....
> breaks up the week a little.

I have had that feeling! It will come when we've been snowed in for a week
or two. I just want to get out and see people! Or when daughter was home
sick with the whooping cough. She wasn't allowed to leave the house. And I
was afraid to leave her for any length of time because she was so ill.

[Julie Bove]

Dave Smith wrote:
> You're lucky. My wife and I do not work well in the kitchen so we
> developed a rule. If one of us is cooking the other has to stay out of
> the kitchen. To give an example...... we were once cooking a roast
> for dinner. I had palnned for it to be ready at a certain time. I
> had the potatoes carrots and beans all prepped and sitting in cold
> water. All they needed was to have some of the water poured off, some
> salt and turn on the burner at the right times. I went out to turn
> on the potatoes and discovered that she had started the beans. WTF???? The
> only needed a few minutes so of course they were to go on
> last, when everything else was almost ready.

I don't like working with others in the kitchen as a general rule. But my
daughter and I usually can work well together. She has tasks that she
prefers and I have tasks that I prefer. I like the cooking part and she
likes the prep and cleaning up part. I think part of the reason we work
well together is that I don't make rules as to how she has to do things. I
will suggest things, particularly if she doesn't know how to do a task or
use some device. But she is old enough now to usually figure these things
out on her own. I struggled with the hand held mandolin and she figured it
out right away.

It is not this way with my parents. They have all these stupid rules. If
you are cutting an onion, you have to use *this*. Cutting a tomato? Use
*this*. Working in their kitchen is very slow and tedious and I very much
dislike it. It's no wonder that my mom hates to cook. She imposes all of
these rules that have no rhyme nor reason to them. Heck, I'm sure I don't
do everything right. If I am fixing something quickly for just myself I
don't really even think about it. I've been known to cut things up with a
plastic knife or even break a rib of celery into chunks for stuffing with
peanut butter. I saw that trick on a kid's show. Probaly so that the kids
won't accidentally cut themselves with a knife. I wouldn't do that if I
were serving it to someone else or if I were taking the food somewhere and
eating it in public. But at home? Doesn't matter to me what it looks like
if I am hungry and want food in a hurry.

[Julie Bove]

gloria p wrote:
> I like home-cooked food, too. It's the shopping, storage, prep,
> cleanup and doing dishes that I hate. 3x7x52 it's a royal pain.

Yeah. Although my freezer is a nice conveniece, it's also a PITA because
it's a chest one. I will know something is in there and then have to
almost empty it out to get to whatever it is.

And I have no pantry here. Things were a lot easier when I could store
everything in one place. Now it is spread between three cupboards, part of
a shelving unit, the top of the fridge and the garage. So just gathering
the stuff for a meal can take a little while.

I can usually get my daughter to do the prep and sometimes the cleanup. I
learned to clean things as I go and have been known to use the same bowl or
knife again and again just washing it out or in some cases, just rinsing it,
if all of the food is going into the same pot. I also use paper plates
pretty much always for cutting stuff up. But I have realized that this does
have drawbacks. A cheap plain white one is fine becuse it has no lip but is
not sturdy so only good if I am doing a small amount of cutting. The better
ones have a lip on them and I have to work around that. I do have cutting
boards. Just don't like using them. I have found that the lip on the plate
has an advantage if cutting something juicy. The plate then retains the
juice.

[Julie Bove]

Ophelia wrote:
> Providing I am not in any rush, I enjoy the prep. and don't mind the
> clean up much either:) I do it as I go along. But I do like to have
> something to listen to at the same time:)
> --

I have learned to prep in advance if I know I am going to be pressed for
time the following day. I might cut up the veggies and put them in the
fridge in a plastic bag or bowl or whatever. Or in the case of a casserole,
I might assemble the whole thing and put it in the fridge. Of course this
will call for a little more cooking time but I can plan for that. What I
can't plan for is interruptions that occur when I am prepping the food and
that often seems to happen. A phone call, a person at the door, a cat
making a mess...

[Julie Bove]

Nancy Young wrote:
> When I worked, we ate out all the time. Now, I think I'm like a
> lot of people where sometimes we eat out a few times a week
> (generally like this time of the year when there's so much work
> to be done in the yard) and other times, weeks go by and we never
> go out to eat.
>
> I could check my American Express card and do a real count, but
> I think I could average eating out at least once a week but likely
> not as much as twice.

When I was single I ate out quite a bit. I kept odd hours and often might
not get my dinner until 9-11:00 at night. I would meet up with friends for
coffee. They usually just had the coffee but I'd get something to eat. I
didn't even keep much food in the house in those days because I was so
rarely home.

[elementsresto]

George Leppla;1832239 Wrote:
> I love to eat out but doing that as often as I would like would be too
> expensive so we have been trying to limit ourselves to twice a week.
>
> And... I've taken to using restaurant.com or Groupon deals when at all
> possible. That way, most meals come to less than $20 to $30 total.
>
> How often do you eat in a restaurant every week?
>

> George L


I often eat at restaurant like once a week or once every 2 weeks. It's
quite expensive though, but talking about good food you can never go
wrong with dining out. You can choose among the many restaurants and
it's what we're after when dining out.




--
elementsresto

[Julie Bove]

"elementsresto" <elementsresto....@foodbanter.com> wrote in
message news:elementsresto....@foodbanter.com...

Oh you *can* go wrong with dining out. There are scores of places I won't
go. Most of them chain places. I guess if you like frozen or prepackaged
food, you'd like those places. I don't. There is also bad Mexican food.

[George M. Middius]

Zz Yzx wrote:

> Define "restaurant". I eat lunch at Safeway Deli 3 days a week

Not a restaurant.

[KenK]

gtr <x...@yyy.zzz> wrote in news:2013050509164835786-xxx@yyyzzz:

> But just within OC, there are hundreds of places to explore, so over
> time we've worked our way through 30-40 Vietnamese resturants, as many
> Japanese and maybe 25 or 30 Korean. There's scads of others, Mexican,
> Indian, Italian. We have a lot of grub in SoCal.
>

Back in the 70s when I was living in Chicago and still dating, my
girlfriend and I used to sample a dufferent, usually ethnic, restaurant or
two every week. Mostly we enjoyed our sometimes exotic meals. Unfortunately
those days are long gone from my bachelor existance.



--
"Where there's smoke there's toast!" Anon

[Brooklyn1]

A matter of how one defines "restaurant"... if McDonalds is a
restaurant then so is a deli. If a Chinese buffet is a restaurant
then so is a deli. If Golden Coral is a restaurant then a deli is
too. I think any commercial establishment that prepares food for the
public and provides a place to eat on the premises qualifies as a
restaurant, even a cafeteria, it's just a particular kind of
restaurant. Just because there's no waitstaff that doesn't mean a
deli not a restaurant... and nowadays most supermarket delis provide a
place to eat.

[Kalmia]

I won't list the restos by name, (wudn't mean anything to you), but none were fast foods joints. The total for the non-vacation restos was 907 dollars, and the vacation restos was $200. If this doesn't seem right, arithmetically, I'll check it again. Tips and tax plus a few alcoholic bevs are included -- I don't break those out of the figures.

[Kalmia]

On Sunday, May 5, 2013 7:49:23 PM UTC-4, gtr wrote:

I can see how eating lightly at small-town cafeteria's
>
> might be cheaper than buying groceries.

Well, yeah -- if I served Maine lobster at home vs. a big night out at Taco Bell.

[Kalmia]

gtr:

for your further edification:

last 12 months--

dining out $2867,
vacation dining $1013,
groceries $4078.

Seems like a lot of money spent on putting food in the ol' stomach, but I'd rather do that than spend it on, say, acrylic nails and truck pulls.

[Julie Bove]

"Kalmia" <tween...@mypacks.net> wrote in message
news:cdcac8f2-6eca-4f1c...@googlegroups.com...

I don't know of any cafeterias around here any more except for at hospitals
and in some cases those can be cheap. Depends on what you get. The salad
bar is a good bargain.

When I was single it was far cheaper for me to get salad from a salad bar
than to buy all of those vegetables from the store. Unless of course I
wanted to eat the same sort of salad day after day or had some other use for
the vegetables.

Now if you are eating something simple like a baked potato with butter, some
green beans (f you can purchase bulk) and a steak, then you can make it
cheaper at home.

[ViLco]

S Viemeister wrote:

> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I

> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.

LOL, I love cooking as you do, so much that for my vacations I always rent
places with a kitchen. Not easy on a cruise, though... I'm just browsing for
an apartment of B&B in Venice for a trip in late June, start of July, and
the availability of a kitchen is a must
--
"Un pasto senza vino e' come un giorno senza sole"
Anthelme Brillat Savarin

[Ed Pawlowski]

On Tue, 7 May 2013 10:58:44 +0200, "ViLco" <vill...@tin.it> wrote:

>S Viemeister wrote:
>
>> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
>> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
>> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.
>
>LOL, I love cooking as you do, so much that for my vacations I always rent
>places with a kitchen. Not easy on a cruise, though... I'm just browsing for
>an apartment of B&B in Venice for a trip in late June, start of July, and
>the availability of a kitchen is a must

I've rented through this place
http://www.villeinitalia.com/rent-villas/Veneto_and_Venice/

I'm curious as to how it stacks up to the local rental agencies.

This place has a kitchen
http://www.villeinitalia.com/houses/VillaEmoCapodilista.html and may
be exactly what you are looking for.

[Ophelia]

"ViLco" <vill...@tin.it> wrote in message
news:kmafhe$6ra$1...@dont-email.me...

> S Viemeister wrote:
>
>> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
>> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
>> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.
>
> LOL, I love cooking as you do, so much that for my vacations I always rent
> places with a kitchen. Not easy on a cruise, though... I'm just browsing
> for an apartment of B&B in Venice for a trip in late June, start of July,
> and the availability of a kitchen is a must

Oh yes! Especially so because of the different foods one can try.

> --
> "Un pasto senza vino e' come un giorno senza sole"
> Anthelme Brillat Savarin
>
>

--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

[S Viemeister]

On 5/7/2013 4:58 AM, ViLco wrote:
> S Viemeister wrote:
>
>> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
>> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
>> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.
>
> LOL, I love cooking as you do, so much that for my vacations I always rent
> places with a kitchen. Not easy on a cruise, though... I'm just browsing for
> an apartment of B&B in Venice for a trip in late June, start of July, and
> the availability of a kitchen is a must
>

When we go to self-catering places, I always pack a few essential
kitchen items - you never know how well equipped the place will be.

[S Viemeister]

On 5/7/2013 7:03 AM, Ophelia wrote:
> "ViLco" <vill...@tin.it> wrote...

>> S Viemeister wrote:
>>
>>> We very rarely eat out - I'm a fairly good cook, and we like what I
>>> prepare. We were on a cruise recently, and the food was mostly very
>>> good, but I enjoyed getting back to my own kitchen.
>>
>> LOL, I love cooking as you do, so much that for my vacations I always
>> rent places with a kitchen. Not easy on a cruise, though... I'm just
>> browsing for an apartment of B&B in Venice for a trip in late June,
>> start of July, and the availability of a kitchen is a must
>
> Oh yes! Especially so because of the different foods one can try.

I've always enjoyed wandering around in local markets when we're on holiday.

[Ophelia]

"S Viemeister" <firs...@lastname.oc.ku> wrote in message
news:ausbrb...@mid.individual.net...

Yes:)
--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

[sf]

It has a staff and for that price, they should also provide a private
car with chauffeur too.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.