I honestly can't tell you the last time I ate out anywhere.......it was years ago. I have not missed it.

The 1/4 lb. all beef hot dog at Costco food court is still $1.50, including refillable soft drink.

The bad news: they no longer have sauerkraut for the hot dogs, and a while ago, they changed from Coke products to Pepsi products for the soft drinks.

Yes, I’ve cut back. Used to just go grab something on my hour break at work most days. Now, maybe once a week. Wife and I used to go out a couple times a month but I don’t remember the last time we ate at a restaurant other than on vacations. We’re doing great financially but it feels like pissing away money and we don’t like that.

Yep, so much so I only eat dinner now. Of course, it coincides with my intermittent fasting...

I'm on the road a lot and almost always on an expense account, so it doesnt sting as much, but I tend to spend my clients money as if it's mine, and I'm considerate.

When I'm home, I just want to cook and that means I dont go out much.

Not exactly eating out but you can still get a roasted chicken (whole) for under $5 at Costco.

To the extent that I "eat out," it is fast food (burger, sandwich, etc.) to go, and I try to keep it around $5. I always make breakfast, usually "brown-bag" lunch, and occasionally make dinner. I keep drinks at home or work so I don't have to buy them at the restaurant. A full "'combo' meal can easily run $10 or more. I used to get a large burrito at Moe's Southwest Grill for about $7, now it is nearly $10. I stopped in at a fairly new to the area Chipotle and a burrito was $11, so I left. I haven't been to a "sit-down" restaurant since at least 2019.

The recent inflation has been a big, but not the only, factor in all of this. I have been making a concerted effort to pay off debt and build up savings for the past few years, predating inflation, in preparation for my soon-to-be retirement.

Based more on our busy work schedule, our “night out” is usually once a week at my VFW post, which serves great meals actually. We generally volunteer to help serve the meal or clean up after or various other duties to make sure our patrons get a good meal.
Other than that, eating out for us is a rare event. One of us ( usually her) gets out of work late and isn’t home much before 6, which by that time she is usually spent from the work day so going out really isn’t an option at that point

We rarely eat out so nothing has really changed. We’ll do takeout once a month. And once a month, I’m by myself and will splurge on an eggs benedict.

Haven’t felt restaurant prices go up but my grocery bill has increase by 1.5-2x.

We still eat out. But we've naturally eat out less because we moved from a small apartment to our own home.

We go up and down the price range in terms of establishments. We have noticed the big increases. Coffee at Denny's was $2.50 last year and it's now $3.99.

The mix and match sausage egg mcmuffin 2 for $3.50 last year became 2 for $4 in last quarter of 2022, then 2 for $4.50 beginning of this year, and is now 2 for $5. Them are pretty steep increases.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
The 1/4 lb. all beef hot dog at Costco food court is still $1.50, including refillable soft drink.

The bad news: they no longer have sauerkraut for the hot dogs, and a while ago, they changed from Coke products to Pepsi products for the soft drinks.

And a whole pizza for $10

65% of our reasoning for cutting back by 2/3's is because we are choosing to eat better, .
( Carb and calorie counting)

We plan the six or eight errands days around our meal times.
So it's easier , more responsible to consume.

quote:

Anyone else here starting to cut back?

Cut back - We've cut it out entirely as of five years ago.
We decided to do this for poor quality, service, late servings, cold servings, we cook better than many restaurants, and finally we lost two friends due to illness from improper food handling.
Cheers.

I use to get Subway for lunch a couple of days a week because it's close to work and I figured it was better than a burger and fries. A footlong is now $12.00. Not a sandwich in the world worth that. Been brown bagging it lately.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
The 1/4 lb. all beef hot dog at Costco food court is still $1.50, including refillable soft drink.

It costs on average $250 for that $1.50 Costco hot dog..

We only go out to eat now about every two or three months.

And yeah, those Costco chickens are one of the greatest values anywhere.

We really never changed our habits during Covid. Utah was somewhat relaxed and eating outside was what we did anyway. Prices have risen but our go to places have maintained quality. We eat breakfast out on Sat and Sun, lunch on Friday and we order pizza or salads on Sat night.

Our favorite "upscale" restaurant priced themselves out for me. We were early supporters, got a local discount and enjoyed lunch there and an occasional dinner. They've stopped with lunch and dinner prices are crazy. I loved their onion soup, it went from $7.50 to $12.00. A fillet mignon from $38.00 to $58.00.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
The 1/4 lb. all beef hot dog at Costco food court is still $1.50, including refillable soft drink.

It costs on average $250 for that $1.50 Costco hot dog..

there is that

Yes and no. We still have pizza once a week, either take-out, frozen on the pellet smoker or oven during cold months. My kids are perfectly happy with a slice of Costco pizza. We make our own on the weekends.

Sit-down restaurants? With younger kids we just don't really anymore. Granted with all of their activities, etc, we probably get some sort of fast food twice a month for the kids. My wife and I will just eat at home, maybe CFA once every 6 weeks.

We both enjoy cooking, the hard part is deciding what we want to eat. Summer and warm weather we cook outside a lot, which has just been out of habit. I have a propane Weber with side burner & rotisserie, a pellet smoker (Z-grill), a Weber kettle and a Blackstone. I like to cook


With work, kids, their activities like weekly summer camps, gymnastics, baseball, soccer, Taekwondo, 2 horses, 3 dogs, and 8 chickens, garden, etc. we don't really feel like going out, or ordering in.

I will be sure to eat at In-n-Out at least once when they finally open here so I can buy a local t-shirt.

rarely eat fast food. on a road trip and needed food. So
carl's jr it was. horrible. Just sucked. never again.

Plus they were damn proud of a couple of cold burgers and old fries and two drinks.

Seems wages can't go up and prices can't go down so the industry will have to shrink