aashley333

I have the worst luck at restaurants! My order is always the one that gets messed up! I don't send it back to the kitchen, I just don't go back. Well, except for the time I ordered Shrimp Scampi, but was served Chicken Scampi. Everyone else was done by the time my plate arrived. Plus, I am a great cook, so I like my food better anyway. And prices have definitely gone up. After a day at the hospital with my brother, I drove thru Chinese food restaurant for 2 dinners, nothing fancy. $32.00-yikes. Next time-sandwiches!

KalamaQuilts

we haven't been to a sit down resturant since feburary 2020. we've gotten pizza to go a few times on vacation. Just lost all interest in eating out. Plus I worked as a server in my youth and know what goes on behind the counter.

Snooze2978

Since the pandemic, my sister and I on shopping days (Fridays) have stopped going out to our favorite mexican place and eat at my house. If we go to another town for my sister's doctor's appt, we hit Perkins as right now they have a special cheeseburger with fries and a piece of pie for just $9.99. Neither one of us can eat that burger with fries as they give you a nice helping of them so we ask them to split the meal in half which they are very happy to do and then we just order another piece of pie. Can't go wrong with that meal at the price. Also whoever drives, the other one pays for the meal so we're splitting the cost of going to another town. No, we're not cheap, just frugal plus we know where we like to eat.

SusieQOH

My husband is such a good cook that I am usually disappointed in the meal when we go out. I still like to go for the fun of it and no cleanup but dang! His food is so much better!!!!!!

Anniedeb

My sons and their wives frequent many different places. My DH and I had just a few tried and true places. Since his passing my sons have invited me to several different places I'd never been to before. Almost like a kid in a candy store. Every place has been very enjoyable. I think being treated helps!

b.zang

Travelling and needing to live in motels for periods of time has forced me into eating out. It gets old quickly and I've found the simple food at mom & pop diners is all I need. Fancy restaurants can be fun but don't suit my everyday palate. Plus, the prices in a diner are always less. I posted a picture of my plate to a local restaurant review page one time, giving a positive review and a reader responded that they would have been horrified to be served frozen vegetables. I honestly did not even notice and had actually enjoyed the vegetables because of the seasoning the restaurant used. To each their own.

cindyb

We purchase a "Super Book" ($40) that has coupons for everything in all neighboring towns. The dining part of the book has 'buy one, get one free'. This works really good for the two of us. We never can eat our whole meal, so it's leftovers for the next night. Otherwise we could not afford to go out to eat.

Iceblossom

How often you eat out is largely a generational thing and to some extent how urban a setting you live.

People my age and older (65 and up now!) in general don't eat out as much as the younger folk. I really wish I knew more 20-somethings and how they live. My impression is that most don't ever cook at home and have what I consider snacks instead of groceries. I know that while I don't think I eat out all that much, I do at least a couple times a week. With modern schedules and working parents and activities, fewer and fewer families eat together on a daily basis. There are reasons on why you can get some really nice sets of china for really cheap at the thrift stores...

Anyway -- I still have a hard time paying as much for a single meal as a week's worth of groceries. But then again, a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a few odds and ends costs a lot more than it used to as well... I still look at $20 as being a reasonable expenditure, but it's getting harder to get out of a fast food place for two on that. Heck, even going to bowling date day Jimmy John's for lettuce wraps and drinks is around $35 for us by the time Hubby gets bacon.

For sit down restaurants, I do try and be around $20 each. Still have a wide variety of primarily local joints well within our price point. Don't really go to chains. Was not shocked but absorbed the Texas Roadhouse prices is being about what I expected.

Different topic -- but as a mostly non-cell phone user, I have seen such terrible erosion in the ability of people to wait or interact. I want to slap all those phones out of all those hands and insist on eye contact with the people you are with. But I'm getting old like that

Mkotch

I do enjoy being treated once in a while, but it does get expensive. Recently, we took a friend in a nursing home out to McDonalds (that was his choice). His regular burger, small fries, and a milk shake cost $16. That seems outrageous to me when a meal at a decent, locally owned restaurant isn't too much more.

cashs_mom

With my food sensitivities, I rarely eat out. I do miss the fun of eating out and not having to cook for myself, but my doctor tells me it's probably a big part of the reason my health is good. It's so hard to find restaurants that cook healthy foods.