My boyfriend (20) and I (18) have been living together for 2 years in an urban apartment. For us, it usually goes like this:
- Delivery
- Eating out
- Cooking at home
We visit our parents (and they visit us) often, and they give us lots of home-cooked food. We mostly cook at home just for fun.
I’m curious what it’s like for other people, especially in different age groups or family setups!
Single guy, single family home with two teens just leaving for college
- Cook at home
- Takeout (because chipotle exists)
- Eat out
I essentially never do delivery, it’s too expensive. You’re paying extra for eat out food but don’t even get to eat out.
Chipotle has an excellent group order function in their app! I can send an invite to my kids while they’re out so they can add to the family order and have them grab it on their way home.
Plus I love cooking. I need to find some sort of group for sharing meals. In fact I have a 12 lb pork shoulder ready to go on the smoker tomorrow but it’s just me. Who wants some pulled pork?
Edit for the folks at [email protected] , as the last breakfast before my little one left for college, we walked about a mile, half on trail, to an old-style diner for breakfast.
Always cook at home, eating out as a treat once in a while and never use delivery.
Same here. Except pizza. I’ll get that delivered, because it doesn’t involve a third party.
Id like to go out more often, but nowadays, I can’t take my family out to eat for under $100.
because it doesn’t involve a third party.
Man, the rationales some people have for why they let some people rip them off but not others is mind-boggling.
Really reinforces my opinion of the average person.
I can’t take my family out to eat for under $100.
Are you in fucking Belize? Do you have a family of at least 8? Are you horrible with money?
Or maybe this is just hyperbole.
It’s about $75, plus tip for two people to eat anywhere that’s not “fast casual” where I am- California Bay Area. A “nice” restaurant it would be considerably more.
So it’s hyperbole.
You’re literally ignoring the restaurants that don’t help you support your argument.
Shit is insanely overpriced, especially in the entitled and privileged area that you live. You don’t need to lie about costs.
I live in iowa and its the same here. Sit down mexican restaurant is at least 75 bucks after tipping (for two peope). I’m actually shocked that the price is so close in cali, i would expect it to be higher than here.
There are cheaper restaurants than the one you mention.
If you choose not to acknowledge them, that’s on you. But claiming that you can’t eat out for significantly lower than the prices you people mention is objectively wrong.
I’m not really sure what your point is, but we are a blended family, so yeah, there’s a lot of us.
Sure, I could get $5 Biggie Bags at Wendy’s for everyone for under $100, but if we’re going out it’s because we WANT to, not because we need to shovel the cheapest food we can find into our mouths. We got Chinese on Friday. After tip it was a little over $100, and we didn’t even have all the kids with us. Which is why we only go out once or twice a month. The rest of the time, were cooking at home, or in case of emergencies, order $40 worth of pizza.
Ok well, the point was that you can eat at a restaurant as a family for under $100.
I have a different point of view. Pizza is one of those things that’s easy and cheap to make myself, so I make that myself.
On the rare occasion I do order or go out to eat, I prefer food I can’t cook myself very well, like persian or asian food.
On the rare occasion I do order or go out to eat, I prefer food I can’t cook myself very well, like persian or asian food.
This is the way. I don’t have the means or qualifications to handle a rotating shawarma spit. Some things are best left to the experts.
You don’t have a shawarma spit in your kitchen?
It’s just for show
Just like my sex dungeon.
For me, that’s sushi. I do not have the fine dexterity and patience required to put that together myself.
True, and we do this as well, but pizza is the answer to not wanting to cook or put on pants.
Yeah, pizza is more cheap shit with insane profit margins.
Exactly, eating out is crazy expensive compared to making your own food. I like to have a few bigger dishes with easy meals to fill in the gaps, and rarely eat out so I can save that money.
I almost exclusively cook at home because it is much cheaper for a warm meal. Same when i am with my girlfriend.
Exclusively homecooking. I’m not that good at it and a lot of it is deepfrozen pizza, fish sticks, baked fries etc., but even convenience food like that is just so much cheaper than restaurants. If you live with a partner, cooking is even more time-efficient than for one person alone! Meal preparation in advance goes a long way, too, though for me that kinda falls flat because my fridge doesn’t have enough space.
Back when I was in university, I often went to the uni cafeteria, which was a lot cheaper than a restaurant. If your city has one, look into whether it’s open for outsiders - ours had higher prices for non-students, but it was still cheaper than restaurants.
Dinner is like 90+% homecooking 10% Döner. Other than that it’s bread and other cold stuff straight from the supermarket.
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No.
We (58m 67f) cook at home 95% of the time. We are an ingredient-only house. This means there are no packaged things, and we (I ) cook everything from nothing. We eat out 1-3x per month but are too often disappointed in the quality and shocked buy the cost. We eat in places that make their food, not those that reheat it. I’m a good cook. I try new things regularly and expirement freely. I have go-to meals. Every meal is at least a salad, a veggie or 2, and a meat. No bread and few grains except rice when appropriate for the meal. My largest investments are good pots (Calphalon and Le Creuset), good cooking surfaces (Tru infrared grill and dual fuel range) , and spices (literally hundreds from everywhere in the world). We never order for delivery.
One additional suggestion- buy meat in quantity. Get a vaccum sealer. Portion for your meals.
Cook at home mostly. Every now and then maybe every two weeks we go out. And twice a week I send the kids to get kebab or pizza at the plaza in town. Never have had anything “cooked” delivered… because no such service where I live.
God I can’t wait to be able to send the kids to get a kebab or pizza.
They’re only 2 now. Another 13 years or so and they can go fetch things on their bikes or scooters I guess.
I’ve had pizza delivered by the guys who work for the store, but never a delivery service.
you wouldn’t trust them at 12 or 13 to bike around?
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Delivery and eating out is so much more expensive than cooking at home, especially today.
My (34M) partner (33M) can only cook a few dishes, so I handle most of the cooking. I’m usually doing a big batch of lunches and dinners for the work week on the weekends and then whip up a quick dinner when I get home after work during the week. Summer is easier for this since I can grill a burger and some veggies to mix things up fairly easily.
We get delivery as a treat, last night I got a buncha Chinese dishes delivered to share with the roommates as we’d been drinking on the deck half the day.
I’ll eat out mostly for dates, but occasionally if work is really stressful or there’s something to celebrate, there’s about 3 local restaurants I really like that I’ll grab lunch at for myself or the team.
Cook at home is the default; even the lunches our kids eat at school are packed from home.
We never get delivery; we get takeout sometimes when it’s getting late and we’re tired, but usually that’s just the mains and one of us still makes the starch and the veg sides at home while the other goes to get the takeout.
Eating out is pretty much only special occasions and when company is visiting town.
Couple with kids, very small SFH in Chicago but it was the same when we lived in an apartment. If anything we are at home more, because taking young kids to a restaurant is risky at best.
I(mid30 male) mostly cook at home, sometime eating out but never did delivery as none of those thing looks appetising.
My stuff can ranging from struggle meal(hotdog on sliced bread, instant noodle), to grilled chicken or stir fry if i have the time. It’s really just depend on whether i have the time and effort or not.
Cooking at home was the default for us even when we lived downtown with eating out / delivery accounting for at most 2-3 meals per month, even when we’ve first met in our early 20s. 20 years later we live outside of the delivery area of everything and we grow most of what we eat.
Probably 70% home, 25% takeaway, and 5% eating out.
Takeaway and going out used to be switched, but the gf’s been pulling a lot of OT at the hospital this year, so it’s hard for us to get together most days, and sometimes she doesn’t know when she’ll get home so it’s easier for her to grab something for herself or us on the way home.
I prefer cooking at home because it’s cheaper, potentially healthier, and I hate all the trash generated from takeout, but it’s hard for me to meal plan when our schedules are so off from each other.
We do still make all our breakfasts and lunches, so it’s mainly just dinner that’s the question.
Delivery: Never. I live far away from any options for such.
Eating out: Sometimes.
Cooking at home: The norm
We’re 47 and 43, living in an exurb of Philly, and we cook at home 95% of the time (=20/21 meals weekly) and eat out once a week. Since it’s summer, we grill a bunch of protein and veggies - chicken, turkey burgers, and salmon, plus squash from our garden - every 5 days or so, and use that as a base for our lunches and dinners. That way each individual meal is quick to throw together and we’re not spending a bunch of time cooking every night.
When we were young we did a lot of eating out and delivery, and I wish we hadn’t. Not to harsh your mellow, but restaurant food is mostly terrible for you. Loads of fat, sodium, and sugar, and often doesn’t meet your micronutrient needs (depending on what kind of food you’re getting). Cooking at home can be way healthier. And also better for your wallet!
