How often do you eat out?

[DLX]

How often do you eat out with your family? My husband and I constantly fight over this as we eat out quite a bit. But neither of us likes to cook. So, it is tough. Anyway, I look forward to hearing your responses...

Lexi

 

[lucypevensie]

I'd say 1-3 times a week, just on weekends though. We like to eat with friends on Sunday afternoon. It seems it's the only time we get to see them. And on Friday nights we like to go out to eat for fun, to celebrate the survival of another week.

 

[CarrieAg93]

Just once a week on a regular basis - Sunday after church.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

We eat out once every couple of weeks for two reasons. One, we are on a limited budget. Two, we are just getting brave enough to eat out with all 3 of our monkies on our own.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

Well, with hubby gone and our house on the market, I take the kids out alot. I have so much to keep 'pristine' already without adding pots and pans everywhere. I enjoy cooking but I am one of those cooks who leaves a disaster zone in her wake.

 

[Neenie1]

We rarely ever take our children to a restaurant. Last time we did was September last year for MIL birthday and it was awful. My personal opinion is that restaurants aren't really a place for children (mind you it does depend on what type of restaurant we are talking about) and in particular I don't enjoy taking my kids out at night. Lunch time may be alright, but I don't like to take them out at night. Some people do disagree with this and it has caused conflicts in the past with other family (extended family that is because dh feels the same way I do) members who don't see it like I do.

Now takeaway, that is another story. When we are having a good time financially it's at least once a week. Lately it hasn't been that often, we have enough to cover the bills etc. (so that's good lol) but not much extra for treats.

 

[Leanna]

It really depends on if I am being good or bad. When I am organized, have done my shopping neatly in advance we don't eat out as much. But when it all, you know, hits the fan, we end up eating out several days in a row. Another thing that happens is that we go out and we live 45 minutes from civilization so sometimes it ends up being necessary. When we are good we eat out once a week, Sunday lunch, but otherwise it can be 3 or 4 times. Sigh. I totally understand-- I HATE HATE cooking, but someone's got to do it and its my "job" so I just need to buck it up and I have been trying to learn new meals all the time for variety.

 

[RoseofLima]

Maybe once a week. I have found that by taking my kids to restauraunts they learn how to behave and actually do better... my husband really hates going out to eat- so usually it's just me and my four little ones.

On Spring break we went to a Japanese steak house- it was so fun!

 

[brokenbeliever]

can i give a suggestion, write it into the budget. then there will be no reason to fight. for example if you want to eat out 3 times a week, figure out how much that costs and add it into your budget. eating out is in our budget, so it isn't an issue. we eat out once a week, and we go for coffee or ice cream once a week. these are both in the budget. if we have extra money we go out one more time during the week.

 

[DLX]

can i give a suggestion, write it into the budget. then there will be no reason to fight. for example if you want to eat out 3 times a week, figure out how much that costs and add it into your budget. eating out is in our budget, so it isn't an issue. we eat out once a week, and we go for coffee or ice cream once a week. these are both in the budget. if we have extra money we go out one more time during the week.

We do budget for it. It's just that he thinks that the budget should be less and I think it should be as is. We eat out 2 times a week right now.

Lexi

 

[Momma2H]

Well, my hubby has a weird work schedule and we usually don't eat out when he has to work. We probably eat out half of all of our meals when he's off work, which is usually 4-6 days at a time (he does shift work). We like to go off when he's not working and we'll usually grab lunch somewhere while we're off. And, we always go out to eat after church on Sundays with my hubby's family (well, they're my inlaws, so they're my family too). So we go out to eat often.

 

[HeatherJay]

We eat out every Sunday after church. And if we're travelling for ball games during the week or something special, sometimes twice.

 

[Linnis]

It used to be never but now with watching other kids part-time, DH's extra house, so many doctors appts it's become more often. We try to avoid it but sometimes we have no choice...if I stay hungry for too long I pass out.

 

[Carri20]

Well I have a "meshed" family I guess. It's me and my kids and my parents for now (husband is long-distance until July). But we eat out a lot, usually at least twice a week, and on top of that we get our breakfast at a Burger King drive-thru on our way to church on Sunday mornings. But I don't know if you can really consider that "eating out".. I find it rather disgusting and cheap.

 

[crunchymama]

I never eat out. I am too poor plus I love cooking and make most of our food from scratch. You never know what you are getting in a resteraunt.

 

[GolfingMom]

I cook M-Th, eat dinner at my parents house with my sister and her family and my other sister, Sat we go out, Sunday afternoon we go to my parents again or eat out. So usually once sometimes twice.

 

[wanderingone]

About twice a month, but I'm saving a lot these days, I'd probably budget for 4-8x a month if I wasn't looking to have a new car by the end of the year.

 

[jusluvm]

I might get to eat out maybe once evey 2 or 3 months---if I'm really lucky. But the fast food pickups happen about twice a month when I'm in town with the kids and we go through the drive-thru and eat in the car on the way home. Like Leanna, we're also an hour from civilization, so sometimes we just have to get a bite before we get home.

My definition of "eating out"is:
- not having to fix my own or my kids' plates (buffet)
- not having to stand in line (fast food)
- all of us sitting at one table and having someone wait on me!

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

We try to eat out only 2 times per month. We used to eat out alot more until I did the math and figured out how much money we were blowing each month. Plus now it's more like a special thing to us than just something we do.

 

[sunshiinedays]

I love eating out, and so do the kids, but we can't afford to very often. So we usually opt for going out for cheap meals like breakfast or lunch about twice a week and do supper maybe once every 3 weeks.