Americans seem to be fed up with frugality

[Moemg]

We usually go out once or twice a week . We usually have appetizers or split a meal.The portions are just too large . Since we retired we have gotten much more adventuresome in our cooking so our at home meals are usually better and healthier than most restaurant meals .

 

[Bestwifeever]

We are going out tonight to an old school Italian restaurant, first nice dinner out in a few months. Freshly made linguini in white clam sauce, get ready!

Even though the portions are usually big, the leftovers always make a couple of meals at home.

 

[FIREd]

We go out to dinner maybe once or twice a month. Thankfully I am a reasonably good cook and we don't have to stray too far from home to enjoy a good meal.

For us eating out is a treat, something special to which we look forward. So we splurge a little when we go out - appetizers, wine, dessert, whatever we want. The restaurants here are often packed (a reservation is advisable for most places). And people do spend a lot of money in restaurants. Last time we went out, the people at the table next to us ordered wagyu beef at $100/oz and washed it down with some pretty expensive wine.

 

[obgyn65]

You are lucky to have the time to cook, FIREd. I don't cook at all.

To answer the OP's post, it is interesting that Americans are no longer frugal when it comes to eating habits. Mine have not changed since the Recession started in 2008, except the beer / wine / margarita intake .

We go out to dinner maybe once or twice a month. Thankfully I am a reasonably good cook and we don't have to stray too far from home to enjoy a good meal.

 

[Surewhitey]

Returning to Mexico, one of our meals was:
Awesome burrito - 64 pesos (we split)
Margarita - 50 pesos
Negra Modello - 24 pesos
$12 w/tip

Prices here are tax inclusive and tips are 10% per local standard for those living here. This is one of the best local dives here.

Beef tenderloin is $10/lb and veggies are El cheapo, so we do more grillin than most.

 

[Snoozie]

I'm glad people are out there stimulating the economy. Gives my portfolio a boost. I'll stay frugal. To me, it's a lifestyle, not a temporary adjustment.

I agree 100% - it's a "lifestyle" - living below your means - and it's really how we've lived for the past 15 years so we could retire early (48 & 58). It's hard to change, and I continually look for ways to cut wasteful spending - even though we are to the point where we don't have to. Kind of ingrained in my brain!

And we are hoping we are good examples to the young people in our family with living below our means and saving. I just don't think you can start teaching young kids too early about money and saving and compound interest and all that great stuff! Because TIME is on their side if they start saving and LBYM now.

 

[haha]

Cool! You have me beat. Is the $5 gross for two or one, and what kinds of places do you eat?

We go out for food like Mexican or Chinese, say $9 a meal with one for free. With tax and tip (on the full amount) that is $13 less the cost of what we would spend on groceries anyway, as the restaurant portions are often enough for 2 meals.

These kind of prices are location dependent. I don't ordinarily consider eating out for hunger, I am always close to my home and I don't get ravenously hungry, so if I eat out I want to enjoy it.

There is nowhere close to where I live that 2 people can eat lunch for less than $40 or so, and that includes barely enough food for an active person not to run home and eat again. Absent pizza, which I love but can no longer eat, it can't be done. I also don't eat high carb meals like typical Mexican-American restaurant fare, though I agree it is tasty.

This week I ate downtown in a pleasant place, one salad one piece of liver paté, one glass on wine, and it cost me $26 with tip. If I take GF out for dinner, I am looking at ~ $150. Of course, I don't go out for sheer sustenance, but to enjoy the woman, to enjoy a relaxing glass of wine, and to enjoy a leisurely meal with pleasant service and ambiance.

Plenty of reasonably cheap food trucks downtown, but two people would be pressed to get sandwiches, pay our 10% sales tax, and stand in the rain gobbling them down for $13. Also, I doubt it is much fun for the eaters to have a constant stream of pedestrians hurtling though their ranks. I know it isn't much fun for the pedestrian trying to avoid being smeared by mustard as he goes by.

Ha

 

[ShortInSeattle]

True. I've heard Clark Howard refer to appetizers, alcohol and desserts as the "Bermuda Triangle" of dining out in terms of being where many restaurants have the highest profit margins and make most of their money.

We eat out regularly, but don't do appetizers or dessert. Why bother when the meal itself is HUGE? I also object to paying three bucks for a diet coke. So I get water 75% of the time.

When we ask for water and then skip directly to ordering entrees I can almost feel the waitstaff judging us as they walk away...

"Cheap B*st%#ds...."

 

[GatherYeAcorns]

I need to cut back. Spending way too much on gas, restaurants, and daily coffee again.

I did reach a milestone this past week. So, I'm proud of that. Still have 20-25 years of work to go.