Poll: Retirees, how many nights/week do you eat dinner out?

[Midpack]

I didn't find this via search, though I suspect there's been one like this. Stemming from other threads, how often do you eat at home versus eating dinner out?

I'd like to restrict the poll to retirees, as I'd expect the results to differ from those who are still working.

We usually eat dinner at home Mon-Fri, and go to restaurants on Sat-Sun. Just want to poll to see if we're deprived...

No, there's no other option, sorry ___. And for you geeks, if your average is not a whole number, round off.

 

[W2R]

I am a retiree.

We eat a late lunch at restaurants every day, so after that I seldom want to eat dinner out as well. We only eat dinner out on special occasions like Christmas Eve, really, so my response was "0".

 

[Danmar]

For us it is location specific: Arizona 4-5 nights per week:Toronto 7 nights per week: Lake house 0 nights per week: Alberta 3-4 nights per week. Average maybe 4 nights per week.

 

[73ss454]

Many times while DW and I are out during the day we will eat a late lunch out. DW has a saying, any time we eat out after 12 noon it counts as dinner, this way she doesn't have to cook. (heh)

 

[FIREd]

Closer to 0 than 1, so I rounded off to 0.

We normally eat dinner out only on special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, friends visiting, etc...).

 

[Mulligan]

Only once a week at most. I am a plate cleaner when I buy my food at a restaurant. I would have a pot belly if I did it more.

 

[dmdunca44]

We eat out 2-3 times a month. I voted "0".

 

[Sue J]

I didn't vote in the poll since DH is retired but I have a part-time job.

We don't eat out very often in restaurants but we do get take out once a week. Restaurant portions can be so large that when we do go out I often have something to bring home.

 

[W2R]

Only once a week at most. I am a plate cleaner when I buy my food at a restaurant. I would have a pot belly if I did it more.

I know how that is! Our goal is to keep our restaurant lunches to around 500-600 calories. Usually we split the most virtuous dish on the menu, whatever that might be. I just checked, and so far this month we have split our lunch 70% of the time, and otherwise I try to take half home. We also don't get appetizers, drinks, desserts, or other extras.

 

[rodi]

Not retired so I didn't vote.

But we only eat out a few times a month... maybe 2-3 times.

It's different when we're traveling... but even then we often rent apartments and cook some meals in.

We enjoy cooking. We enjoy using fresh, local ingredients. And we like the food we cook.

I even brown bag it to work most of the time. Less overly processed food that way.

 

[donheff]

I checked two but if I counted late lunches probably more like three.

 

[NW-Bound]

Working or not, over the years we ate out so infrequently that I rounded off my answer to 0 per week.

We both enjoy cooking, and we do not think of cooking as a chore. Yes, it would be if every time we want to have chicken, we have to chase one down, kill it and clean it. Or if we wanted butter, would have to go out to the barn to milk a cow and to make butter ourselves.

Come on, what is the big deal about flipping some store-bought meat cuts on the stove, or rinsing and then chopping up some clean produce before putting it in a pot? It is fun, and we make it the way we like it.

Cost is not the issue here. Even when we were on business trips (separately) and the cost of the meals was not on us, looking for a place to eat every night quickly became a chore.

The exception is when we are on travel to foreign lands, then deciding what to have for dinner is more fun. However, nowadays with large cities around the world becoming international melting pots, exotic regional cuisines - and looking safe, I might add - are more difficult to find. One has to stray off the beaten paths, something that I have not had many chances to do yet.

 

[rodi]

I'd like to restrict the poll to retirees, as I'd expect the results to differ from those who are still working.

I'm curious. Do you expect pre-retirees to eat out more, or less, than those already retired?

As I mentioned before - I work, but I don't eat out a lot. Who has the energy to go out after a long days work.

 

[eytonxav]

Does picking up a resturant prepared dinner and eating it at home count

 

[MichaelB]

Once a week, rounded, but that include take out. That will pick up over the summer as we picnic dinner at least twice a week.

My preference is lunch out, a habit from my working days.

 

[scrabbler1]

We eat out 2-3 times a month. I voted "0".

Nearly the same for me, maybe 1-2 times per month, with my dad or my ladyfriend. I voted zero.

 

[Midpack]

I'm curious. Do you expect pre-retirees to eat out more, or less, than those already retired?

As I mentioned before - I work, but I don't eat out a lot. Who has the energy to go out after a long days work.

I wasn't certain. Those with expense accounts probably eat out more often than most people, so I didn't want that influencing the poll. Those working w/o expense accounts are probably all over the map from almost never to fast food almost every day.

To be honest, I've seen one or more members who have reported lower living expenses than ours, who has also mentioned eating out every day. And I wondered what we were doing wrong, we eat out most Sat & Sun's, and I can't imagine how we'd afford to eat out more often - with the caveat we rarely eat fast food or the like. Our budget is $70/week eating out, and we never seem to have a gain on that expense item, always a loss... Fortunately we both enjoy cooking somewhat.

 

[MichaelB]

To be honest, I've seen one or more members who have reported lower living expenses than ours, who has also mentioned eating out every day. And I wondered what we were doing wrong, we eat out most Sat & Sun's, and I can't imagine how we'd afford to eat out more often - with the caveat we rarely eat fast food or the like. Our budget is $70/week eating out, and we never seem to have a gain on that expense item, always a loss... Fortunately we both enjoy cooking somewhat.

Midpack, now that you're retired why not go out during the week instead of weekends? Midweek restaurant service is usually better, and because there are fewer diners, some restaurants might even add some incentives.

 

[REWahoo]

Midpack, now that you're retired why not go out during the week instead of weekends? Midweek restaurant service is usually better, and because there are fewer diners, some restaurants might even add some incentives.

We rarely eat dinner out but eat lunch out 2-3 times a week. Many restaurants offer lunch specials on weekdays which usually keeps our expenses to under $60 a week.

 

[pb4uski]

Usually when we eat out it is for our convenience - perhaps we are out shopping around dinnertime so it is easier to catch a quick bite to eat out than go home and cook and clean. Other times are more event type things. We rarely go out to dinner just for the sake of going out to dinner. We will occasionally meet up with BIL or some friends for dinner.

 

[Midpack]

Midpack, now that you're retired why not go out during the week instead of weekends? Midweek restaurant service is usually better, and because there are fewer diners, some restaurants might even add some incentives.

Cause DW still works full time, but I am sure we'll take your suggestion eventually. We also have lunch out instead of dinner sometimes as others have suggested, and I am sure we'll do more of that when DW retires in 2014 (her estimate)...though then we may have to compete with diners on expense accounts in a big hurry Mon thru Fri!

 

[audreyh1]

This is funny. We don't go out to eat at night. We go out for lunch, breakfast, brunch, even a late lunch at times. But we like to be home by early evening, so we never go out for dinner.

 

[mickeyd]

Occasionally we eat out, but that's usually at noon.

DW is a great cook and loves to prepare meals. What luck; I love to eat exactly what she cooks each day though it is often left-overs which are generally just as tasty as when first consumed.

Of course a side benefit of all this is that our food costs are pretty low.

 

[Packman]

DW is also still working, so we eat out almost every Saturday - usually in the late afternoon. Every couple of weeks, we go out mid week for dinner. Our money secret is I always find coupons to use. The average cost for 2 including tip is about $20. So we spend about $1,500 per year on eating out.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I voted "0". I am not yet a retiree, but I only eat dinner out about once a month. I typically will choose a fish or vegetarian entree for this meal, accompanied by a very dry GG martini (a treat, as I usually have so-so box wine at home these days). I have lunch in a restaurant a couple of times a week with co-workers.