Eating out day & time

[Luck_Club]

Recent thread about what you could cut out of the budget if needed, had me thinking about dining out. That seemed to be the number 1 go to area beside recycled toilet paper joke.

For over 12 years now, we have always dined out on a Monday-Thursday schedule and before 6. Even at 30 we acted like we were 80 My DF, who is now a major part of my life likes to go out Saturday night at 7

So what are your dining preferences, and why?
Weekends
Weekdays

Mine are week days I think the staff is less stressed, service is better & faster.

 

[Chuckanut]

I prefer to make my own meals - more nutritious, they help keep my weight down, and cheaper.

But, I also like to go out to eat and when I do it is for social occasions, and/or to eat something I would not make at home for whatever reason.

I prefer early in the week - Mon through Wed, and lunch rather than dinner. The closer one gets to Friday HH and Saturday night dinner, things get more expensive, crowded and rushed.

 

[RobbieB]

I like lunch.

Kelly and I hit the sushi bar a couple of days ago for a hundred bucks. And Mama-san was feeding me free oysters too -

 

[MRG]

We eat out for lunch mainly. It's become a habit after gym days. I believe it's necessary to get some salt from a margarita after gym.

Our favorite Mexican restaurant is behind the gym. It's hard to pass up some days. Lunch is normally lunch for a couple of days.

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

Little Mexican restaurant near us. I go several days a week for lunch. Great food and inexpensive. I pop in about 1:20 after the work crowd is gone, have the place to myself. Nice quiet booth with my Kindle and iPad. Love it.

 

[VanWinkle]

Tuesday night 5:30 at the Mexican Restaurant with 99 cent Margaritas. Food is just so- so but who cares after 3 Margaritas(also the name of the restaurant)

We usually also go out for dinner on one of the weekend nights after a matinee movie.

 

[Senator]

Generally only days that end with a 'y'. Either lunch or dinner. And nearly 100% of the time with a coupon or discount.

 

[gayl]

I am at Starbucks every morning after dropping a granddaughter off at school or b4 services. I only drink drip coffee and prefer my Nature Valley chewy granola bar so it's inexpensive.

We generally go to lunch 1 day mid-week (less crowded)

 

[Jerry1]

We don't eat out much, but when we do, we like a late lunch any day of the week. I hate crowds. I don't know why anyone would wait in line to get some food. It's bad enough if you have to wait at the table if you hit a busy time. One of our favorites is hitting a Mexican restaurant near us around 3:00pm. Usually no one there and it's late enough that we're good for the evening.

 

[Just_Steve]

I eat when I'm hungry, no clock involved.
What day we go all depends on if DW feels like cooking.

 

[Sunset]

Lunch during the week to avoid crowds, definitely not on the weekends.

My choice is often determined by whatever coupon I have. Or we just go Thai as a local restaurant has a great lunch deal.

 

[audreyh1]

We don’t eat out much anymore unless traveling, as food is so good at home. But we overwhelmingly prefer lunch out as a) that’s when we eat our bigger meal and b) we don’t like to drive after dark.

The rare eating out times usually happen when we are out runnung other errands. Occasionally do breakfast out.

 

[Scuba]

I prefer restaurants with atmosphere. To me that means an outdoor oceanfront place for lunch. Most such places have a good variety of casual but high quality salads, burgers and sandwiches.

For dinner, we really try to patronize places with no TV. We don’t watch much TV and hate that so many even upscale places in So CA have multiple TVs on at all times.

We usually eat out at least 4 times per week. Like cooking at home too, but sometimes it’s just nice to go out. When we go out to dinner, we prefer to go at 7 or 8 pm so we don’t have to cut our day short.

 

[DrRoy]

To avoid the waiting and bad service of crowded times.

 

[flintnational]

I prefer to make my own meals - more nutritious, they help keep my weight down, and cheaper.

But, I also like to go out to eat and when I do it is for social occasions, and/or to eat something I would not make at home for whatever reason.

I prefer early in the week - Mon through Wed, and lunch rather than dinner. The closer one gets to Friday HH and Saturday night dinner, things get more expensive, crowded and rushed.

+1 exactly what we do.

 

[Meadbh]

I mostly eat at home because I enjoy cooking, the food is better, and the dress code is relaxed. Eating out is mostly social and is most commonly a weekday lunch.

 

[iloveyoga]

Lunch any day. We have some good local restaurants. I also really like to cook at home.

 

[Nemo2]

So what are your dining preferences

Don't think I/we've ever dined.......if we're out of town we might grab something to eat somewhere out of necessity, but that's about it.

 

[Red Badger]

Our favorite meal out is breakfast on Saturday. Headed out in about an hour.

 

[Dawg52]

When eating out I do so primarily M-F. Either lunch or dinner. My home cooking consists of grilling, baking a potato and steaming veggies. Nothing complicated. I rarely eat out for breakfast except when out of town.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Living in a Vacation Town has it's advantages. Every week we get the "Mint" Magazine delivered that is chock full of dining coupons. If we eat out, which is actually quite rare for me, we use a coupon. DW eats lunch with Friends once every week or 2 and does not bother to check the coupons in order to do so.

 

[Cobra9777]

I prefer to make my own meals - more nutritious, they help keep my weight down, and cheaper.

But, I also like to go out to eat and when I do it is for social occasions, and/or to eat something I would not make at home for whatever reason...

We don’t eat out much anymore unless traveling, as food is so good at home...

I mostly eat at home because I enjoy cooking, the food is better, and the dress code is relaxed. Eating out is mostly social and is most commonly a weekday lunch.

+1

I love the process of planning and preparing a nice, healthy meal every evening. We have delicious low-carb meals at home. Most restaurant food is high salt, high fat, high carb, and not prepared as well as what I can do at home.

We eat out when traveling because there's usually no other choice. We also go to a couple local restaurants, like a sushi place and a Latin street food vendor, that prepare mind-blowing food that we would never attempt at home. We always go at "off" times like late lunch or 5:30pm on a weekday.

For social occasions, we sometimes end up at one of the salty/fatty/high-carb places on a busy Saturday night. But because it's a social event, we still have fun. We don't call that "eating out" because it's not about the food. We call that "going out with friends and family."

 

[scrabbler1]

My ladyfriend and I go out to eat a few times a year. We often choose the middle day of a 3-day holiday weekend, such as the Sunday of Memorial Day or Labor Day weekends. Those days are less crowded than the Saturday nights of any weekend yet have the same "feel" as a Saturday night. If we do out to eat on a regular, non-holiday weekend, we choose Friday night which is usually less crowded than Saturday night, too. She prefers the Sunday night out because she wasn't working that day.


Once in a while, if my evening square dancing is off, and especially if she is off from work on a weekday, we go out to eat. This happened the day after Christmas last month (Tuesday, December 26th). Restaurants are nice and empty.

 

[Danmar]

Eat out frequently depending on which place we are at.

Almost never have dinner at home in Toronto. At least 100 restaurants within walking distance. Usually around 7pm.

At the lake house almost always eat in as there is nowhere really good to go to and too far.

In Canmore maybe 50% out usually lunch around 1pm after our workouts. Dinner would be 630-7PM.

In Arizona 50-75% out as there are many great places to go to. Earlier here, usually around 1230 for lunch or 630 for dinner.

So on average maybe about 400 times a year (looks like we are an outlier here on this issue). Probably eating out has increased in frequency since we retired 11 years ago. Often just can’t be bothered to prepare a meal and clean up afterwards. Also, we view eating out as fun and entertaining as opposed to “eating”. In fact I record these expenses under a caption called “entertainment”. On the rare occasions I am alone, I will usually eat in.

I often say “I didn’t marry her for her cooking”. Since I do most of the eating, I also do most of the cooking and food shopping.

 

[kcowan]

I prefer restaurants with atmosphere. To me that means an outdoor oceanfront place for lunch. Most such places have a good variety of casual but high quality salads, burgers and sandwiches.

For dinner, we really try to patronize places with no TV. We don’t watch much TV and hate that so many even upscale places in So CA have multiple TVs on at all times.

We usually eat out at least 4 times per week. Like cooking at home too, but sometimes it’s just nice to go out. When we go out to dinner, we prefer to go at 7 or 8 pm so we don’t have to cut our day short.

Same here. When restaurants undergo renovations and put in the TVs to attract the younger crowd, they get removed from our list.

We always go at "off" times like late lunch or 5:30pm on a weekday.

When the two of us dine out, it is usually late lunch at a high-end place. Better service, same food quality. It is one of the benefits of having "enough".

For social dining, we tend to eat at prime times of 7 to 8 pm. NOTB it tends to be ethnic foods that would need a lot of prep at home. Once every two weeks. SOTB it is a main social activity and is 2 or 3 times a week, often at others' homes or medium/high end places.

We pinch ourselves because we have been enjoying the good life for 15 years. We have decided to spend down the principal if needed but so far the stash keeps on growing. At our stage, we are gradually moving up the transfer to heirs, increasing the transfer by 53% this year.

(Statistically I have 10 years left. If I follow my Dad, it will be 20 years.)