Eating out

[CdnCarrie]

On average how much do you spend a month eating out whether it’s takeout or dine in?
Including coffees, lunches and suppers.

I would say for us $100-$125. Family of 3 (4 if college student in town).

 

[NYCgrrl]

I rarely eat out whether take out or in restaurants unless we are on vacation. Not all vacations either. If we rented a house or camp we still eat home food.

Next month I’m being taken to a restaurant and probably won’t happen again for months.

ETA When DGD is here we do takeout about twice a month so that’s probably about $150.00 - 200.00

 

[BrianL]

Usually, it's once or twice a week, but most often fast-casual type stuff that is under 15 bucks, sometimes even 10. So, probably $75 or so.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

I'm scared to look. Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Disneylover99]

Probably $50-$100 per month.
Usually a couple of pizzas a month.
We generally don’t eat out very often and we bring lunch/coffee from home to work/school.

 

[scrump]

We like to do takeout once a week, to give us a break from the cooking. Family of 5, depending on what we order (pizzas are cheaper, sushi is more expensive), we are likely between $150 - $500 on a monthly basis.

I try not to cringe at the total every month, but we need the break.

If we do date night (usually 1x month, sometimes every 2 months), add anohter $100?

I bring lunch to the office and usually prefer to brew my beverages at home, so no starbucks or dunkin trips.

 

[soccerdad72]

Probably a couple hundred dollars per month. We usually eat out once or twice a week, usually weekends. It also depends if our boys are home or if they’re at college. We went out tonight after playing some indoor golf. Dinner was like $80 for the four of us (local Mexican place). Of course, the golf cost us $100 too, but they’re going back to school soon, so we wanted to do something fun before they leave

 

[gmi3804]

I'm scared to look. Ignorance is bliss.

I was afraid too. But I looked. Restaurant charges averaged $1,885/month, and we have dinner at home an average of four nights a week. When we go out it's somewhere special, trying a new place in town (Chicago), or revisiting old favorites. This also includes restaurants visited while traveling.

 

[SirDuff]

I'm scared to look. Ignorance is bliss.

I've been eating out ALOT recently because I just moved and was in temporary housing for about 6 weeks (had a kitchenette but small) and now I'm in my long-term flat but my shipment has been held up by paperwork, so I have very little in terms of cooking equipment. However, eating out here is really pretty cheap (even relative to grocery stores which are also cheap), so my total is probably not that much.

 

[ronandannette]

We gutted our kitchen at the end of November - reno still isn't completely done. We're going on 6 weeks without appliances and we've eaten out and had more take-out during this time than probably in the last year in cumulative total. The number would be shocking if I counted; $400/week or more. The December food budget was slightly off-set by not having done any holiday entertaining, which also would have been expensive. I can say though, we're TOTALLY sick of take-out. Once we're through this ordeal, it will be a long, long time before we want it again.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

I've been eating out ALOT recently because I just moved and was in temporary housing for about 6 weeks (had a kitchenette but small) and now I'm in my long-term flat but my shipment has been held up by paperwork, so I have very little in terms of cooking equipment. However, eating out here is really pretty cheap (even relative to grocery stores which are also cheap), so my total is probably not that much.

This is kind of us. We go in spurts. We will watch some cooking shows and then go hog wild on Ethiopian or Moroccan cuisine. But then we will have weeks where we can barely get out of bed and will just order lots of pizza.

 

[AustinTink]

We can’t seem to eat out for under $50 for the two of us for fast casual dining and that’s without adult beverages. Tack on another $30-50 depending for drinks. A fancy, date-night dinner runs between $150-300 depending on the wine.

So, if I had to guess I’d say $1000 a month for dining out.

 

[GAN]

Including alcohol… probably close to $1,000. It adds up pretty quick…

 

[SirDuff]

This is kind of us. We go in spurts. We will watch some cooking shows and then go hog wild on Ethiopian or Moroccan cuisine. But then we will have weeks where we can barely get out of bed and will just order lots of pizza.

My other issues (which this reminded me of), is I'm still learning how to cook with local food (especially vegetables - what's available is really different here).

 

[disykat]

It's generally just the two of us. I just looked at our budget app and we've averaged $241 a month this year. I think that's pretty good. I think we eat out a lot less after 2020 - we just got out of the habit. We also haven't vacationed much because of family responsibilities. I have $360 a month written in the budget with the idea that some months include vacations where we are primarily eating out. Our only vacation this year was a cruise so most of our food was lumped into the travel budget there.

 

[mikehn]

Easily 1 grand a month, during the summer a lot more. During the summer the only days Im likely eating home are Monday and Tuesday.

 

[Christine]

Just two of us. We carry out one a week (usually pizza and wings) and that runs $40. So $120 a month.

 

[jo-jo]

DH and I hardly ever eat out, something like Outback or Texas Roadhouse a couple times a year. But our DS, DDIL and 2 DGS come over after church almost every week. 3/4 of the time, we do a pretty cheap take out. Look for coupons. Get deals at BK, popeyes or pizza for under $30. So that's $30 for 6 people. So to your question, about $100 a month.


I'm making a chunk roast this Sunday, The meat alone is about $20. Of course it will be a better meal, but still after you add, the veggies, mashed potatoes, and rolls we are talking $30 -$35. Plus all the work involved. And the boys starve waiting an extra 40 mins, waiting for potatoes to cook. Which is the real reason, we get take out most Sundays.

 

[mousefan73]

I would say max 200 a month for our family. We simply dont have great restaurant choices by us.. Mainly we eat out if on the go or traveling.. A normal night at home we rarely go out or order in (almost zero).

there are only a few dining gems near us where I feel it's work the cost to eat their food, majority are places that serve processed crap, simply reheated, fried and put on a plate it seems....

 

[wabbott]

Me, almost never. DW goes out for lunch with her former work buddies probably twice a quarter. I would estimate $20/month. We save all our dining out meals for vacations.