My boyfriend (20) and I (18) have been living together for 2 years in an urban apartment. For us, it usually goes like this:
- Delivery
- Eating out
- Cooking at home
We visit our parents (and they visit us) often, and they give us lots of home-cooked food. We mostly cook at home just for fun.
I’m curious what it’s like for other people, especially in different age groups or family setups!
Single guy, single family home with two teens just leaving for college
- Cook at home
- Takeout (because chipotle exists)
- Eat out
I essentially never do delivery, it’s too expensive. You’re paying extra for eat out food but don’t even get to eat out.
Chipotle has an excellent group order function in their app! I can send an invite to my kids while they’re out so they can add to the family order and have them grab it on their way home.
Plus I love cooking. I need to find some sort of group for sharing meals. In fact I have a 12 lb pork shoulder ready to go on the smoker tomorrow but it’s just me. Who wants some pulled pork?
Edit for the folks at [email protected] , as the last breakfast before my little one left for college, we walked about a mile, half on trail, to an old-style diner for breakfast.
So you’re saying you’re constantly broke. Getting delivery all the time is hella expensive
3 kid family. Food is expensive. Wife learned to cook very well by her mother when growing up. She cooks most nights. We only go out to eat or have it delivered/takeout for 3 reasons: 1) she’s exhausted, 2) we’re traveling, 3) special occasions. Unfortunately, she’s such a good cook that we rarely eat at a place that made the dish better and it leaves the kids wishing she just made it at home which is awesome for me since it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.
So:
- Cooking at Home
- Eating Out
- Delivery/Takeout
I’m poor. I rarely eat out and I think I ordered delivery once in college.
Cook at home every time, I could happily never have fast food again. The only reason I ever eat it is when in a group and someone else decides that is what we are doing.
My partner and I are mid-40s, and our meals go like this:
- Cooking at home
- Delivery
- Pick-up/take-away that we pick up from the place ourselves and then eat at home
- Eat out at restaurant
Reason being for all this:
I enjoy cooking
Partner and I both have no issue eating the same thing for dinner ever day for a week or more, so I make a huge portion and then we eat it for an entire week/until it’s totally gone
Delivery costs are expensive, even before tip
Partner and I both have dietary restrictions that make ordering from somewhere difficult when they’re not clear about what ingredients they’re using
We save a ton of money by cooking at home
- Cooking at home
- Take out (not delivery)
- Eating out (sit down)
I live alone and I get meal kits delivered so I can cook at home
Keep track of your spending. Don’t just eyeball it. Dining out and delivery are very expensive.
Like a couple weeks ago I ordered dinner to eat with a friend realized the bill was like a whole week’s food budget all at once.
Rice, beans, vegetables, cheese, wraps? Like $5. Ordering two similar burritos? $30. That savings adds up.
Anyway, to answer your question and stop giving unsolicited advice: I almost always cook at home. I don’t have the income to do otherwise. When I had a high paying job I would order more food delivered.
Cooking at home
getting cooked food from home
Eating out (usually due to work)Haha I wish I could afford that! I live alone and I’m in my mid twenties. Instead it’s more like:
-
Quick meal (requires little prep and little cooking time, maybe some garlic spaghetti)
-
Big meal (a big stew I made a few days ago and put in the fridge)
-
Porridge (super reliable, very cheap, incredibly fast to prepare, add frozen blueberries)
And then:
-
Eating out (a good treat for a special occasion)
-
Delivery (it always ends badly)
Pad with rice if ever possible. Eat some beans. Frozen vegetables with seasoning salt.
-
I have always cooked at home more. At this point I can make food as good or better than what we get at restaurants so only go out to have a good time. Once every two weeks or so we do get takeout (or more precisely, husband gets takeout) because I won’t have time to cook, and about once a month we go out to a restaurant.
Work lunches half leftovers and half restaurant, there is a Panera across the street from work and a cafe in the building that has a grill, a fully cooked meal, and a sandwich line, so not like fast food.
ETA: Mid 50s, work full time and then some, husband and still 2 kids at home plus usually the girlfriend of one or the other of them (the kids not husband, lol)
Eating at a restaurant easily costs 4x+ what I can make at home, even fast food.
I’ve done the math many times. My average plate at home costs no more than $2 (and I eat pretty much whatever I want).
Let that sink in. Calculate the difference over a week, a month, a year.
A lot of the younger generation has been convinced to live above their means, or at least in such a way that they are not preparing at all financially for their future.
Since most of them can’t cook and are afraid to try new things, they just eat fast food for most of their meals because it’s embarrassing for them to prepare their own meals.
Pride has much do with it, although it’s undeserved.
At what point is that just intentional self harm if it makes up most of your meals?
I often see posts online that sound like people look down on rice as if eating it is beneath them. Like, ok spend 20 times as much on food I guess?
Always cook at home, eating out as a treat once in a while and never use delivery.
Same here. Except pizza. I’ll get that delivered, because it doesn’t involve a third party.
Id like to go out more often, but nowadays, I can’t take my family out to eat for under $100.
I have a different point of view. Pizza is one of those things that’s easy and cheap to make myself, so I make that myself.
On the rare occasion I do order or go out to eat, I prefer food I can’t cook myself very well, like persian or asian food.
Yeah, pizza is more cheap shit with insane profit margins.
On the rare occasion I do order or go out to eat, I prefer food I can’t cook myself very well, like persian or asian food.
This is the way. I don’t have the means or qualifications to handle a rotating shawarma spit. Some things are best left to the experts.
For me, that’s sushi. I do not have the fine dexterity and patience required to put that together myself.
Neither do I but we still do it with my partner and friends. We don’t do normal sushi and instead make sushi burritos. The sushi burritos are faster and easier.
You don’t have a shawarma spit in your kitchen?
It’s just for show
Just like my sex dungeon.
True, and we do this as well, but pizza is the answer to not wanting to cook or put on pants.
because it doesn’t involve a third party.
Man, the rationales some people have for why they let some people rip them off but not others is mind-boggling.
Really reinforces my opinion of the average person.
I can’t take my family out to eat for under $100.
Are you in fucking Belize? Do you have a family of at least 8? Are you horrible with money?
Or maybe this is just hyperbole.
It’s about $75, plus tip for two people to eat anywhere that’s not “fast casual” where I am- California Bay Area. A “nice” restaurant it would be considerably more.
So it’s hyperbole.
You’re literally ignoring the restaurants that don’t help you support your argument.
Shit is insanely overpriced, especially in the entitled and privileged area that you live. You don’t need to lie about costs.
I’m not really sure what your point is, but we are a blended family, so yeah, there’s a lot of us.
Sure, I could get $5 Biggie Bags at Wendy’s for everyone for under $100, but if we’re going out it’s because we WANT to, not because we need to shovel the cheapest food we can find into our mouths. We got Chinese on Friday. After tip it was a little over $100, and we didn’t even have all the kids with us. Which is why we only go out once or twice a month. The rest of the time, were cooking at home, or in case of emergencies, order $40 worth of pizza.
Ok well, the point was that you can eat at a restaurant as a family for under $100.
Exactly, eating out is crazy expensive compared to making your own food. I like to have a few bigger dishes with easy meals to fill in the gaps, and rarely eat out so I can save that money.
Delivery: never, too expensive when we can just take the car and get what we want.
Eating out: mostly me on her, oh you mean food, nah, only ever on date nights, which with two kids is maybe once a month if we’re lucky.
Cooking at home: probably 345 days of the year. Cheaper, tastes better, more healthy, setting a good example for the kids.
