How often do you go out to dinner?

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities

In a typical week, how many days do you go out to eat dinner?

0
64
27%
1
77
32%
2
47
20%
3
26
11%
4
13
5%
5
6
2%
6
2
1%
7
6
2%
 
Total votes: 241

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tennisplyr
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How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tennisplyr »

In a typical week, how many days do you go out to eat dinner?
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BuckyBadger
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by BuckyBadger »

Does take out count?
MichDad
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by MichDad »

Not including vacations, my wife and I used to go out to eat at moderately-priced restaurants about once a month. Now, we eat out about once every two weeks. I'm not sure how to respond to the survey based on our situation.

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tennisplyr
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tennisplyr »

I wouldn't include take out, if you go out once in a while I would check "1"
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OAG
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by OAG »

I Checked "0" but we do for birthdays and anniversaries which for us amounts to four times a YEAR.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by poker27 »

too often, but we enjoy it. We typically dont go to meh type restaurants, we always do our diligence before putting a restaurant on our list. Living in Chicago, there are so many amazing places we will never be able to check them all off. Adding booze to the bill, and the already somewhat high price tag of the places we go to, it does add up.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tennisplyr »

poker27 wrote:too often, but we enjoy it. We typically dont go to meh type restaurants, we always do our diligence before putting a restaurant on our list. Living in Chicago, there are so many amazing places we will never be able to check them all off. Adding booze to the bill, and the already somewhat high price tag of the places we go to, it does add up.
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Steelersfan
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Steelersfan »

I voted 0 but in a normal month it's once or twice.

I go out for lunch more often, maybe twice a week.
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Meg77
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Meg77 »

Most of my dining out consists of lunches (including brunch on the weekend) and happy hour (which I don't count as "dinner out" even if I have an appetizer). There are many weeks where I don't eat dinner out at all, but other times it might reach 3-4 times if we have a lot going on (sometimes this consists of simply a trip to Chipotle though - not always fine dining). I answered 2x/wk. We have a nice dinner out appx 2x per month including for birthday dinners and the odd dinner date with friends.
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livesoft
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by livesoft »

Maybe 3 or 4 times a week. It can be cheaper than eating at home if you do it right.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Lilly »

about twice a month. I don't mind cooking.

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pennstater2005
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by pennstater2005 »

Couple times a month. I'm talking lunch or breakfast more so than dinner.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by midareff »

I indicated 3 but it's probably more a good bit more often than that if you count breakfasts and lunches. We are retired and it's not a budget or $$ constraint. The rest 9of the time my wife (Thai) loves to cook and we have a seafood and veggie heavy home diet.
Last edited by midareff on Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by camptalcott »

I included take out.

I'm at about 2-3 times a week. I'm pretty much an empty nester. My oldest son is home but between school and work, he rarely eats at home. Next, I just moved back into the city. there are tons of cafe's, restaurants, bistros, pizza joints, take out joints within a 10 block radius.

It's not much more expensive if I was cooking at home.
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ResearchMed
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by ResearchMed »

livesoft wrote:Maybe 3 or 4 times a week. It can be cheaper than eating at home if you do it right.
Even more often recently.

Now that we've cut back on portion size (partly for health reasons, partly because we just don't get that hungry anymore, and there's no need to pile it in), we realized that without even counting prep time value, we just can't cook for what we can share a well-rounded takeout meal. Or we steam some broccoli, too.

That was pretty annoying, when I realized what I was spending on groceries, and what a *nice* (and reasonably healthy) shared take-out meal cost.

Bummer.

Yes, I cooked with fancier ingredients, but that's they type of cooking I've always enjoyed, and used to give elaborate dinner parties.
(As mentioned by someone else, somewhere else on BH, there can be a lot of time saved by cooking large extra quantities when having guests for dinner, and then eating the planned leftovers throughout the week, with no prep time. But even doing this was costing more than simple take-out.)

We've gotten a bit lazy, I guess, and don't entertain the way we used to. Only miss it very rarely, which was a surprise.
More time spent on active hobbies now :happy

So we've become regulars at a few places just minutes away.

VERY glad we renovated the bathrooms (a bit of a splurge, used frequently), and decided at last minute NOT to "do" the kitchen!

EDIT TO ADD: This actually got started when I had several serious surgeries and couldn't do much of anything at all for quite a while. That was probably when we slowly started shifting, even when I was better.

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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by livesoft »

ResearchMed wrote:VERY glad we renovated the bathrooms (a bit of a splurge, used frequently), and decided at last minute NOT to "do" the kitchen!
Well, based on that statement, I don't want to be eating in the restaurants that you frequent.
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ResearchMed
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by ResearchMed »

livesoft wrote:
ResearchMed wrote:VERY glad we renovated the bathrooms (a bit of a splurge, used frequently), and decided at last minute NOT to "do" the kitchen!
Well, based on that statement, I don't want to be eating in the restaurants that you frequent.

:oops:

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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Sheepdog »

We eat in a "sitdown" restaurant for an evening meal at least one day every weak, but twice a week about every other week or whenever we go to a play or concert or sporting event. Lunch meals? .about 3 times a week. Our restaurant expense this year totals $3,900.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

I answered zero, because I go out on so few occasions for all intents and purposes the answer is zero. That pretty much conforms to my last post about not having enough extra disposable income to direct to charity - if I don't have the money for dinner, how can I direct anything more to charity? Maybe I should write a memo to the local taxing authority - "please sir may I have some more disposable income as to help the local businesses at large?"
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CABob
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by CABob »

You asked about dinner. How about breakfast and lunch?
That changes the number significantly for me.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

livesoft wrote:Maybe 3 or 4 times a week. It can be cheaper than eating at home if you do it right.
What's that, scrounging off the other parties tables after they've paid the check and left without taking doggie bags? :twisted:
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by jfn111 »

We get take out once every two weeks, we go to a restaurant about twice a year. My wife drives about 100 miles once per month to meet her sister for Brunch. I answered 0.
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Groundhog
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Groundhog »

I voted 3. Normally Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The weekend meals are normally during the afternoon and take care of lunch and dinner.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by MN-Investor »

It's currently 10° and breezy. The sun will set at 4:43pm today.

Going out to eat in the evening in the winter can be a real pain!
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by TheEternalVortex »

Before kids: 4-5
Now: 0
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by core4portfolio »

I answered 0 but we go out for brunch for couple of time in a MONTH
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by kramer »

I put 3x per week. I live in the Philippines and a decent sit-down foreign food dinner for 2 usually averages about $17, including all costs (normally don't drink wine). And I have a large appetite.

I regularly eat out for Italian, German, Indian, Thai, Mexican, and Filipino.

While cooking can be fun, it is much harder to source your own ingredients here than in the USA for many of these dishes and it makes sense to eat out since the prices are good value.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by bcjb »

Approximately 4 times/week, more if you count lunches.
stoptothink
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by stoptothink »

0. I think we've eaten out maybe 4x since we have been married, and I believe every time was because her parents were in town. Saturday was our anniversary; my mother watched our daughter, went on a hike, and stopped at the store for a nice steak, sweet potato, and a few other things to cook at home while we watched a movie.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by sailfish2 »

Right now, on average, 2 - 3 times per month.

I have been living in a new city for several months and my social circle is more limited than it was in prior town. I have to say, using YNAB, it's been noticeable how much less I spend on restaurants. My friends in my old area were more spendy, too, so this move has been enlightening about how quickly a social life can drain the budget. I shift the unspent restaurant money over to my travel budget.

As I make more friends here in my new town, I believe I will still be inclined toward less pricey social options. Plus, the spendy restaurants here are not as tempting as in my prior area. We do have a lot of great breweries though, but I tend to get the beers where you drink two and you're done. 8-)
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by WHL »

When traveling for work? Every night.

When home, not traveling? Never.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by jsut »

To answer the specific question, DW and I go out twice a week on average for a sit down dinner. It used to lean more towards three times, but once we saw how much those $40-$60 dinner bills (two meals plus typically two to three adult beverages each) were adding up we tried to cut back. We currently average $350/month on these "date night" activities. We could probably cut that in half if we skipped the adult beverages and had a soda instead, but in our opinion we might as well just stay home in that case.

To expand on the overall going out topic, DW packs a lunch most every day while I go to a fast food joint and spend ~$6 per weekday. We also typically go out to lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. For me, a cold sandwich is about the limit of my lunch-making skills and is incredibly boring. My rotation of fast food restaurants gets me a different hot sandwich and side every day and I don't have to prep for it in advance.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by mlipps »

We used to go out once a week plus a quick lunch once or twice a month, but as my cooking and meal planning has gotten easier w/more practice, we're down to only 1 or 2 times a month now. I like the idea of going out, but it rarely lives up to my expectations flavor wise and even when it does, it almost never seems worth the money. There are a few places I love, but lots more recipes I want to try!
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Kosmo
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Kosmo »

Dinners out, very rarely. Maybe 1 or 2 every 3 months. Lunches out, maybe 3-4 a month, on the weekend.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by avenger »

poker27 wrote:too often, but we enjoy it. We typically dont go to meh type restaurants, we always do our diligence before putting a restaurant on our list. Living in Chicago, there are so many amazing places we will never be able to check them all off. Adding booze to the bill, and the already somewhat high price tag of the places we go to, it does add up.
I'll second that. We live in Chicago and absolutely love the dining scene. But we don't live by a budget, either. I voted 3.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by placeholder »

It varies a lot as my buddy and I usually eat out after going to hockey and football games and we have a standing pizza and beer meet up on Fridays (which might get bumped due to concurrent or close hockey nights) so anywhere from 0 to four in a week.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Gill »

CABob wrote:You asked about dinner. How about breakfast and lunch?
That changes the number significantly for me.
Same with me. We eat lunch out 3-5 times a week but dinner only once or twice a month. Based on other responses, your poll would be more accurate if you had used monthly instead of weekly.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Caduceus »

Eating out doesn't have to be expensive. I went from cooking every single meal (in grad school) to eating out every single meal (both weekdays and weekends, lunches and dinners). The difference is $175 on most months. I actually wished I had cooked less and used the time to do other things now. I spend $475 a month on food. It's on the high side, but I think it's fair value for my time.

This also means minimal grocery shopping, minimal waste (things don't go bad in the fridge or if I forget to eat them), and no dish washing :) Plus, I'm a bad cook (no patience, and a tendency for non-compliance with recipes and instructions), so it's worth it.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Bungo »

We go out for late lunch/early dinner most Saturdays and Sundays, after hiking or errands or whatever. I can't remember the last time I went out on a weeknight.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by poker27 »

tennisplyr wrote:
poker27 wrote:too often, but we enjoy it. We typically dont go to meh type restaurants, we always do our diligence before putting a restaurant on our list. Living in Chicago, there are so many amazing places we will never be able to check them all off. Adding booze to the bill, and the already somewhat high price tag of the places we go to, it does add up.
From NY but love Lou Malnati
Lou's is one of those rare places that both locals and tourists go to.

When I was in NYC last year, I pizza 3 x in one day. So the feeling is mutual :)
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tj »

I go out to eat every meal*, but it's nothing luxurious.

* I will occasionally have clif bars or cereal for breakfast - the rare meal at "home".

Cooking for one seems difficult without waste, plus I'd rather spend the free time on bogleheads.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by placeholder »

tj wrote:Cooking for one seems difficult without waste, plus I'd rather spend the free time on bogleheads.
Not at all it's quite easy to craft meals that serve as one dinner with enough to bring to work for lunch another day.
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Go Blue 99
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Go Blue 99 »

We typically eat out on Fri and Sat nights.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by Tamahome »

I make it a point to take my wife out on a date every week. Often, our eating out runs us about $12 a plate, so nothing too spendy, but it is nice to get out of the house to eat from time to time. I would put us at about 1.25 x per week. When we do go out, it is typically to a place that makes food we could not easily replicate at home (thai, sushi, turkish) rather than a chain restaurant.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by jlawrence01 »

Seven days a week as I have been living in a hotel since September 1st.

What has been amazing is that the cost has been substantially less than the three nights I used to eat out when I was in Chicago.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by riboflav »

Caduceus wrote:Eating out doesn't have to be expensive. I went from cooking every single meal (in grad school) to eating out every single meal (both weekdays and weekends, lunches and dinners). The difference is $175 on most months. I actually wished I had cooked less and used the time to do other things now. I spend $475 a month on food. It's on the high side, but I think it's fair value for my time.

This also means minimal grocery shopping, minimal waste (things don't go bad in the fridge or if I forget to eat them), and no dish washing :) Plus, I'm a bad cook (no patience, and a tendency for non-compliance with recipes and instructions), so it's worth it.
You spend $15 per day eating out for all meals all month long? What am I missing?
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tim1999 »

I usually go to a full-service restaurant for dinner once per week; my girlfriend and I take turns paying. I also go to Chipotle one night per week by myself, but I'm not sure if that counts as going out for dinner in the traditional sense.

I usually have a big lunch 3-4 days per week, meaning that at dinner time I'm usually not hungry enough to eat a restaurant meal.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tj »

riboflav wrote:
Caduceus wrote:Eating out doesn't have to be expensive. I went from cooking every single meal (in grad school) to eating out every single meal (both weekdays and weekends, lunches and dinners). The difference is $175 on most months. I actually wished I had cooked less and used the time to do other things now. I spend $475 a month on food. It's on the high side, but I think it's fair value for my time.

This also means minimal grocery shopping, minimal waste (things don't go bad in the fridge or if I forget to eat them), and no dish washing :) Plus, I'm a bad cook (no patience, and a tendency for non-compliance with recipes and instructions), so it's worth it.
You spend $15 per day eating out for all meals all month long? What am I missing?
Same here, roughly speaking. average $3/breakfast, $7/lunch, $5/dinner. My biggest meal is almost always lunch. For dinner, Il'l have a couple chicken thighs from the grocery store or a personal pizza. BY no means, is this a nutritious diet and I do hope to cook more when I no longer live with roommates.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by tj »

Cherokee8215 wrote:I usually go to a full-service restaurant for dinner once per week; my girlfriend and I take turns paying. I also go to Chipotle one night per week by myself, but I'm not sure if that counts as going out for dinner in the traditional sense.

I usually have a big lunch 3-4 days per week, meaning that at dinner time I'm usually not hungry enough to eat a restaurant meal.

Frugal tip: It Is like $2 to just get a side of meat from chipotle, or if you get a burrito with only meat, they don't charge for the tortilla, just a side of meat. When I was younger, we always did this and just added produce/veggies at home.
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Re: How often do you go out to dinner?

Post by livesoft »

riboflav wrote:You spend $15 per day eating out for all meals all month long? What am I missing?
You are missing to-go boxes. We just went to our favorite Mexican place, had water to drink and two $10 meals. Those ended up being 5 meals altogether: 2 in the restaurant and 3 back at home. Chinese take-out is 6 meals for $20.

Oatmeal for breakfast is about ten cents a morning, but you have to add something to make it palatable like nuts and craisins. For lunch today, I had sushi for $7 and I did not make it myself. Also Subway has chopped salads and daily specials. You can sit in Subway and eat half the salad and the rest the next day or evening.
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