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!
Usually delivery and eating out ends up being much more expensive in the long run than cooking at home where you can buy things in bulk when on sale and store Ina fridge or freezer until you need it, but you need the space to store a lot of food which many apartments don’t have.
So you’re saying you’re constantly broke. Getting delivery all the time is hella expensive
Or that they’re very wealthy
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
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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 !fuckcars@lemmy.world , 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.
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.
I’m poor. I rarely eat out and I think I ordered delivery once in college.
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
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
- Take out (not delivery)
- Eating out (sit down)
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.
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.
Yeah, pizza is more cheap shit with insane profit margins.
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.
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 envy your financial situation that you can afford to do that.
My weekly grocery budget (single person household) is £25 (~US$34), which is about the price of a decent meal for one person in a low-end restaurant here. Seven days food and other household supplies for the price of one meal. Stop and think on that for a bit, maybe.
Family do help me out from time to time, but they’re not exactly rolling in money either, so what they provide would otherwise be covered by that budget. They just help me stretch things a bit further.
Could I afford to spend a bit more? Possibly. But I like to keep a little extra put by for that inevitable disaster where I have to hire someone to fix what neither I nor my family can handle.
Perhaps importantly here, I like to know that I could get by without family help, and I’m pretty sure I could. Can you say the same?
£15 each for 2 of us here. I just don’t really see much need to spend more than that.
Would you be willing to discuss your grocery list on that budget? I recently allotted myself $175 per 2 week pay period for groceries for me, a single man living alone. I find myself going over. I think my biggest weakness is snacks, which are extremely difficult for me to not have on hand.
Cans of soup, microwaved, for the occasional hot meal. Cold meals most of the time. For various reasons, that I won’t get into, I don’t cook.
Breakfast is toast (2 slices) or cereal (1 small bowl). Soy milk. Cow’s milk would be way cheaper, but I’m intolerant. Tea. What can I say, I’m British. I do like a cup of tea.
Lunch is mixed nuts (~30g) - technically a luxury, but I figure they have minerals I need - mixed dried fruit (~50g) and a slice of multi-seed bread. Another luxury, but again, this is mostly about nutrition. Apple juice half and half with hot water (~450ml total). Dilution makes it go further and the heat raises the flavour profile a bit from cold diluted.
Yes, I know apple juice isn’t very nutritious.
Evening meal is usually a sandwich. Plain white bread. A slice of some pre-packaged meat or another. Sometimes processed meat, sometimes an actual slice. Those are more expensive. Salad also in the sandwich. Sometimes I have the aforementioned soup instead. Tea, of course.
An extra cup of tea here and there. I do have biscuits (cookies) in the house and I get through a handful of those a day. I should do without tbh, but they’re pretty much my only food vice. If things get really tight, those would be the first to go. (I’ve already had to stop buying the “budget” chocolate bar I liked because it’s three times the price it was three years ago.)
I have a few other canned goods (beans, meats, fruit) that I buy when I can and then break into occasionally. Sometimes I buy noodles when they’re on offer for a treat.
Most of the above comes in two or three levels of quality versus price, and I get the highest quality I can of each while remaining in budget. If I have to buy toothpaste or toilet paper or whatever, I drop the quality of something else in order to fit it in.
If there’s any general advice I can give here, it’s substitute your snacks with a drink you really like instead. Preferably a cheap, low calorie one that’s mostly water. Yes, it means you pee more, but you’re full for a while, and you’re hydrated.
I should probably also note that my BMI is, and has been, fairly steady around 25, which is the heavy end of healthy on the above diet for a good while now. If I became less sedentary, I’d probably lose weight at first and then level out around 20 or so.
No one should have to do without tea. That would be inhuman. The cooking thing is the serious rub for you I think. Beans and rice would be a terrific addition to this diet. You have your reasons though, as you said, which I’m sure are very valid.
Some thoughts:
- Buy in bulk - if you compare unit prices, you’ll see the bulk version is usually cheaper
- Make your own snacks - e.g., granola is pretty quick and easy to make at home
- Try Aldi or Lidl
- Give generic versions of things a try - a lot of the time they’re pretty close to the ‘real’ thing
- Things that are convenient are usually more expensive. Just looking online quickly, I see the big tub of old-fashioned oats is $6.39 for 30 servings (=21¢/serving), vs a box of instant oatmeal at $3 for 8 servings (=38¢/serving). So to save money, choose the less convenient version.
- Plan your meals before you shop, and pick up only what you need - this helps avoid impulse purchases
I am so used to Aldi that I almost forget branded things exist. Those oats sound really expensive, I get them under £1/kg
Yeah, both prices I gave were for name brand (Quaker). The generic Aldi oats are just as good!
And on buying in bulk - if funds are limited you can ease into this by budgeting for ONE bulk item each weekly shopping trip. It will build your pantry, you don’t have to make a big immediate outlay.
👑
Snacks are an incredible waste of money and they have some of the largest profit margins of all grocery items. $5 for a bag of chips that isn’t even a pound is disgusting, but they charge it because people pay it. It only makes sense to buy snacks if you’re wealthy from screwing other people over, or you’re on welfare.
If you want to eat cheap, you need to swallow your pride. Probably one of the best meals that just about anyone can make is a microwave meatball sub with raw broccoli and carrots on the side. Extremely easy, very cheap, filling, and it’s always going to be delicious if you’re actually hungry.
Get used to eating the same things over and over again, and stop treating food like entertainment.
You can eat real food cheaply rather than living from a microwave.
It’ll take a lot more effort, but yeah of course you can.
It only makes sense to buy snacks if you’re wealthy from screwing other people over, or you’re on welfare.
Hmm… It is easy to hate the rich, but are you brave enough to despise the poor
What are you talking about?
or you’re on welfare.
If you are asking in earnest. You should really give some thought where the conditioning to repeat this trope is coming from.
I am not even going to dispute that some poors have bad spending habits but that ain’t what this comment is about.
Have you ever been on welfare? They give you enough money to get snacks, too.
You can eat cheap and still enjoy it, without so much repetition.
I agree with cutting out mindless snacking though, that’s not good for you.
A lot of people don’t understand is that food out is a luxury.
The entire premise of the OP assumes that people have this choice lol
£25 (~US$34), which is about the price of a decent meal for one person in a low-end restaurant here.
Bullshit.
Checks out actually if you have a main and pudding or a drink. Not many places will be cheaper than that.
Where are you talking about that this is the case?
We can do internet searches to see if you’re correct.
They gave prices in GBP (almost certainly, almost no one else uses £), I also l live in the UK and can confirm it’s a pretty reasonable statement to make.
A few fast food options might be a bit less but can you seriously count that as a restaurant?
Maybe I could have been clearer about the number of courses I was talking about.
The last meal I went out for was a family outing paid for by a relative. There were five of us (one a child) and we all had a two course meal and drinks. The bill was well in excess of £100. This was not an upscale restaurant.
Yes there were cheaper options on the menu. The starters, and maybe a couple of the mains were under £10, but that’s just one course.
There are also cheaper restaurants to go to. Much cheaper.
Your argument made it seem like there are no cheaper restaurants, which is false.
You’re choosing to pay that price.
Why are you being so unpleasant?
I’m curious where you live that dining out is so cheap and welfare pays so much.
This guy lives at Golden Corral in the middle of Oklahoma or something
You don’t have to be curious. Just about everywhere there is civilization, you can eat at a restaurant for under THIRTY-FOUR FUCKING DOLLARS. The fact this needs to be spelled out to you should be a wake up call to anyone who isn’t living in your privileged bubble.
A better question would be, where are you living where you can’t find a meal for under that price? I’d love to know so we can do some internet searching and see if you’re telling the truth.
Dude
Original comment was a bit hyperbolic.
More realistic number for anything that requires 20% tipping, 20usd in any tier 1 and tier 2 us cities. That’s like very basic one dish, nothing else.
Again, you’re wrong.
What cities are you talking about? I’ll show you restaurants that are cheaper than what you say.
Also, tipping is a scam and every time you do it you keep it going on for longer.
Holy moley, the expense of that
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?
Way below what you can get from welfare in the US.
It’s not all-or-nothing. Most people don’t even attempt to eat cheaply because they believe it’s beneath them.
