How often do you go out for a meal?

ibizafan_2

I went to London last week and treated my 31 year old son to a birthday lunch at Le Gavroche. (Michel Roux's place) We had a great time, but it got me thinking about eating out. How often do you eat out and what are you prepared to spend? My OH and myself eat out about once every two weeks, but I love to get a bargain with either vouchers/ Taste Card or similar. I think, on average, we spend around £35-£50 for two as we like a bottle of wine. Anyone else? Obviously, the lunch in London was a rare treat! Also, I am retiring from my main job shortly, but hoping to carry on doing the same, more or less, so I'd love to hear whether retirement has curtailed eating out, or changed the frequency or type of restaurant that people go to.

neneromanova

We go out whenever we can get a baby sitter, last time was a couple of months ago. I prefer to get a takeaway and sit at home with OH

it's 30% at our local chinese to takeaway the food and eat at home than sit in the restaurant Money saving

ender4

eat out once a week.

- once a month to an expensive restaurant spending £100+ per couple.
- once a month to a cheap place like Nandos/Harvester spending <£25 per couple
- twice a month to a mid-range place spending around £50-£60 per couple.

Lagoon

I never used to eat out. As a child we didn't because I grew up in poverty. Up until recently I didn't because I was addicted to saving, and refused to spend money on eating out.

Now, I make a point of going out for a meal once a fortnight or thereabouts. I love the food, but it's not just about food. We lead a busy lifestyle, we eat in front of the TV and technology often gets in the way of conversation. OH still takes his phone out when we're eating out, which I don't like, but a meal somewhere seems to be 'quality time' that we don't get at home. We end up having real conversations, rather than making 'small talk' or ranting about work.

We usually go out to typical chain restaurants like Nando's, Pizza Hut or Frankie and Benny's, or to a local pub. Usually one course, occasionally two, and three for special occasions. I think life goes too fast - when we have family I'll insist on meals around a table but when it's just me and OH I don't like pushing my opinions on 'TV dinners' on to him. So, I'm happy to pay a bit each month to take him away from the house!

tea_lover

Maybe once every couple of months, probably a bit less. It tends to be steak night at a pub, or a local indian. We usually spend about £25 for both of us.

gingin_2

I guess once a month.

We only eat out if we can eat better than we do at home, or it's a necessity, or it's a gathering. I prefer going for a drink at the pub and then coming home and cooking something nice, that tends to be our saturday evening.

I think the quality of restaurant food is generally pretty poor but I like any type of ethnic foods, something that I wouldn't normally cook at home so that's where we tend to go. I hate spending £60-£80 quid on a pub meal that's going to be worse quality than I would prepare.

A treat for us is to sit round the conveyor belt at Yo Sushi and let the kids pick their foods and I am partial to a bit of Nando's before bowling or the cinema. Other than that we have great Turkish, Mexican, and an msg free chinese that we like and a fantastic Indian. Posh meals out are maybe once every six months if I get a chance to sneak away with OH.

claire16c

Probably once or twice a month in a pub even just if its for sandwich type lunch. Maybe every 6 weeks somewhere like Nandos or pizza express.

Hardly ever have take always. I'd rather save the money for holidays.

ninadam

BF and I eat out about 2/3 times a month, maybe more when the weather is better.
We tend to have a proper treat once a month at a really nice place and then something like pizza hut/F&B's/pub meal the other times.
I do think its important and it is quality time together and i like the feeling of making an effort, getting a bit dressed up....instead of him seeing me slobbing around in PJs watching TV!

N X

bitemebankers

You lucky devil, OP!

Varies a lot for us, but we've been going out less and less due to the sky-high prices and poor quality of most of the restaurants locally (I live a long way from civilisation). We tend to invite friends around and I cook up something from Waitrose instead.

Pollycat

Very rarely in the UK.

But we cook from scratch, making our own Italian sauces and grinding our own spices for Indian curries.

We also drink decent wine.

The odd times we have been out for a meal, we've not always been that enthusiastic with what we've been served and often been disappointed.

When we're on holiday (usually 6 weeks per year in the Middle to Far East and 4 weeks per year in Europe) we eat out every lunchtime and every evening - almost always local food rather than 'international' steak/chicken dishes.

But I love cooking and luckily have the time to spend hours faffing in the kitchen.

I do a 3 week meal plan and sit down with my cookery books & a cup of coffee and always have at least one totally new dish per week.

kitschkitty

Hubby & I used to go out practically every week, but over the years it's become less and less (cost's too much) so these days it's once every few months. We go to the local Chinese & Malaysian restaurant that does a fabulous all you can eat menu, we go to Cafe Rouge for a steak and occasionally we'll eat at other places. We normally spend about £40.

If we are including pub & cafe lunches then it's normally 3 or 4 times a month with my mum as we normally go out shopping or to the museum etc. once a week and often have lunch or a snack (and coffee).

Takeaways we have again maybe once every few months at the most.