most times not even five meals per month!

Moni

How in the world can people afford to eat out 5 times a week???!! I eat out maybe once a month! Usually not that often. And I agree that it has to contribute to obesity and health problems. Most restaurant food is loaded with fat and calories.

I don't know anyone that can afford to eat 5 meals a week out! We sure can't.

I'd rather eat at home. If we do go out, DH almost always makes the comment "yours is better" of whatever he's ordered.

I've read that in other reports and I do believe that it's true. Unfortunately those 5 meals a week are all too often eaten in the car on the way to some after school activity.

I would think that anyone working who buys their lunch somewhere daily (instead of brown bagging it) would be considered to have five meals outside the home per week.

It's cheaper for me to eat out daily!
I love to cook, but not for myself, and don't like to eat by myself at home.

So it's a social thing for me, as well. Just being out and around people.

I DON'T do fast food.

Meat and 1, sometimes meat and 2. Leaving off the breads.

Mainly meals for me are $8 and LESS, just according where I go.

I know what is served on which day and where, so I go either Tues or Thurs to Loui's for his lucious baked snapper and 1 veggie, which is okra and tomatoes for $7.51.

Today will be spinach salad, and it will be more, but I'm craving spinach, so it's Bella's today.

That is just an example.

Nite time is oatmeal or cereal.

I do eat out a lot, because it works with my lifestyle. But I'm careful about what I order, for health reasons and because I have a small appetite. I know that I will always leave food on my plate. I often order dessert too, but I can never finish it. Sometimes my friends and I will split dessert. I figure it's just as wasteful to force yourself to eat food when you're full, as it is to leave it on your plate- but it's healthier to stop eating when you're full. There is a buffet that my friends and I like to go to. I never get value out of going to a buffet, but I have a great time with my friends, and we do go to other places too, so I don't want to be a "wet blanket" and hold them up from going there just because I can't eat much. So I guess that I feel moderation is the key to preventing obesity- that, and healthy choices.

It's not that strange if you count fast food and cafeteria lunches. Lot's of people are in the habit of grabbing a breakfast sandwich off the value menu at the drive-thru on their way to work. Any one working at a diner will tell you they have their regular daily breakfast or lunch customers. A lot of single people don't want to cook much so have one main meal a day out and the rest at home.

I easily eat five meals a week outside the home. It can be cheap and healthy if you know your nutrition and what to stay away from and what is ok in moderation. I'm on the go a lot and driving back home to eat and going back out again could end up costing more in gas than grabbing a sandwich somewhere.

Heck some people spend 3 or 4 dollars or even more a day on a cup of coffee. And don't even get me started on smokers and the money they spend on their habit.

I was posting at the same time as Glenda. She makes some very good points.

I believe it. Oklahoma is ranked as one of the highest states for obesity. The majority of people I know here don't really 'cook'. Most restaurants offer specials on certain nights. It's scary that people can list all of the deals.

My dh eats lunch out every day. He has a lot of business lunches so he doesn't have to pay for all of them. He has started rethinking his eating.

We were eating out quite a bit these last few months while we were building. I had several nights where I had a meal plan and then I'd have to meet with the builder or pick out fixtures or something and just wasn't at home to cook. I try to keep easy meals in the pantry, but we were going through them also.

And I don't do desserts. Once a month at our potluck luncheon, I do.

Skipping fried as well.

ONCE in a while I will, like I had fried sweet potatoes last week.

And limit myself to red meats.

It takes time planning meals--sometimes I just can't sit down and do it for the week. Sometimes I'll grab a can of soup from the pantry and bring it to work, or make some tuna salad, but many times I'm scrambling to get the house picked up and the puppy set that I end up walking out the door without much more than a granola bar. So what do I, and many of my co-workers end up doing when we realize we are famished? We'll go to the company cafeteria, perhaps, but that closes at 6 (and we work until midnite or later), or we'll end up going down the block to Subway (which our company helps keep in business, I'm sure). And we don't get a dinner break, so we eat at our desks while working.

Not great food (sometimes really gross food!), but, well, it's there. And somebody else is making it for us.

Other than working folks having 5 lunches out per week, I find eating out for 5 meals to be extravagant. But, if you can afford it, more power to you. I eat lunch out every Sunday after church. A group of us go to a grocery store that has a food court. It is definitely a social thing, lots of laughs and lots of stimulating conversation. Some weeks I get takeout for one dinner but probably only twice a month.

I'm not surprised.And as mcmann said,most of those are probably fast food.My son and DDIL would eat most every meal out(fast food or pizza) if I were not here to do the cooking! That's why they don't want me to go home.LOL When we are home(that is back in TX)DH and I eat out maybe a couple of times a week but we try to eat healthy.We usually only eat one big meal a day.Toast for breakfast,then lunch is the main meal around 3 in the afternoon.Dinner is something very light or maybe a carton of yogurt.Here we have toast and coffee for breakfast,a sandwich or salad for lunch and a big dinner,to accomodate the rest of the family.I really don't like eating a big dinner after 6 PM but that is usually the time frame.I am trying to get them to eat healthier and teach the babies good eating habits.I know when we go back home it will go back to their original way of eating though.DDIL doesn't cook unless it can be microwaved.DS is a good cook but doesn't do it much.Easier to order out.

I no longer have the article but recently read that there's a large difference between age groups when you look at how many *dinners* are eaten outside the home.

We eat out at least once per week. Maybe 1 week of the month we will eat out twice.

I do know people who eat out at least 5 times per week. They are families where both parents work long hours.

Many seniors go to their centers to have the Senior lunch, and if you go everyday there is your 5 meals. But we too ask for smaller portions, and really don't eat out much as the bigger town is at least 30 min away and our cafe closes at 2pm.

We probably eat 5 meals a week outside the home, but meals that we bring FROM home. Don't know if that sort of thing counts in this statistic.

We "picnic" on the go often.

I stop at a fast food place for lunch when I am in town and can't get back in time. Other then that we rarely eat out unless we are traveling.

"cooking" is not what it used to be. Some people think they're "cooking" if they open the box and put the contents on a baking sheet and heat it up. I don't think some young people know what a real meal is anymore :(

We eat out every day. Often we order a meal and split it. We know which restaurants have specials and patronize them. I hate to cook and DH won't eat left overs, so out we go. It keeps your kitchen clean.

As someone else mentioned, when I lived alone, it was a heck of a lot cheaper to run across the street and get a hamburger or piece of chicken than to cook for myself. If I did get a hankerin' for something home cooked, I threw so much food away it was ridiculous.

I eat out five times a week. I work in downtown Seattle and usually get lunch out. Often, one meal out is large enough to eat the leftovers for dinner or lunch the next day. I never eat fast food, there aren't really even fast food places in downtown. Usually it's just a salad or a sandwich at the deli, sometimes I will go sit down for lunch with coworkers. If I'm out and about, sometimes I'll get dinner out too. Like Glenda, I live by myself and am single so sometimes eating out actually saves me money. When I go grocery shopping, I can't eat it fast enough before the fresh stuff goes bad so it's a waste. I rarely grocery shop so I save alot of money there.

I get a Mocha and pastry of some sort 5 mornings a week.Sometimes 6.
And it's not on the way to work as I'm retired.Just the routine.

We eat out at least 5 times a week. Living between 2 homes, and trying to get one ready to sell, eating out is simpler, less work and less messy. It's not that expensive--we use coupons a lot, go on the nights places have specials. We almost always eat only half the meal, and take the other half home for the next day--so that saves calories and $$$. If we go to a fast food place like Wendy's, one of us gets fries, the other gets a side salad with our meal, and then we share both--that way we do get the treat of the fries, but not in a great quantity. We never order dessert.

I am looking forward to eventually lighting in one place, so that I can get back to cooking. It's something I enjoy doing, and miss. But at the moment, it's just not practical to keep 2 full kitchens stocked and going for 2 people who are rarely in either place for more than a couple of days at a time.

I usually eat out at least once a week, when we go to get our grocery shopping done. We go about 20 miles away and are not home when our lunch time comes around. I like to cook, but I like for other people to cook for me too :)

Sue

Five times a weeks seems like an awfully lot to me, but I can definitely see it for office workers. (I home office.) But I don't get the math on it being cheaper than cooking at home. Maybe it depends on what you are eating and if you are adverse to leftovers or freezing food. I tend to cook a lot of soup, stews and beans and freeze them and I know for me, it is cheaper than eating out.
But - to each his own. Some folks like to cook and spend their cash on other things. Other folks would rather spend their time on things other than cooking and washing dishes.
When I was trying to lose weight, I did find that it was just an awful lot easier to eat at home.

I usually prefer to eat at home, but eating at home is not cheap. Normally I enjoy cooking but with a dead refrigerator and having health issues lately, eating out is more practical. It's simplistic to think it's so "expensive". Factor in the grocery shopping expenses, wasted food from spoilage and throwaway, burned or other destroyed food, fuel and cleanup expenses and the cost of eating at home increases when you look at the whole picture. Especially for one or two people, eating out is quite practical and economically practical too.

I generally eat one meal a day. Been that way most of my life. I also enjoy breakfast so getting an early-bird breakfast special is not expensive, relatively speaking and there's no waste, or even cost of prep and storage.

Now if you go to the $150 a meal steakhouse for your meal out, yes, I'd call that expensive.

I was reading about the percentage of Americans who eat breakfast at McD's every morning. I was shocked. But that drive up window runs non-stop and sometimes two lines. Although they are busy all day.

I wonder if that survey included pizza deliveries, take-out, deli pickup and the like?

I eat out every day. Like Glenda, I eat one meal a day. I don't have a kitchen and it is just me at home for a couple of weeks at a time, so it is easier.

I love to eat breakfast out with friends. Like Glenda, it's a social thing for me. I occasionally eat lunch out but probably not more than 2 times a month.

I live by myself, but I eat the opposite of one meal: I graze all day! :-)

I'm not aware of food that gets wasted . . . and I'm sure I'd be aware of it, as I dislike waste of any kind. My fridge is usually loaded with salad greens, but they get eaten up. I'm a big salad fan.

I was in the restaurant business for 42 years. A large portion of our customers were regulars, many of which ate with us 5x per week. Our senior customers came in for a late lunch which was usually their main meal for the day. Most did so because it was cheaper to eat out than to cook for one or two, but more importantly they enjoyed the social aspect of it. Our regulars, whether young or old, normally chose healthy meals.

When DH travels for business and I'm home alone, I often eat out because it's cheaper than preparing it myself. I eat very healthy. If I drive though, I generally get a salad or grilled sandwich, although sometimes the french fries call my name, especially at IN-and-Out Burger :)

Unless someone doesn't work, or they go home for lunch everyday, I don't see how they could avoid eating 5+ meals outside the home every week. I eat lunch at work everyday. Sometimes breakfast. And we eat dinner or lunch out at least once per week.

Before DS moved here a few years ago I ate in various places about 5 times a week and after figuring it out it was more economical to do that . I only really eat one meal a day anyway. I like Golden Corral a lot because of the variety its nearness and the vegetables are great and are something I wouldn't fix at home.

Now if I don't eat out I throw in a Marie Callendar frozen dinner or something like tht .

Go to Golden Corral, some time.
Love their seafood salad.

I'm surprised at how many of you say you only eat one meal a day. I'm a big believer in Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Oh, and a pot of tea w/cookie or chocolate around three. Hmmm...maybe milk and cookie late evening?

The meals don't need to be large or calorific, and we almost never have dessert right after a meal.

I'd say we eat out five times a week, but it's a decent meal in a decent restaurant. Eating is a real pleasure for me and my husband and we relish every bite. And three of those meals are breakfast at the local diner, with a total tab of less than $15.

We thoroughly enjoy our meals out!

And in my first marriage, I did a lot of cooking during those 24 years (and 3 kids). I'm happy as a clam to be set free from the stove!!! :)

I remember when working for a finacial Corp the wife of the owner of a company we financed used to bring in her companioes receipts each day. On her birthday we asked what she got and she said I did't get I gave. What?? Yes I gave all my kitchen tools and appliances away. Today is Freedom day for me. We thought it was a great idea!!