I'm sure there are a lot of people who wish they were working, period.

Boss comes in every morning with a carton of milk and breakfast burrito or breakfast sandwich. Goes out to lunch every day. His wife doesn't cook. I couldn't afford it.
Wonder how their 15 year old son survives. He must get one heck of an allowance if he eats out two or three meals a day too.

I guess it is all relative. I stop at Starbucks almost daily. I can't believe how many people are in there drinking coffee that they could make at home for pennies.

*In case you are wondering why I am there daily, it is because Starbucks has a program to save coffee grounds and package them to give away for free to gardeners. I am not there buying $6 cups of coffee.

ahhh but think of all those who would not be working if not for those who do eat out, all the time lol. my father eats 3 meals a day in restaurants, not fast food places, sit down and be served places. he can't cook, not even campbells soup in a can lol and he can definitely afford it. his kitchen has no stove hooked up, a tiny microwave, A coffee pot and a wine fridge for his coffee milk. he got rid of the energy wasting big fridge lol.

during 2006-thru 2007 i worked sun-up till 5:30pm on jobsites then went home and had to do designs till 9pm, 5 days a week plus all day sat. i picked up fresh fruit bowls mid-morning at publix where i could also use their clean bathrooms. i had something moderately healthy for fast food lunch then often picked up something pre-made or quick cooking for dinners. anytime spent (wasted) cooking was taking away from my working time and making more $$. my DH worked full-time and classes every evening till 10pm, so he could not do anything either. when you are selling $40,000-50,000 landscape jobs, and several each week, you are not worrying about blowing a little bit extra on food, you are worrying about not having enough hours in the day to get all the design work done and selling more jobs to keep your crews employed :-) after 2 yrs i got burned out on that and went back to my previous job.

now we are into eating healthy, planning meals the weekend ahead and have a bit more time, well i should say DH has time LOL. my DH quit working, goes to college full-time and does 90% of the cooking. we eat out only 1-2 days a week in restaurants (fri-sun). i got really sick of eating out for those 2 yrs. while i like cooking i also like to take my time and on a weekday getting home at 6pm then working out for an hr, then making dinner does not work when 9:30pm is bedtime lol. i just don't have time in the a.m. to stop even at a drive-thru and those things are soooo unhealthy. 7 days a week i have Jimmy Deans Light breakfast egg & english muffin w/o the turkey sausage patty. 260 cals, no fat, lots of protein and i can eat it while typing w/ my right hand at work lol.

i can relate & have sympathy for those who have more $$ than time. the only way for full-time workers to buy time is pay someone else to do things you need done. but hey that gives employment to others so... ~ liz

I always tease my kids, that they would starve if their food was not handed out a window.
The were not raised like this, but choose not to cook for themselves. So one day I expect to get a phone call about one of my recipes.
For now.....out of a window.....

Trin

Dilly Dally thanks for info on the coffee grounds at Starbucks.

borders bookstores w/ seattle's best coffee shops give away 2 lbs bags of old grounds. ~ liz

This is talked about a lot on the garden side of this board in just about all the forums.

I found out that the Starbucks corporate stores are required to recycle the grounds this way. The independantly run stores are encouraged, but not required. There are two Starbucks near me right across the street from each other (Yeah, really!) One is very friendly and always has the ground bagged and set in the bin by the door. If it is empty they will get the ones from behind the counter for you. This one is Corp. The other Starbucks is just inside the Target store near the door. All the ones inside Target are manned by Target employees not Starbucks employees. They always act like they are being put out if you ask for them and often times just say they don't have them when I can see with my own eyes that they do. I was told that the franchised Starbucks are not required to participate in the garden program. So if you ask for grounds and they say "No" this may be the reason.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2128557_use-coffee-grounds-garden.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Coffee Grounds Free for Garden

We participated in Earth Day at the Waco Zoo this past April, and Starbucks had a small stand, handing out free coffee and FREE COFFEE GROUNDS!! I was thrilled, got a bag to add to my compost heap, and wrote corporate headquarters a thank-you note. Earth Day was a two day event, and on Sunday afternoon as things were closing down, one of the young ladies from Starbucks came to our booth and asked if we would like more coffee grounds. Of course we would! She brought us 10 bags, all that they had left. How kind--she could have just dumped them, or taken them back to the store, but she took the time ask us if we could use more. I was impressed!

We don't eat much fast food, not so much the cost, but it just isn't very good for you. I much prefer to eat food that I know the contents of.
Don't get me wrong, we do eat at some on occasion, but probably not more than once every 2 or 3 months. One place I do like is Captain D's. My best friend just rolls her eyes at me when I tell her I like it way better than Red Lobster. LOL Well, I do like it better.

Helen

Before I retired, I was always amazed at my coworkers that ate out for breakfast and lunch. DH and I never felt we could spend that extra money and we ate breakfast (well he did) at home, and usually brown-bagged for lunch. We had a 'date lunch' every payday Friday, but it was usually Arbys or TacoBell since they were close to work. when you only have an hour, it is hard to go to a sit down restaurant.
Now that we are both retired, we do treat ourselves maybe once every 2 weeks or so to either dinner or lunch out. We have found a little mom and pop cafe that has wonderful food, we can both eat dinner there, with dessert, for under 15.00.
And, Helen, I like Captain D's better than Red Lobster too, so you are not alone.

June

I eat out 80% of the time, but it's just me and it's my only recreation. It's not fast food. I have hamburgers (Freddies' Custard) once a week but 2 or 3 times a week wouldn't hurt me, it's just steak, veggies and a bun. I have quit the fries and tried to give the coke with it, but couldn't. They go together. I cook breakfast about 3 times a week. Oh, I can afford to eat out and I don't intend to die with my life savings in the bank.

I get a coffee at DD everyday. I like to drink it once I get to work, and I don't want to make a pot at home and then have to bring it in. Plus, DH makes regular and I only drink decaf, so I'd have to empty his into a carafe and make another pot (when I don't really want a pot, I want 20 ounces). I'm not that ambitious in the morning. I could get a cup in the cafeteria at work (it would be about 40 cents cheaper than DD), but I find that if I enter that cafeteria I come out with an English or blueberry muffin. I don't care about the extra $1, I care about the calories. I stay out of the caf during the AM if I can help it.

Another vote for Captain D's.
Wish we had them up here.

I think they are addicted to the food. Fast food has a lot of sugar and fat in the ingredients. People become addicted to the taste.
I love making my own fresh food at home. I don't like fast food except....
Taco Bell!
I know the calorie and nutritional content of what I order. I order items off the Fresco menu. I've been eating Taco Bell for 30 years.

There's a lot of people who don't cook. Look at the drive ups mentioned but also the pizza deliveries, the ready-made at the grocery stores and even gas stations make very good money on their fast food. I was surprised when I worked for the c-stores 15 years ago but it's multiplied since.

I go in streaks. Last winter I was in so much pain that it was hard to stand and prep food and cook. So I started eating out but am so tired of fast food I searched and found a few good diners around. I went there quite a bit for a while, then backed off. Then when my frig died I started again. Now it's going but still eat out 2 or 3 times a week. I usually get one good meal a day and that covers me. But I also factor in that there's essentially no waste when I eat out so the cost factor is reduced some. But that's mostly rationalizing, I know.

And yes, how can a cup of coffee be worth $6??? I will grab a cup of coffee at a drive thru or a gas station if I'm driving a distance and the weather is cool/cold but that's in the area of a dollar or so. I don't mind that so much. Used to make a thermos every morning and have on the way to work.

DB and DSIL almost always eat out. They work and he does get a lunch break to go home, eats something really quick like a can of soup. They got out every night for the main meal.
She says for the cost and time saved she couldn't cook it any cheaper.

+I love to cook! But being retired and single, and don't like leftovers, I eat my main meal OUT daily. Not fast food. Cereal before I retire for the evening.
Have certain restaurants that I know their daily menus. They know me as well.

So when I want Baked Greek Snapper, I go to Loui's on Tues or Thurs.

Chicken pot pie, Wed. at another restaurant. and so on and so forth.

It's cheaper for me.

My preference, and my choice.

I quite eating Captain D's cause I have a bad taste in my mouth the rest of the day.

Don't know if it's the tartar sauce or whatever

I had coffee at a friends house and it was so good I asked what kind it was. She said the cheapest instant she can find, in this case Folgers. It was just like the commercials say rich and flavorful. I quit brewing coffee and I buy Kava instant. It advertises 90% of the acid is neutralized, plus the fact instant is not as hot as brewed, so not as much acid released and better for my stomach.

we eat breakfast home at least 5-6 days a week...we eat friday night out and saturday am...it's our special time...when we had kids, we hardly ever ate out...couldn't afford to...

I never eat fast food, but sometimes I would love to. I know alot of people eat it all the time. I just think it is not good for you but when my children were small we ate it lots of times, I did get tired of it. My DH will eat it sometimes but he never ever gains a pound no matter what he eats.

When someone says they "only" eat out 2-3 times a week, I have to get tickled; not so much because of how often they eat out, but because of the use of the word "only." To me, eating out 2-3 times a week is a lot. I'm not saying either one of us is right or wrong. What I am saying is that it is interesting how widely different all of our viewpoints are and how they affect what all of us consider to be normal behavior.

For some people, their time is worth more than the money. I rarely eat out for dinner, but eat out for lunch alot, because I usually don't take the time in the evening to make the next day's lunch. Luckily, there are a few small stores around my work too, so I can go get something there to make at work.

"I guess I am just getting old, or maybe people are just making too much money these days to through around."

I'm not sure why you think people are making too much money if they choose to eat out. Like others have said, a lot of people feel their time is important too, and need to spend it doing things other than preparing food. And for some people it's just a preference. I buy myself a tea or hot chocolate almost every day I go to work- I look at it as my reward for going to a demanding, high stress job every day. I buy a take out lunch once a week, and we often have a take out dinner once a week. I also go out to dinner frequently. It's a personal choice, how people spend their money, and there is no right or wrong answer as long as they are keeping up with their financial responsibilities.

My brother doesn't cook - he is a great cook but he doesn't cook for himself. He eats take-out every day but not typical fries and burger take out. He will have a veggie sub or buys pre-made salads at the stores. He works midnights and most of the other time when he is not sleeping he lives in his van cruising around the city taking pictures to post on his Flickr groups. LOL I think it is because he doesn't want to do dishes. He often gets Chinese or Greek food or spaghetti and meatballs now and then or Swiss Chalet with a baked potato. Sure he has a burger now and then but he knows that eating it everyday is not a good thing.

He gets an extra large tea 3 times a day from Tim Horton's and I reap the benefits. He orders his x-large tea with one tea bag in and one tea bag out. You always get 2 tea bags with the x-large. I get the unused packet of tea. To buy the small box of "Gourmet" Tim Horton tea in the store it is almost 5 dollars. I don't know why they say "gourmet" because it is just orange pekoe but it has a nice flavour and strength. I use 4 bags per pot of tea. So every month or so Paul drops off a bag full of tea bags for me. While he keeps up his Tim Horton's tea habit I will never have to buy tea. I am enjoying a pot of it right now as a matter of fact. LOL His take-out run saves me money. LOL

The other night Paul stopped by and he flicked his car lights off and on at the house and that means I am to come out to the car. LOL He had Swiss Chalet for me. He bought the family size dinner which comes with 2 half roasted chickens, rolls, 2 baked potato, and 2 steamed veggies and Swis Chalet sauce. He split the dinner with me.

I like to order from my favourite Arabic restaurant every couple of months because I crave the salads and shuarma sandwich. If I get take-out usually it is because Paul has treated me as a surprise and it is usually a Greek gyros dinner with extra salad and no fries.

My friends and I will go to Tim Horton's for coffee every couple of weeks and sit and chat. I love Starbucks coffee but only when someone else is treating. Whenever my sister goes away she buys me a bag of Starbucks beans. Tim Horton's coffee isn't all that good but it nice to sit and chat. I prefer the coffee I make at home.

I love to cook so I don't need to go out for take out food unless it is something I have a craving for. I still think of that Pizza Hut pasta I ordered and how much I paid for it and I won't be making a mistake like that again. I can make food cheaper at home that tastes better.

I think if you lead busy lives - there is nothing wrong with healthy take out food as long as you can afford it and some people would rather have a good tasting dinner than spend their money on material things they don't really need.

Anne

The only time I notice how often people eat out is when they're simultaneously complaining about lack of money, because that's always the place I cut first when I'm cutting back.

Other than that, I figure people manage their finances to coincide with their priorities. I don't eat fast food much, but I do eat lunch out a fair bit, because it's a good time to network with colleagues. My father ate out for breakfast and dinner almost every day for years after my mother died, because he didn't like fixing food for himself and eating alone. Made sense to me, as the money wasn't an issue.

I like to eat out. I like to cook too, but sometimes I just don't feel up to cooking. For all of my life except probably the last five years, we just never ate out so I feel like now that the kids are gone away from home, if I want to eat out I can. I like a lot of different places. I like Captain D's, but it is greasy, so usually go for the baked fish. Hubby loves it. He likes the Golden Corral too, but we seldom go. I like Bob Evans too.

Sue