Watch, wow that sounds delicious!! My mouth is watering at 4am!!

You're right about the ingredients. Unless it's something I will use often I hate buying ingredients for just 1 meal that may or may not turn out (as I'm definitely NOT a culinary chef).

My meals usually are a flop the first few times.

Scott,

Cooking is a skill. I like to cook and often will make a big batch of something and freeze single size portions. But Watchmelol makes a good point, for some meals you may not want to gather all the ingredients and do all the work. I've made cannoli, but it is definitely time consuming. I would not make cannoli plus a variety of other foods for one meal.

What you might consider is making meals with a friend who knows how to cook, and that way you can have fun and learn. And now that the weather is getting better, maybe purchase a small outdoor grill if you don't already have one. I have a smoker/grill and create many summer meals of both meats and veggies on it.

Mexican I prefer out, for now. Chinese I FAR prefer to cook at home, unless I can get to a genuine Chinatown restaurant. I'm not a fan of the over sweet gak served in Chinese-American restaurants.

But once I settle down in my new place, I plan to learn to make good Mexican food... among other things. Besides, restaurants of any quality will take longer to drive to...

Mexican I prefer out, for now. Chinese is easy to prepare at home since there are many choices of simmering sauces available. Rice is simple.

We're starting to enjoy Indian cuisine at home after getting help from an Indian neighbor. Indian simmering sauces are also available which brings the meal together and it tastes the same as the restaurant. Rice is simple and fresh-baked Naan bread is readily available here.

Greek food is always out. Anna's local Greek is the best ever, so no sense trying to duplicate it at home.

When I was a younger cook, I liked trying to replicate restaurant meals such as Mexican and Chinese dishes and they were SO MUCH WORK and tasted nothing like the restaurant meal I was trying to replicate. I finally just gave up on trying and just buy the meal when I go out to eat. I do make simple Mexican dishes at home such as tacos, fajitas, burritos (all simple to make). I still prefer them at the restaurant though. I remember trying to recreate some delicious Chicken Teriyaki...sheesh, I spent so much time and bought all sorts of ingredients and the end result was nothing spectacular and didn't taste like the restaurant version at all! UGH! Never again!

I like steak at home when I grill it, but I don't go through the process they do at good restaurants of hanging and aging it so it's never as good at a restaurant. However I rarely order steak at restaurants as the portions are getting way too outrageous. I just don't think I want to even look at a 32 oz piece of meat on my plate!

My Mexican choices are slim because it's hard to find a correctly made margarita at most Mexican diners. Mexican without a good margarita is a waste of money.

Funny because where we live, the portions are shrinking away. I've never seen a 32 oz steak anywhere up here. It's not unusual for the steak to only be 8 oz.

I eat Mexican food out or barbecue. Rarely Chinese...but don't like those Chinese buffets. Never seafood, for obvious reasons. I can cook Mexican food but usually eat it out. I like my own tacos better than most I eat out.

All this talk about Mexican food is making me want some so I think I'll make tacos tonight.

Mexican, barbeque and smoked items, seafood in. Asian dishes are generally take-out (never a buffet), because I am the only one that likes them, so it is a waste of time and work for 1. Italian can go both ways, (it is rarer for restaurants to mess up Italian dishes); pizza definitely out.

For us, eating out is usually just a break for me from having to cook, or if we want to try a different type of ethnic food.

We both like to cook & eat. So we mainly cook at home. We live in a small town, so when we go to a larger town is when we will eat out. We really do not have any really good restaurants here.

When I want tacos I want street tacos and I want to mix and match them. I couldn't possibly make them at home in all the varieties the local food trucks have. Not to mention the six varieties of salsa or the aqua fresca (fruit drinks). I can't possibly keep all the meat choices in the picture on hand.

Favorite meals out are Thai, Vietnamese, and Indian. None of these I try at home--just would not turn out well. I also much prefer the occasional burger out; I can never duplicate the taste at home. Home cooking is simple: stir fry, pasta, chicken, etc.

fried foods we eat out; everything else we can make as well or better than many resturants here in town- incl. chinese, thai, indian, mexican, etc. It;s certainly a learned skill, but for us, saves tons of money.

We live in a very rural area & the nearest chain restaurant is 50 min away. I love to cook & bake so there is no problem with that. I am a very picky eater & will never try anything new. Better to cook at home.

We mostly eat at home as I enjoy my own cooking, actually I love my own cooking! We eat Thai, Jamaican, and some Japanese food out. I cook excellent Mexican, Italian and American food so we eat that a lot at home.

We like to cook and are pretty good at it. We love Mexican food; hubby makes a mean pot of refried beans (better than most I've had any Mexican place), and after much practice, even my Mexican friends are impressed with my corn tortillas. I also make some pretty darn good tamales.

We make Thai at home, because after having spent several months in Thailand, we realized that very few American Thai restaurants serve food that resembles what they serve in Thailand. While in Thailand, we took a one day cooking class and learned how to make several popular dishes and a few tricks as well.

Indian food is a favorite. We can make a few basic dishes, but usually go out for a variety of Indian foods.

We rarely make or go out for Italian food because hubby doesn't care for it.

Chinese food is usually eaten out. We can make a few simple things like stir fries or fried rice, but prefer the variety available when we go out. We have two restaurants we like; it's hard to find a good Chinese restaurant in these parts.

Love Greek food and always eat it out as I've never tried to make any Greek dishes.

I make my own taquitos and shredded beef enchiladas. We used to think going out to eat them was a treat...not so much any more. Soft serve ice cream is an "eating out" treat!