I just skimmed over the article, but got out of it...that millennials are cooking at home!

I prefer to cook at home too. It's low key. No stress. Low cost. If I'm too hot or too cold...easy to adjust the air temperature at home. Need more salad dressing for your salad and not a wait-staff in sight? Home is easier all the way around!

My daughter and her fiancé definitely fit some of this. They’re vegan and very avid home cooks. Kitchen gadgets are their favored gifts. DD, who isn’t usually a fan of social media, does enjoy posting things they try, and finds many recipes online.

I’m always impressed with what they come up with.

They do socialize more at their apt or their friends’ homes, than go out. Potlucks and game nights are popular with their group. She’s much tamer than I was. I’m glad. :D

ETA: DH and I like a mix of eating out, cooking, or ordering in. I cook much less in triple digits, just light foods. We have a freezer full of crab legs I’m greatly looking forward to.

I loved cooking when DD was growing up, not as much anymore. DH cooks more than I do.

The millennials I know are a mixed bag. Hubs son's family eats out constantly, but it could be changing due to finances. They now just get fast food takeout. And what they "eat in" is just a version of the junk food they eat out. My style of eating was never a common one for restaurants anyway, and I'm lower middle class at best so could not afford it for most of my life, at least to do frequently. And rarely had friends with time and dosh to go out with. Sometimes, but even those days are few and far between now.

Back when I lived in a metro area, there were two old school fancy restaurants we used to go to all the time, one was Thai and one was Chinese. Real wood, carpet, fabric linens, the whole nine yards. We really miss those places. Nothing remotely like that anywhere nearby. Meanwhile I've become addicted to tablescaping, just for hubs and I right now. Not a hobby of any millennials I know . . . they are the paper plate generation as far as I can tell . . . certainly not grandma's china . . . And now with dieting, just don't see a friendly cocktail party in my future, not if I want to keep my weight down . . .

Back in my college teaching days I actually used to host dinner parties for my students. Not all the time, but occasionally. For example, I had a class with a bunch of friends who were all Jewish, and I agreed to host a Hannukah party for them at my house as that holiday occurred before they got out for "Christmas" break . . . I also hosted a picnic during one of our class field trips, and an end of the year class celebration barbecue at a local park. Stuff like that. Those days seem to be over, sigh.

I am right on the cusp of millenial, though I usually prefer to acknowledge millenial dates that makes me not a millenial. I'm not very into social media, primarily because I am very into privacy. I actually have "The Stew" on my list to try out, but haven't yet. I do cook quite a bit both for health, preference, and cost. Interestingly a lot of people in my social group use food services like Hello Fresh and Sunbasket to make cooking more accessible though it does add additional cost for the service over buying at the grocery store. I do share recipes and photos sometimes with friends, though not on social media.

I have found that access to recipes online has been a game changer for me. Like the article discusses, I keep a tablet in the kitchen. I save off my favorite recipes into Google Drive and can also pull up new recipes to try out. It's a lot less fuss than trying to wrangle a paper cookbook. I can just wipe the protective case off if I get food on it and it's much lighter and more compact. Plus it's easy to find new ideas online rather than having to purchase numerous cookbooks in hopes that one of them has a recipe or two that I will enjoy. I never end up cooking all the recipes in a cookbook.

I enjoy cooking at home, but get tired of it after awhile too. It's not fun when it feels like a chore.

I used to love going out to eat. Always felt like a small luxury. Sure there were occasional disappointments, but for the most part it was a positive experience. Loved being served a cocktail I wouldn't make myself and the same for an entree. Couple that with being able to walk away from cleanup and dirty dishes and you have a winning experience. Unfortunately, I'm not willing to take a chance eating out until we're out of this Covid mess. It's been almost 30 months since I've dined in a restaurant.

Btw, I've tried both of Alison's recipes in that article. We love the stew and dh really liked the shortbread cookies. Me, not so much.

In terms of entertaining, my social circle is definitely doing more dinners cooked at someone's house. Though that gets tricky with my generation since so many of us have very different diets. I am a vegetarian. My brother is gluten free. My husband is practically a carnivore. And often friends are doing some kind of diet like keto. But we usually find some way to make it work. I do think a lot of it comes down to cost and more recently covid. Restaurants are so expensive for what you get and usually I'm much happier with vegetarian food I can cook at home than what I can find at a restaurant.

Oops. What’s a millennial?

Wht’as a Gen X?

I will look it up.

ETA from Wikipedia

I hope I can figure it out and try to relate it to some social and cultural backdrop.

Yes, online recipes have been a game changer for me too. Saves space and also helps reduce leftovers getting thrown out, I can look up a way to use them and also the free produce I glean. But I still love occasionally a good cookbook. The really good ones have many recipes that you will return to again and again, like an old friend. If you trust the cookbook, sometimes I like to have fewer choices but all good ones. I also print my recipes and keep in a binder. I am such a messy cook, I hate to mess up my phone screen and I don't have a tablet, just a phone and laptop and I would mess up that keyboard in a nano-second in the kitchen . . . I also like a few old school recipe clippings and index cards. The older you get, the more you like returning to your "tried and true" friendly recipes. Of course when I was millennial age, I was trying out lots of recipes to find my tried and trues. But I still like to mix it up and try new things . . . but one problem when you get older is you don't have all the time to spare you once had and you aren't necessarily wanting to risk the time and money wasted on a dud recipe, which is why you tend to veer more towards the old favorites.

I'm not sure the social/not social is just a millennial thing, I think there have always been these opposing personality types. But I think we've all been adjusting and re-adjusting socially due to the pandemic. I'm still trying to sort it out, my rhythm is off it seems like. I keep trying to get it back but it's like one of those motors that is tricky to start . . .

I know I'm definitely a baby boomer, and I have clear and fond memories of spending time in the kitchens of mom and grandmothers when I was a child. I loved helping -- stirring the batter, licking the beaters, even being assisted by the grown-up when I was a little older and allowed to cook or bake mostly on my own, with just a bit of help. I can remember copying down recipes on little decorated index cards and collecting them in a special box. I still handwrite recipes and have a couple of bound books for handwritten recipes as well. Things were so different then, and I still love my old cookbooks and recipe cards. I treasure the handwritten notebook paper pages where Grannie jotted down how to make her favorite fudge for the holidays.

I do enjoy perusing recipes online as well, but tend not to get in on what's trending. I don't really care; I just want to make what I want to make.

We stopped eating out some time ago, but have just recently started going to a favorite Mexican restaurant once a week, or maybe once every other week. They have the best margaritas, and it's nice to go and let them make the food and drinks. I don't care to make drinks at home.

What was the actual topic again? Because now all I can think of is food!

I totally agree on the joys of eating out, particularly the no clean-up part. But I had already been cut off from that due to finances and distance with a lack of local options, so although I miss it, I'm not sure how and when I will get it back. All the restaurants in my small town serve almost exactly the same menu, because that is all the local market will bear. Cheap meat and potatoes type stuff mostly breaded or fried or loaded with cheese or some other type of saturated fat, cheese sauces and fatty gravies, etc. And sugar, lots of sugary stuff, from the drinks to the desserts. They all do a brisk business but when anything out of the ordinary tries to start up, it quickly folds. Particularly now. But it was bad before the pandemic, just has gotten worse. Many businesses start up and fold rapidly in my small town. We have a nice smoothie vegetarian friendly lunch place but I'm not sure how long it will last, it's expensive and I don't eat there for that reason, I can do the same stuff at home for much, much less.

Food trucks are a new part of the scene now though. We need bar trucks!!

I'm certainly not a millennial, but the ones I am close to are not cooking more at home. Well, at least not all of them. I'm still seeing many more of them who eat out - and eat out alot. My husband and I were talking about that earlier this week. I love to cook and usually cook about 3-4 nights a week, and eat out at least two dinners a week. That could include a night or two of left-overs, take-out, etc. The Mr. and I both like getting together with friends (both together or separately) for a meal. I find we get together separately more often for lunch. During the worst of the pandemic, we cut out our eating out, but we were able to get dinner-to-go from restaurants. One of our most favorite places (a sit-down restaurant) actually had a to-go window put in during that time. (Insert praise hands here LOL). We have long since gone back to eating out. We have not been in any big groups but with 2-4 others several times, especially our best friends (another couple). We have not done any home get-togethers yet other than family for the holidays. I wouldn't mind it with our besties, but she doesn't like to cook and feels bad if I have them over, so we go out more often than not.

"They now just get fast food takeout. And what they "eat in" is just a version of the junk food they eat out " I still see a good bit of that from the ones we know. I don't see alot of cooking healthy meals.

I'm not sure about numbers and different parts of the country, since what was in the article I think were mostly about experiential rather than scientifically surveyed numbers ,but my first reaction to the premise was, "Of course, they're cooking at home. Every generation needs to find ways to distinguish themselves from what their parents did..."

Gen Xer here, and while online access is Ok. I prefer cookbooks by a country mile. Even the NYT site is hit or miss.

That said, eating out is my preference. I have access to great food at all price points when I am home. Eating in is one of the biggest challenges for me dieting wise. I know that is unusual, but portions at the restaurants I frequent are not huge, and the restaurants are not fancy, but not mass market either, I guess. Eating at home is not as entertaining or as satisfying. Plus eating out sets clear eating boundaries.

What makes a good margarita? I've had the urge to make one, never having had one. I bought the orange liqueur, and a friend lent me her bottle of tequila. I had lime juice and lemon juice and used both. and made one on the weekend. I don't like sweet drinks but I added simple syrup, it needed it

Is there a better recipe? I thought it was just 'okay'.

I belong to a local food group and it's all people younger than me eating out regularly; several times per week. Both regular mom and pop and high end restaurants; and a lot of different cultural restaurants.

One person who lives alone is a teacher, eats out every day, all fast food and food trucks. Says it's cheaper to eat out than make something. Whew, I patently disagree.

All of our restaurants have increased their menu prices considerably. $40 for 2 for breakfasts of french toast/pancakes and sausage for example. The $3.99 breakfasts which we both loved are long gone.

I use simple syrup, fresh squeezed lime juice, Triple Sec, and Tequila.

Jasdip, This is the recipe my son used to make my favorite margaritas this past weekend. Fresh squeezed lime juice is non-negotiable. He used Cointreau instead of Triple Sec. I think Triple Sec is the better choice, but the Cointreau was fine. He used more lime juice than the recipe called for, like twice as much per drink, but that's just because I like citrus more than tequila ;-)

I used freshly squeezed lime juice. I received 4 limes in my veggie box which is what prompted the margis!!

I also bought Triple Sec....half the price of Cointreau.

Thanks, Zalco

I enjoy a good margarita.

I also enjoy a ’cheater’ margarita, most often served on a boat. No kitchen on the lake boat, I create from a cooler.

Toss ice into your red solo cup

Add good tequila*

Add Fresca (yes Fresca)

Flick in a lime wedge (optional, when being fancy)

Stir

Drink

Hang on

*2oz of tequila per can of fresca

I am not a margarita expert, but I like good quality tequila and triple sec along with real lime juice and a natural sweetener (ideally like agave or real sugar not corn syrup). I recently picked up a locally made mix that was real lime juice, orange juice, agave nectar.

I recently read that Cointreau is preferable over Triple Sec, which just means that it's all a matter of personal taste and opinion. Agree with real, fresh-squeezed lime juice and agave sweetener. Oh, and a high quality Blanco tequila.

https://www.seriouseats.com/which-is-the-best-orange-liqueur

Good margarita means good tequila (should taste pleasant straight not like lighter fluid fumes), good triple sec (of which Cointreau is one), homemade simple syrup from sugar (not corn syrup—some people like to use agave syrup to match the tequila, but it muddies the flavor), fresh squeezed lime juice (preferably Mexican or Key limes, but this is one instance where small English limes are fine substitutes). Same as anything else—good ingredients make it good.

I never heard of anyone making simply syrup with corn syrup.

They substitute a corn syrup mixture.

I like to use Patrón orange liqueur for Margaritas, and I like Patrón tequila.

I have Barss limes in my yard, and I find them vastly superior to limes I can buy in the store, and they are much juicier than key limes, which I will never buy (since I have a lime tree).

Sometimes I simply make a mixture of Añejo tequila, Cointreau, frozen limeade concentrate, and ice in the blender. The frozen limeade concentrate is very sweet, and so it is not necessary to add sweetener.

When I have an abundance of limes on my tree (which is frequently), I use fresh lime juice, but then I have to add some sweetener. I generally prefer Splenda, as I need to avoid sugar. Of course corn syrup is even worse than sugar.

I very seldom interact with any millennials, that I know of. I'm sure that I do, but I have never put them into that category.

We thought my son would be a chef but it's just a hobby. My kids always envied those that ate out. We did very little of it. Then they became young adults and all three are foodies as they label it. The girls enjoy eating out and do often with friends. Son, the budding chef, HATES it. From the waiting lines, to the service to the over priced poor fair. He can make anything he would order for so much less and sooo much better he takes up the gauntlet often. He LOVES 'sticking it to the man' as he calls it making gourmet dishes for pennies. He and his usual social group--5 couples often eat together but they do so at each other's homes. They often all bring a dish to pass. I love that this generation is bringing back to casual social gathering, playing board or yard games. My parents used to be part of a group like this also but somehow my generation skipped it. I think we gathered at ball games or concerts instead. It was our loss. I am just glad we managed to forge a few couples to gather with, casually. All can afford to join in. When you start eating out you risk someone not being able to afford it and that does not make for great times.

I am so delighted that my millenial son cooks so well. He makes wonderful vegetables. Unlike me, he tends to shop that day for the meal he will cook that evening so everything is fresh and the best it can be. I gave him a grill and he cottoned right to it, cooking all sorts of stuff outdoors.

Love to cook but not every day, been doing that since I was 11 and I'm 71 now, so eating in is NOT a joy. The pandemic put a huge crimp in our dining out, and we still have not gotten back to traveling, although we plan to start up again this fall. As we like to say, "we travel to eat", so we do midweek, multi-day stays around the area and dine out 2x/day. Have found wonderful restaurants and great chefs in so many places. I check periodically and am glad to find most made it through the chaos of the last 2 years.

There are good restaurants in the immediate area (and lots of them) but we've found many no longer open for lunch. Only dinner, and often just 4-5 days/wk. Now that I've at last gotten my double cataract surgery and can drive again at night, maybe we can hit more new places!

Looking at the more crowded places it seems the dining-out crowd is heavily weighted towards the Millennials/younger GenX'ers. You need a fair amount of discretionary income to dine out regularly in our HCOL region.

One interesting trend we noted at restaurants for a few years prior to the pandemic, was that despite so many people switching to vegetarian and flexitarian eating, restaurants were going all-in on meat - even Asian eateries!

However, with the huge rise in food costs, restaurant menus are returning to more "plant-based" (meaning use of the many new meat substitutes) menus. Quite a few new restaurants are vegetarian-only, including the upscale vegan-only Little Saint on Healdsburg Plaza (Sonoma County), run by the owners of the Michelin-starred Single Thread.

We got take-out tonight from a local Mexican restaurant. Nothing special but nice to not have to cook. We ate it on our screened-in porch with a view of our backyard gardens along the river. Other than the obnoxious neighbors and their overly loud motorcycles interrupting us twice, it was very pleasant. The restaurant is small, crowded but nice with a great bar. Since I can't drink, nor eat the cheese-heavy saturated-fat meals they offer, dining in at that restaurant would have only been a fun occasional stop at best even pre pandemic. I was just glad we could support the local main street business in a slightly different way, much better for us anyway at this point. Most of the items on the menu I make at home, for half the cost and better tasting and healthier, sad to say. So part of the fun would definitely have been the drinking . . . which I can also do cheaper and lower calorie at home, but I am not supposed to drink anymore for gut health reasons. At least not regularly.

I think the high end places will always have some level of market, and seemingly no end to the lower priced fast food options. I feel for those trying for the middle ground, or something unusual in a small or medium sized market. That's the tough spot right now, in so many ways. I can certainly see how at some point most folks realize they can't subsist on a steady diet of fast food and stay healthy over the long haul. I know some do not come to this realization ever and unless they are born with magical genes and a hyper metabolism, they end up paying the price after middle age.

The ability to "eat at home" and cook your own food has some pretty great survival benefits, so even if you can afford the luxury of eating out a lot, I think it pays to develop self sufficient, frugal cooking skills. It's not that difficult if you put your mind to it. We love our insta pot, for example, it has been a game changer for us!

That was a big plus for me growing into my teenage years with a working mom. I learned how to cook for myself and others to help out and split the chores. I feel lucky I had that opportunity.

DH and I are a mixed bag, enjoy both home and eating out. Eat at home probably 90% of the time. My younger Millenial married daughter eats out probably 90% of the time. She has never really been interested in cooking and they have a good amount of discretionary income. My Gen-x single son cooks most meals at home. He likes to cook and enjoys trying new recipes. Also, less discretionary income at this point, and he just is more a prefer to hang out at home person. He lives with two friends who also enjoy cooking and they frequently cook for each other.