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Latest post 04-21-2009 4:40 AM by John Holst. 3 replies.
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  • 04-17-2009 6:13 PM

    Eating out

    As families cut back on their entertainment spending, restaurants are feeling the pinch of empty seats.

    Have you scaled back on eating out because of the current state of the economy? Do you think twice before hitting up the drive-through or ordering takeout? How have your family's eating habits changed with the economy?

    Share your stories, tips and thoughts here.

  • 04-20-2009 9:36 AM In reply to

    Re: Eating out

     My family has not cut back on our spending on going out to eat and personally I think that no one else has because every restaurant that we go to is jam packed and there is a waiting line. Even with economy in the shape it is in, people still like to go out to eat & the economy will not stop people from that!

  • 04-20-2009 8:45 PM In reply to

    Re: Eating out

    No I wouldn't say that the economy has caused me to cut back on eating out.  Being a single guy, it is really hard to cook meals at home for less than I can eat out.  That is, unless I want to eat that same meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next couple of days.  In fact, a lot of the restaurants have been running "buy one get one free" coupons in the paper lately and I will use those and invite a friend to dinner or if I dine alone, ask for the second meal to go and refrigerate it and have it the next night.  You have to be creative but you can make it work in your advantage.  I agree with the other poster, I don't know which restaurants are complaining of empty seats, even on weeknights, I've found that I've had to wait at several area restaurants for a table.

  • 04-21-2009 4:40 AM In reply to

    • John Holst
    • Top 50 Contributor
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    • Joined on 09-24-2008
    • New River - Panelist
    • Posts 80

    Re: Eating out

    We've cut back on eatng out pretty substantially, and try to cook more at home when possible.  With the schedules my wife and I keep, that's not always easy and we do still eat out on a regular basis...maybe too regular.  From the looks of things, it doesn't seem like dining out has slowed appreciably, at least from parking lot views.  But, a few folks we know in the business have said their revenues are down from last year, so it is out there.  When we do eat out, we either opt for smaller meals or we'll split a larger one, to keep the cost in line with what we feel is a comfortable budget.  We got a shock to the system getting modestly sized steak dinners at a chain. and having the meal run almost $40 with tax and tip added.  That's far and away above the quality of the food and the dining experience...so when we go now, we can usually keep it to around $25.  We also try to go to places where we know the portions are bigger, so we have leftovers for the next day's lunch.  We skip buffets though, because we almost never eat empugh to justify the nearly $10 a person that most charge.  As for fast food, we try to avoid it because of the accuracy issues.  I've had far too many lunches ruined by a messed up order that I didn;t discover until making it back to the office, by which time it's too late to get it fixed.  So now, I just stock up on lunch foods at Kroger on Mondays for the week, and I can east an entire week's worth of lunches for a little more than what one day of fast food lunch would be.

     

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