It’s what’s for dinner
One of the few downfalls of my relationship with Brad is that neither of us likes to cook. I really hate it, and he just prefers the convenience of eating out over the burden of planning and preparing a meal. So we spend a lot of time and money at our local restaurants. But we were curious just how often we eat out or order in, so in January, we decided to write down where we ate dinner every night. We weren’t really concerned by what we were eating, just where it came from. So we left blank the evenings that we made something at home. It’s a pretty good bet though that I had a baked potato and he had a package of Lipton noodles on those nights. Observe:
1/1 - 1/17 - Hungry Howie’s
1/2 - Bob Evans 1/18 - Fazoli’s
1/3 - Cottage Inn Pizza 1/19 - Andy’s (coneys)
1/4 - Panera Bread 1/20 - Martin Luther King dinner
1/5 - China Garden 1/21 - Cottage Inn Pizza
1/6 - Andy’s (coneys) 1/22 - Taco Bell
1/7 - Noodles & Co. 1/23 -
1/8 - Jimmy Johns (Brad) 1/24 -
1/9 - Hudson’s Grill 1/25 -
1/10 - 1/26 - Hunt Club
1/11 - 1/27 - Taco Bell (Brad)
1/12 - Cottage Inn Pizza 1/28 - Hungry Howie’s
1/13 - Wendy’s 1/29 - Mancino’s
1/14 - 1/30 - West Point Lounge
1/15 - Taco Bell 1/31 -
1/16 - Applebee’s
As you can see, we ate out or ordered in all but eight evenings last month. That’s three weeks of junk for dinner. And this doesn’t even account for what we do for lunches, which often means eating out as well. Let me highlight a few other things too. You might notice that we really like pizza, as we had it five different nights (2-Hungry Howies, 3-Cottage Inn). Not to mention the frozen pizza we had last night.
Also, on 1/8 and 1/27 Brad ate out and I stayed in with my baked potato. I guess that means my total is ten days instead of eight, although I put a hell of a lot of butter, sour cream and salt on my baked potatoes, so I’m not sure I’m doing any better.
We started and ended the month on a good note, you’ll notice, but the rest of January was a fast food frenzy. Except that three-day stretch from 1/23-1/25. That’s when we went grocery shopping for the first time in over a month and actually had food in the house that might consistute a meal.
We’ve tried many times before to eat at home more often. We plan meals and buy ingredients, but then they all sit in the fridge and cupboards until everything is moldy and curdled while we decide ordering a pizza is definitely the way to go instead. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get us to change our habits, but judging from the above list, we are WAY off track.
Does anybody else eat out this often?
February 1st, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I’ve eaten out (lunch OR dinner) twice a week. Once on Friday with everyone at work, and then I usually grab quiznos once a week. I bake my own bread for breakfast, I grab deli meat and keep it in my refrigerator at work for lunches, and I almost always make myself dinner. I enjoy cooking, so it’s a lot different for me.
So yeah, I think I’m on the opposite side of the bell curve.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:09 pm
oh. my. god.
February 1st, 2007 at 10:16 pm
To piggyback on your previous entry about going to see a financial advisor … did he/she mention that your eating out so much *might* be cause for concern when it comes to your financial woes? Not to sound like a mom, but I know that spending money on eating out is definitely one of our downfalls. It really adds up, both in the wallet and on the waistline, so if I can offer up even the smallest bit if advice, it would be to limit eating out to once or twice per week. That way, you save money AND it’s more of a treat. Just a thought! Feel free to disregard it if it comes off as condescending or intrusive!
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
MMMMM, Cottage Inn Pizza. Damn them for existing…
February 2nd, 2007 at 7:30 pm
my friend Stacey just sat down with a financial advisor about getting a loan to buy a house..and what kinds of things she could do without to cut cost..and he said the biggest thing was that she shouldn’t eat out so much, and spend so much money at the bar. I really don’t eat out much anymore…but I know I used to..its nice to have someone cook for you most of the time..:) You guys just need a chef!
February 3rd, 2007 at 9:49 am
I know that we used to eat out about that much. I still would if it weren’t for Susanne. And even she would preffer the ease of eating out all of the time. I know that we have saved a lot of money by not eating out though. The worst of it is I always get the look when she asks what I did for lunch. Uh…… Lunch? Um….. yeah I went to Wendys. Sorry, I forgot to take my lunch. Sometimes you just have to get away too.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Is it cool if I start commenting on your blog now? I hope so.
Greg and I order food probably 90 percent of the time as well. Part of this is due to the fact that we only have a range top, and a set of drawers below it, where ovens normally are, but a much bigger part is that we’re just very lazy.