Won’t bother me a bit, I have a kitchen with all I need in it to prepare good meals, have done for neighbors, friends and Church People...
Why spend all that money on something that doesn’t taste as good, is over priced to begin with and you really don’t know what all goes on in preparing it, but you do in your own kitchen, and it costs less to cook from scratch than to buy a meal from a place that raises it’s prices...
If I can add to your post(I do the same thing as far as cooking/dining out.) In my area we have a Caswell’s outlet that liquidates what all the regional supermarket chains can’t sell within certain time frames and also close outs ...I have gotten meats in bulk for 1-2 dollars a pound that would normally retail for 3-9 dollars per Lb. I then take an evening and make a beautiful meal while portioning the rest and freezing...My better half laughs when i constantly point out that our meal cost’s say $1.83.247 cents per serving! Don’t get me wrong when we do go out (rarely) I am appreciative of having a pleasant proficient server and tip accordingly as I as a youth worked in restaurants and know how some of the public can be. But I’m all about doing it myself and being frugal and grateful for the abundance of great food!
Very well said. And you can select whatever you like to eat and prepare it the way you like it (instead of having to select from whatever they want to get rid of) and you control the size of the portions.
My wife has 'complained' that I have ruined her for restaurant food. The way I cook and what I cook is designed for her palate and tastes and we rarely have any need to dine out. Unless friends want that kind of get-together.
Mrs Wbill and I only eat out at places where I either don't have the ability to cook the food (think, deep-fried seafood, which I shouldn't eat anyway), or we don't have the unusual spices, etc.
I can't remember the last time we went out for steak, or burgers, or anything Italian. Years, probably.
Last place that we went was a local joint, been there for a million years, and sells fried barbecue chicken. Hours are 4:00pm until they run out. Best to get there early. :-)
I have a really hard time eating out these days. The only place I willingly go is my favorite Chinese restaurant - outstanding food prepared fresh, reasonable prices & good portions. Lucky for me they are in a neighboring county (we live near the county line) that does not have a “meals” tax on prepared food like the county where I live. If you buy a roasted chicken at the grocery, that’s a 5% tax added on because it’s “prepared” .... what a racket. I drive to the neighboring county to avoid the tax whenever I can.
That being said, my dad wanted a steak the other day (he’d had a medical procedure & was rewarding himself for getting through it) & we missed the lunch hour specials. I absolutely could not make myself order an $11-14 burger or pay even more for something else (he was paying, too). I ended up getting a couple of chicken chunks in sauce for $5.49 (appetizer item). Don’t even get me started on the price of drinks like $3 for a glass of tea. I always get water, never order wine or dessert.
Knowing what food costs & loving to cook makes paying exorbitant prices something I can’t deal with, especially when the food isn’t well-prepared and service is lackluster or worse. If I want crappy food and service, I can provide that for myself, at home, for a much cheaper price.