Posted on 09/21/2016 6:00:22 AM PDT by C19fan
What’s for lunch? If it’s a homemade sandwich or last night’s leftovers, you may be in good company.
An increasing number of Americans are ditching $10 sandwiches and $12 salads in favor of food from home, according to new data from the research firm NPD Group. Lunch traffic is slowing at restaurants around the country, with weekday lunch visits down 7 percent compared to a year ago, the steepest decline since the beginning of the recession, data show.
The reason? Nearly 40 percent of Americans now work from home (at least on some days), according to Gallup, and lunch out is becoming too expensive for many to justify.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
at around $6-$8 even fast food is too expensive to justify, at least on a regular basis.
Especially when you consider most folks wages havent kept up with the underrated inflation numbers for the last 15 years.
less people eating lunch at the restaurants probably means that there are FEWER workers out there....
Fact is, they’ve been lying to us about the economy for years. There simply aren’t that many people working who can afford daily lunch at a restaurant. The unemployment rate is much higher than reported; many people are still home during the day!
To be honest, I find ALL food expensive. I rarely eat out these days and my bills are high. I do try and eat healthy foods and good-quality meat and fish. That’s where I go wrong, generally.
Hi! I just looked at your homepage and wondered if you were on the recipe thread at FR. It’s great and very friendly and non-political.
I'm the same way - much more polite, tolerant and cautious when armed because I don't want to escalate a situation and end up shooting when it could have been avoided.
Won't hesitate if actually threatened but my hope is to never have to point my weapon at another, much less shoot.
It will give an advantage to owner-operated lunch trucks.
For years now, I've been bringing food from home and microwaving it.
Yep. These days I don’t look as a weekday lunch as something just a little more convenient than brown-bagging it; I look at it as a fancy meal out, just not in the evening.
We are retired seniors on fixed income, how often do they think we eat out? BD’s and Anniversaries are the most common and then we split a meal like a rack of ribs and FF’s, or if we have a early morning medical appointment have to fast before. Then it’s IHOP time. BTW our Anniversary dinner was a local owned place we split a catfish plate with double FF’s. Spent less than $17 with tip.
When we travel we have a plug in cooler, so we can carry our own food and drinks. Just roll it into the motel room and fix sandwiches.
Hi back and, yes, I believe I’ve been there a time or two... ;) I love to cook, some days it’s the only way to get exactly what you want, and everything costs so much these days. I have to go to hospital 2x/week for pulmonary rehab, and I’m such a tightwad, I can’t pass up lunch there. For industrial chow, it’s pretty good stuff on the cheap.
A former shop manager once advised me, as I announced I was headed out to lunch, that having lunch was a dangerous habit, and if I started I would soon be doing it every day!
Motel room. How about tent?
When we traveled with the kids, we wouldn’t stop for lunch. My wife would make sandwiches and hand me one. I wouldn’t even slow down. We had two 1000 mile days in a row once that way.
I miss the blue plate specials. Basically a heaping plate of the previous day leftovers for a couple dollars. Usually a good deal. But don’t see them anymore.
I work in Manhattan and a decent lunch can be had for about $10-15. I usually pack a tin of sardines and a bag of nuts.
Growing up in the 50’s, 60’s, eating out was an occasional treat.
When I had a real job, I’d keep it under $5 a lunch, which wasn’t easy in the downtown core. If I wanted to splurge and go out with co-workers for a special occasion, I’d make it up with a few days of a bean burritos from Taco Bell, or a slice or two of pizza from 7/11.
“In the past 20 years I have saved enough to buy a modest house.”
People spend outrageous sums for small things over long periods. When I started at my second real job I was on my way back to my desk with a .50 coffee and it occurred to me to figure out how much I would spend in a year; hundreds of dollars. I then started thinking about all the places I spent money without a second thought, candy, donuts, eating out, cokes, etc. I never smoked but I have figured out for smokers how much they spend in a year. Today, a modest smoker can spend between $1500 to $2500.
I started cutting down and eliminating stuff. When I lost my job six years ago, it was until last month that I even touched my savings. I lived out of my checking account.
Other savings are, always buying the cheaper gas, even when it is just a few cents. Because a few cents at every fillup becomes thousands over time. Another thing is living cheaper. For various reasons I sold my mansionette long before I lost my job and paid cash for a mobile home in the woods. Not only did I stop paying a mortgage, I paid cash for property and a house and had money left over. (My redneck neighbors are far superior to the ones in my previous neighborhood, plus, I haven’t mowed grass or trimmed bushes in years.)
The lady next door brings me chilli made from whatever wild beast was stupid enough to walk onto her land. Coyote isn’t bad. I’ll pass on the possum. Plus, it’s usually better if she is smoking non-menthol cigarettes when she makes it.
I stopped eating out over 10 years ago and became a gourmet cook, for myself and friends. One mid priced meal at a mid-ranged retail restaurant in cost of ingredients can feed 5 people with leftovers.
Rare I order delivery and when I do it’s only for 2 and for the convenience if i’m not feeling well enough to cook.
It just became way too expensive.
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