Any reason for “Eating Out?”
We have a few theories about the whole concept of “eating out.” They vary widely. But strangely have a similar common denominator. Can you figure out what it is?
One of the most cited reasons for eating out or “ordering takeout” is usually “I don’t have time,” or “we are too busy to cook…”
Here’s an interesting statistic:
- The average American watches over FIVE HOURS of TV a day. Every day of the year.
So…
When people say they don’t have the time or are “too busy,” that is kind of a bullshit statement, isn’t it? They’re in fact, just “too busy” “wasting time” with passive, narcissistic activities.
It is plainly THEIR FAULT for “not having time…”
Like the Staples “Easy” button, always the path with least effort
Here’s another ironic aspect. So many people “eat out,” yet they have the nerve to complain about “sustainability” and “eco-friendly” crap. But those 35 hours a week they rot away in front of an idiot-inducing, power-plant-consuming screen is of no concern? How does that help the so-called “eco-system?” Can anyone clue me in?
The hypocrisy running rampant throughout our dumbed-down society is almost a national emergency.
Shut off your narcissistic self-enjoyment and take care of yourself
I’d love to have 35 extra hours per week. I’d probably use them to catch up on sleep, but that’s just me.
Otherwise – think about yourself or others you know who are “hooked” by this “ministry of disinformation and entertainment…”
To cook at home (with great ingredients that cost profoundly less than eating out) is a no-fricken-brainer.
The meatballs I cook at home (gluten-free in case you were wondering) are the BEST! Usually 20-24 meatballs per batch, and a total net cost of around $8. Lasts 2-3 days.
I make massive salads too. Do a huge batch.. once again good for up to 3 days. Cost? Also around $8.
For under $20, we’ve fed ourselves for at least two, sometimes three days. And that’s lunch and dinner. (Breakfast is another story – usually pre-grilled bacon or previously boiled eggs).
Ordering takeout for three days (six meals for two people) is EASILY $200. All while you were able to “enjoy” whatever digital entertainment you NEEDED.
Great, until you learn the value of money over mind-numbing trivialities.
But it’s ultimately up to you.
EXTRA CREDIT: How did “eating out” become so popular?
We eat 99% of our food prepared at home. What is your percentage?
You know, while “TPTB” touted eating low-fat, and more grains – almost ALL commercial food establishments peddled stuff that was HIGH CARB and HIGH FAT (at the same time). People loved it. And they still do, as far as I can see. Why?
Because carbs are addictive. Add the tasty fats to the mix – and you have a permanent customer (i.e., bacon cheeseburger on a 100g carb ciabatta bun). Keeps the medical industry in business BIG TIME!
People like to say “well, eating out saves me “the trouble” of cleaning up!” Yes, that is true. You pay a LOT more to eat out, so others can serve you, and you have pretty much nothing left to do but waddle home in your own self-imposed misery. Voluntarily.
Other than the obvious – how did eating out become such a part of our history?
Is it the experience? I don’t think so – because just eating at a table is no different than eating at home. They just hyped it differently.
Is it the taste? Maybe. Most independent restaurants cook great. Think Augustino’s in Hoboken. Best Veal Parm out there. But it’s like $30, when I can make it myself for under $10. And better. To my liking.
Add in wine, plus tips, you’re probably up to $100 for what you could have had for $20 at home. But that “experience” was worth $80, right?
So what is it about “eating out” that gets most of you wrapped up? Culture? Repetition? Complacency?
Something that everyone should think about in the new year…
(This post originally appeared on Hoboken411.com – http://hoboken411.com/archives/126925)
About Hoboken411
We’ve been “blogging” as Hoboken411.com since before Twatter and Fakebook infected the masses. Back in 2005, it was all about politics and other bullshit in and around Hoboken, New Jersey (and the tri-state NYC area in general). But since those social media “apps” have amazingly coerced the majority of the populous to “blog for free” (to make Fuckerberg insanely wealthy) we’ve taken a slightly different approach. We talk about whatever the fuck we feel like talking about (including some things in Hoboken). But our main objective is to slap the “mentally-enslaved morons” (as Mark Dice eloquently says) upside the face with a dose of reality. We know full well that most people won’t be receptive to our ideas all the time. But feathers get ruffled to this day still – which means (as they say in the medical industry): “It’s working!”
I cook for 4 people (including myself) usually 3-4 times a week. The rest of the time it’s sandwiches or leftovers. People who cry about eating organic or grass-fed meats saying they are too expensive obviously cannot do math. Even going to eat at the Clown’s will cost you well over 25 bucks for 4 people.
I can buy a grass-fed roast, throw it in the crock pot with veggies. The roast costs about 15-20 bucks. Veggies for 4? About $2 total. So that breaks down to about $5 per person, to eat a home-cooked, grass-fed and organic meal. The portions are not restaurant huge, but neither should they be. The average person only needs a portion of protein about the size of a deck of cards, NOT a 20 oz. piece of prime rib.
And if you put the food in the crock pot before you leave for work, when you walk in the door after work, guess what? YOUR FOOD IS DONE.
Even cooking something like eggplant parm, which can be more labor intensive, still doesn’t take that long, maybe an hour from beginning to end.
There are thousands and thousands of recipes online, you tube to teach you how to make it. So the excuse you “don’t have time” or “don’t know how” is BS. If you take a Sunday after noon and prep a few things for the week it will also save you time.
I think too that more people eat out because it’s a diversion, an affordable way to convince themselves all is right with the world.
Why eat out?
Try living solely off of my cooking for a while and you won’t have to ask that question again.
My mom was a bad cook. We kids usually made our own breakfast and lunch, but she often cooked in the evening. Our three meals were breakfast, lunch, and suffer.
I’m sure it’s like this in other cites – but there has been an EXPLOSION of restaurants here in Minneapolis. The more they have the worse the food and service. It’s had to believe that a ‘little’ neighborhood restaurant can charge $75 for a meal for two.
We cook 95% of our food. Go out for something we don’t want to cook – like sushi.
We eat out once every two or three weeks, just to get something different.
In my case its the side jobs. Working a standard 07:30 – 17:30 job followed by 2-3 hours of more work each night leaves little time for meal planning, stocking the fridge, cooking, and cleaning.
That being said, Friday/Saturday/Sunday are our cooking days, where we turn into hermit people and stay at home enjoying cooked meals.
What a rip. This article was not at all what I thought it was. Who cares about eating out food? Although I did like the picture of the chef…I’d eat that out.
If we are referring to the evening meal mostly, we eat 75% at home and 25% carry out Chinese/Asian food. We just love Asian food in general, Thai/Chink/Japanese, all of them.
There is an art to their sauces and spices and try that we might, we just have not been able to master them so we get carry out. I truly think Asian is the most healthy of the “carry out” variety. ( Provided No MSG )
Schlimp flied lice:
Ingredients:
1 cup of lard, 1 cup of yesterdays rice, chopped veggies, an egg, some soy sauce, 1 more cup of lard, and some tiny, shrimp shaped objects (made from chopped shrimp, soy protein, rice flour)
heated to 500F in a wok that is vaporizing the fat into a film that covers the menus.
all in a kitchen that used to be a shoe store.
Forget about it.
it is not food, it even makes dogs sick.
Anon- Velly funny……..We don’t eat Schlimp. Mostly vegetables in our take out.
Now go eat a BIG MAC and forget about it.
You guys crack me up. 🙂
Rarely do we eat out, usually for an occasion or with a gift card. I make my wife’s lunch every day, and have packed my own lunch since I stopped working in restaurants at 19. I packed my kid’s lunch all through school, they refused to buy school lunches, my son now packs his own lunch daily for work.
I do all of the food shopping and the vast majority of the cooking. This week was typical, Saturday was an oven stuffer roaster with all the fixings. An 8 pound bird at 99 cents a pound. This made Saturday, Sunday and Monday dinners, Sunday being homemade soup and Monday being chicken pot pie. Sum total cost of all three meals with all the fixings was no more than $30, easily feeding 4 people each meal and with chicken left over for sandwiches and topping for salads. 12 home cooked meals at $2.50 a piece.
People just do not make an effort these days.
Bob.
When I was low on work last year, we rarely ate out for financial reasons. Now that I’ve got more hours than I can shake a stick at, we occasionally eat out – usually when the wife has worn out and can’t stand the thought of cooking another meal. I agree, since no one should have to face an unending grind of any sort, and she has less stamina since the surgery a few years back.
You might just need a break today. Doesn’t help that there’s a fabulous, family owned hamburger restaurant just down the street!
This subject appears to be firmly in ‘live and let live’ territory…
With 3 kids and 3 jobs, we eat “out” nowadays only about 2-3 times a month, often when schedule & geography prevent the alternative. We also usually wind up with 2-3 drive-thru or carry-out meals per week – for the same reasons. If we “shop” well we can eat out pretty cheaply – not much more than home cooking a comparable meal.
That same schedule prevents me from watching more than 5-6 hours a week of TV, let alone per day! In fact, I’d probably not watch much more than that anyway, as most of it sucks so bad. Take out sports and news, and my weekly average is probably 2 hours.
As far as the chef goes – I’d eat wherever and whatever she asked me to!
Grew up just poor enough and just far enough out into the country that eating out was a “once a year treat”. In the 90’s, as a busy Scottsdale professional, I ate out $$$ an average of once a day! Now, my close friends, me, and even the ex are all very good cooks, and once a week eating out – with microbrews – is enough.
Very nice article. Enjoyable comments, also.
We eat out once or twice a week. I’m with Tim above …. we order stuff I don’t make at home!! . What’s the fucken point of ordering a hamburger and fries??
BTW, hamburger and fries are one of the MOST EXPENSIVE meals when ordering out. I can buy a pound of Australian grass-fed organic beef at Trader Joes for nine bucks. Makes four HUGE burgers, or six medium ones (I add various stuff to the burger.) Two large potatoes (I make my own fries, it’s so damn easy) for under a buck makes for a huge portion of fries for the two of us. $10 bucks total. What’s a quarter pounder these days? Around 5 bucks? So, ten bucks vs thirty bucks … and my burgers taste 100 times better.
Ms. Freuds son and daughter-in-law eat out five times a week, or more. They say they’re too busy. I say they’re lazy fucks. I love cooking from scratch, it’s a JOY. To the daughter-in-law it’s a JOB, something she hates. Well, she’s as big as a Mack Truck. She’s gonna hate her coming heart attack also.
Lastly, I think the author exaggerates a bit. He says …
“I make massive salads too. Do a huge batch.. once again good for up to 3 days. Cost? Also around $8.”
Yeah, I also can make a salad for eight bucks. But, “massive”? One that lasts “3 days”? That sounds a little far fetched to me, and I’m a frugal (cheap ass) shopper.
Instead of eating out when I’m busy, I microwave. And that’s saying a lot for me, because I hate microwaves. They don’t heat the food right and I’ve read reports that the nutrition of the food is altered when microwaving. But when you work 10 hours a day, sometimes something has to give.