'fess up, how much do you spend per month?

[pissaladiere]

Hi there,

I've been lurking on this thread for a while and have finally decided to post. As I write I am imagining many of you at Outstanding in the Field enjoying your amazing $145 meal and wine in the idyllic setting of UBC Farm. I am so jealous. It is my blatant envy of some of you regulars (Ling, Daddy-A, Deborah etc.) that has motivated me. I am a mom living in the outskirts of Vancouver who is somewhat food obsessed. My somewhat less of a foodie husband and I try to have one nice meal out per month (in the last while we've been to Chambar, West, Feenie's, Parkside, Hamilton Street Grill) and one inexpensive, family friendly meal per week (like take out from Rangoli, fish 'n chips at the beach, White Spot, casual chinese, sushi). In addition, the kids and I probably go for coffee and cookies and a casual lunch once per week. This rather limited dining out (compared to some of you) adds up to somewhere between $400 and $500 per month (mind you this is for a family of 4). So 'fess up guys, how much do you spend eating out per month (include coffee, take-out etc.)?

[Andrew Morrison]

As my wife is a lurker (and perhaps my editor, too), I can say with confidence that I never, ever, go beyond my budget of $12.73 a year.

[*Deborah*]

Oh, that Outstanding in the Field dinner (tomorrow) is one I can't afford to attend.

I eat out more than I should, and certainly more than I can afford, but happily my parents like to treat me from time to time. In particular, the fancier dinners are usually not on my tab...it's busy at the moment, though, birthday next week, so celebratory parental dinners abound

If I honestly added it up, I'd probably be eating at home until 2006, so I won't

[SBonner]

Unfortunately we spend way too much on food, drinks, and travel. We have no children, a small loft, and two incomes. I'm too discret and not really sure how much we spend on the above to answer your question. I might add that the Outstanding in the Field dinner is abit of an indulgence but it is the only day my wife and I have off together so we plan to appreciate all of it.

Cheers,

Stephen

Edited August 13, 2005 by SBonner (log)

[nwyles]

I would not like to think about how much. I am just happy that not many of my dollars are not wasted on bad meals. Life is too short for that.

[3WholeCardamoms]

Depending on payday and proximity to rent day. Maybe $100 per wk. Definitely, with the farmers markets so plush, it is le$$ these months than in winter. Lean weeks see me show up for work eat as much as i can in 8.5 hrs.

I don't think the real heavy hitters are gonna out themselves for the world to see.

[Rebecca263]

I just thought about it. ULP. NOT ENOUGH AND TOO MUCH! Actually, kiddle and I spend more money on food at home than in restaurants. We tend to go out of our way to try new out of the way places, though I DO admit on the cheap! We go for lunch instead of dinner and we eat lots of small orders instead of meals. I'm recovering from a big illness over the winter, and haven't worked since February, so we're really on a budget, and kiddle, being a teenager, needs new clothes, often! I see people eating in expensive places and seemingly knocking it back to the tune of fifty, a hundred and much more, and I feel no envy, my kitchen is full of fantastic meals and memories thereof!

[transfattyacid]

hi pissaladiere .

Yah, we spend about the same, granted there`s only the two of us at the moment , but thats gonna change soon.

It`s also comforting to know that the middle ground and budget dinning in Vancouver is, imho, were all the best cooking is done anyway , so i dont feel like we`re missing out .

When we (very) occasionally break the bank and venture to a high end restaurant and put dinner on the credit card, i`m always left asking if it was worth it, not that i don`t understand the economics behind serving cote de veau, paying rent at a premium location and providing a means of subsistence for skilled kitchen and floorstaff, i just get itchy if the bill is more than $70 a head.

Maybe it because i`m at that point in my life where priorities don`t include mincing round glowballs sipping martini`s.

My somewhat less of a foodie husband and I try to have one nice meal out per month (in the last while we've been to Chambar, West, Feenie's, Parkside, Hamilton Street Grill)

Tell me , did you take the kids along to the above or not ?

[pissaladiere]

It`s also comforting to know that the middle ground and budget dinning in

My somewhat less of a foodie husband and I try to have one nice meal out per month (in the last while we've been to Chambar, West, Feenie's, Parkside, Hamilton Street Grill)

Tell me , did you take the kids along to the above or not ?

←

[transfattyacid]

No, we didn't take the kids along to these restaurants. We like to have a relaxing, long, leisurely, and usually, late meal

fair play.

3 and 5 year old

awww , I`m getting all paternal :]

Although, by no means fancy by French standards, these were fabulous restaurants

Im a great believer of removing the haute from french cuisine and you find the real cooking . what a great experience to enjoy ' en famile '

[Daddy-A]

This rather limited dining out (compared to some of you) adds up to somewhere between $400 and $500 per month (mind you this is for a family of 4).  So 'fess up guys, how much do you spend eating out per month (include coffee, take-out etc.)?

Truth be told, you're budget is pretty close to mine ... I'm maybe just over $500 if I include coffee and the occaisional Mars Bar. Don't assume that because I'm writing about a lot of meals that I eat out all the time. I probably eat out for lunch 3-4 days out of 5 during the work week. That's the nature of my job. I'm on the road a lot, so taking leftovers isn't possible, and I really really hate doing sandwiches every day. Dinners out? Maybe 1-2 a month, not including vacations (when you have to dine out.)

For my wife & I, dining out is a hobby. It's a chance to try something new and experience the service and personality of a given restaurant, and often a chance to get together with friends. Personally, I prefer cooking at home, but with both of us working and wanting to spend time with my kids, the convenience of it also factors in.

As far as the "Outstanding in the Field" dinner goes ... we splurged. Plain and simple. This dinner would not normally be on our radar. But it's my 40th birthday today and the chance to dine al fresco on food prepared by David Hawksworth was too good to pass up.

I don't think the real heavy hitters are gonna out themselves for the world to see.

For some, questions pertaining to money are personal and frankly, nobody's business but their own.

A.

[transfattyacid]

But it's my 40th birthday today

Happy Birthday!

enjoy the day

[Mottmott]

This rather limited dining out (compared to some of you) adds up to somewhere between $400 and $500 per month (mind you this is for a family of 4).  So 'fess up guys, how much do you spend eating out per month (include coffee, take-out etc.)?

Truth be told, you're budget is pretty close to mine ... I'm maybe just over $500 if I include coffee and the occaisional Mars Bar. Don't assume that because I'm writing about a lot of meals that I eat out all the time. I probably eat out for lunch 3-4 days out of 5 during the work week. That's the nature of my job. I'm on the road a lot, so taking leftovers isn't possible, and I really really hate doing sandwiches every day. Dinners out? Maybe 1-2 a month, not including vacations (when you have to dine out.)

For my wife & I, dining out is a hobby. It's a chance to try something new and experience the service and personality of a given restaurant, and often a chance to get together with friends. Personally, I prefer cooking at home, but with both of us working and wanting to spend time with my kids, the convenience of it also factors in.

As far as the "Outstanding in the Field" dinner goes ... we splurged. Plain and simple. This dinner would not normally be on our radar. But it's my 40th birthday today and the chance to dine al fresco on food prepared by David Hawksworth was too good to pass up.

I don't think the real heavy hitters are gonna out themselves for the world to see.

For some, questions pertaining to money are personal and frankly, nobody's business but their own.

A.

←

Have a Happy Birthday. And many more good dinners.

Yes, you're right money is funny. How many of us are amazed (perhaps envious) when we see others (it's always others, eh?) who spend a hundreds per person for dinner out? And yet, we hardly notice that our daily Starbuck latte runs more than $1000. per year. And let's not count what many of us spend on take out and order in dinners and lunches.

If we all annualized what we spend on low end take out, from the latte to pizza or hoagie for dinner and lunch out instead of brown bagging it, most of us could splurge on a few high end meals a year and still have money left over.

The money I spend on occasional "expensive" meals costs me far less than the "cheap" ones.

[Chris Amirault]

Honestly, after reading this thread, I'll bet that we spend about $400/month on food out of the house. I'll also bet that, if you had asked me before reading it and doing some honest addition, I would have said "about $200/month."

[TheFoodTutor]

Very nice observations so far, and I'll be the next to say, "Happy Birthday!"

Count me among the folks who "find" the money to have an occasional extravagant meal by living lean in other ways. I drive a very old car. I work extra hours. I also work a job where I'm not stuck in an office, thinking about which sandwich shop I'll be visiting at lunchtime. In fact, at lunch these days, I'm in a kitchen with a bunch of Mexicans who are thinking up what sort of tacos or pizza or whatever to make for family meal, so lunch is free and sodas are free.

And when I do go out, most everyone in the restaurant business knows me, so I get a free drink here or there, a free appetizer or maybe dessert, or sometimes just an "industry discount" of 50% applied to all food items on the bill.

What's the catch? Well, to get all that stuff, I simply have to sweat my butt off in a kitchen all day long. Or alternatively, I could sweat my butt off in the front of the house, as I used to do.

I'd say what I spend on restaurant meals per month, but it kind of freaks me out to add it up, depending on what month we're talking about. My birthday month of July was most likely a record-breaker, so I'd prefer to just not talk about that.

[racheld]

Does anyone else notice that when you read the first paragraphs of FoodTutor's posts really fast, that cat MOVES?

[3WholeCardamoms]

You gotta hold your head still when your reading.

[Eden]

I would not like to think about how much. I am just happy that not many of my dollars are wasted on bad meals. Life is too short for that.

←

I think that sums it up nicely. I know we spend an outragous amount compared to what we did in our cash-strapped youth, but hey life is for living... (and for good cheese! ) I will admit that since we started drinking wine regularly a while back the food buget has almost doubled. A fact that nearly gave us a heart attack the first time we stopped & noticed, because we just couldn't figure out how we'd spent all that $$ when we knew we hadn't done any big splurgy meals recently

[=Mark]

Yes, you're right money is funny. How many of us are amazed (perhaps envious) when we see others (it's always others, eh?) who spend a hundreds per person for dinner out?  And yet, we hardly notice that our daily Starbuck latte runs more than $1000. per year. And let's not count what many of us spend on take out and order in dinners and lunches. 

If we all annualized what we spend on low end take out, from the latte to pizza or hoagie for dinner and lunch out instead of brown bagging it, most of us could splurge on a few high end meals a year and still have money left over.

The money I spend on occasional "expensive" meals costs me far less than  the "cheap" ones.     

←

Yeah, when telling folks I know about some of the meals I've had they seem amazed at what I would spend (OK, $500+ per month). Yet when I point out that they could easily spend as much or more freezing their butt off on some snowy mountain during a ski weekend, they remain unimpressed.

Hmmm, fine food and wine in a warm opulent setting while being attended to by the best in proffesional service staff, or risking breaking my butt on some slushy wet mountain... Let me think...

[fiftydollars]

My rapidly accelerating spiral of downward mobility has been fueled by my appetite.

I’ve eaten almost every dollar I’ve ever made.

[tejon]

In a really extravagent month, one which we planned for ahead of time, we spend $100 on dining out (including fast food). Love for that to be higher, but with a very limited budget and two small boys who aren't yet ready for much beyond McD's, there we are. Thankfully I love to cook and end up making the majority of all our meals and am able to dine vicariously through others here at eGullet.

[Ninjai Fanatic]

I don't spend a single cent per month for eating out. I really prefer just cooking at home- since I do have the time and means to prepare just about anything I want.. of course it's not always as good as I want it to be, but I very much prefer what I or my sisters/dad cook to restaurant food or food that other people prepare. Call me a snob or whatever- it saves money!

[eipi10]

About $1,000/month. I'm rich--OK I'm living on student loans in an 8x10 dorm room. But still, I won't eat anything below a fairly high standard. I wouldn't mind cooking, but small dorm kitchen + no car + Whole Foods being 2 miles away makes cooking impractical.