Do you prefer eating outside food at home or at the restaurant?

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MsMediator

MsMediator

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#1
Mar 8, 2022
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#1
I know most people prefer a delicious home-cooked meal over a meal at a restaurant for various reasons. This question pertains to outside food only (purchased at a restaurant, fast casual, etc., etc.). Do you prefer to eat the outside food at the restaurant or prefer pick-up/delivery and eat at home?

On one hand, if you eat at the restaurant, the food is hot, served on plates, and ready to eat immediately. However, you have to pay for drinks (soda, tea, etc.) whereas you can just open a can at home, and also pay the 15%-20% tip. You also have to look presentable.

On the other hand, if you eat at home, it is slightly cheaper avoiding the above costs (or about the same if you do delivery for delivery fee and reduced tip). If you do delivery, you don't even have to leave your house. However, you have to transfer the food to plates, heat them up, and then wash the dishes. In the past I've eaten out of the container, but the experience is better is plate/metal utensils. You don't get the restaurant experience and socialization, but you get the quiet, uninterrupted meal at home. I prefer to eat at home most of the time for these reasons, however eating out once in a while if you just want to get out of your home.
 
Eli1

Eli1

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#2
Apr 5, 2022
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#2
I do both actually.
In the summer i eat more outside since i'm more near the beach or on vacation mode which starts from early May and ends sometime in early September when the kids start school.
 
Lynx

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
#3
Aug 13, 2014
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Some things I can't get at home. I've never been able to make a pizza puff.
 
JaumeJ

JaumeJ

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Jul 2, 2011
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seoulsearch

seoulsearch

OutWrite Trouble
#6
May 23, 2009
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#6
MsMediator said:
I know most people prefer a delicious home-cooked meal over a meal at a restaurant for various reasons. This question pertains to outside food only (purchased at a restaurant, fast casual, etc., etc.). Do you prefer to eat the outside food at the restaurant or prefer pick-up/delivery and eat at home?

On one hand, if you eat at the restaurant, the food is hot, served on plates, and ready to eat immediately. However, you have to pay for drinks (soda, tea, etc.) whereas you can just open a can at home, and also pay the 15%-20% tip. You also have to look presentable.

On the other hand, if you eat at home, it is slightly cheaper avoiding the above costs (or about the same if you do delivery for delivery fee and reduced tip). If you do delivery, you don't even have to leave your house. However, you have to transfer the food to plates, heat them up, and then wash the dishes. In the past I've eaten out of the container, but the experience is better is plate/metal utensils. You don't get the restaurant experience and socialization, but you get the quiet, uninterrupted meal at home. I prefer to eat at home most of the time for these reasons, however eating out once in a while if you just want to get out of your home.
Click to expand...

I rarely eat out (due to expense,) but if I'm by myself, I'd definitely prefer to take it home. No need for me to sit there alone awkwardly (though I have done so in the past.)

If I'm with friends/family and it's a nice place with a great atmosphere, I like eating at the restaurant just to soak up the music and surroundings.

But if I'm rather indifferent to the setting (a plain restaurant like Applebees, etc.,) I'd much rather take the food with us so we can watch a movie and have a more interactive experience.

Great thread, as always @MsMediator! (I'm sorry I don't always get to answer your threads, but you always have unique and insightful ideas!)
 
R

RodB651

Well-known member
#7
Feb 11, 2021
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#7
If I go to a restaurant, I usually stay there and eat. It doesn't matter if I got friends or family, or by myself...

I do prefer to prepare meals at home though.
 
Lynx

Lynx

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#8
Aug 13, 2014
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#8
CarriePie

CarriePie

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#9
Jan 7, 2024
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#9
I usually stay in the restaurant to eat. I often go to eateries by myself, it's no problem for me to do things solo. My bestie and I are hitting up our fave steakhouse in a few days. We always eat in the restaurant.
However, there have been times on a few dates to hole-in-the-wall eateries (with very little seating) where we took the food to the nearby state park to picnic. I like state parks and am very fond of picnics, so eating outside with the trees and the birds and critters is a very happy place for me. I picnic often, but I usually prepare and pack the food myself...but I don't mind occasionally taking food there from an eatery.
 
CarriePie

CarriePie

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#10
MsMediator

MsMediator

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#11
Mar 8, 2022
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#11
seoulsearch said:
I rarely eat out (due to expense,) but if I'm by myself, I'd definitely prefer to take it home. No need for me to sit there alone awkwardly (though I have done so in the past.)
Click to expand...
I see what you mean. I am okay with eating at the food court or fast casual place (like Chipotle) alone, and feel too conscious to eat at a restaurant alone. I'd rather eat at home.
 
Tall_Timbers

Tall_Timbers

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#12
Mar 31, 2023
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#12
I'm the cook in our house. We never order things like steaks or other more expensive entrees in a restaurant because mine are really good and I usually buy prime beef since it's just been the wife and I. I developed my own delicious rub for prime rib and have long ago gotten very good at preparing that. I'm also quite good at preparing seafood.

I've been retired for a little more than 2 decades. I've had a habit of eating breakfast or lunch at McDonalds alone with a book for may years now. Which meal depends on the current deals they're offering. For a long time now it's been breakfast. I don't really go for the food. I go to be away from the house for a while and I read from an ebook while there. I'll usually sit for an hour or so and get at least one refill on a large diet coke.

When eating restaurant food I prefer to eat in the restaurant as opposed to getting the food to go. I've always preferred that and don't really know why. I eat a lot of burgers and will eat at least a few in fast food places during the week. When I cook them at home my wife doesn't eat her share of the leftovers so I usually have quite a few to eat.

I mostly eat fast food as it is just easier and simpler and usually less expensive. We probably don't go to a sit-down where I'll be tipping more often that once a month at the most.

Because I've always got an ebook handy I'm comfortable eating alone if the wife or someone else isn't with me.
 
MsMediator

MsMediator

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#13
Mar 8, 2022
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#13
BK and Chipotle are my usual fast food places. With the exception of fast food, I usually only order the type of food outside that I cannot make myself or is time consuming to make, such as international cuisine. I don't get food like pastas, salmon, steak, tacos, etc.
 
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