Finding it increasingly difficult to justify eating out at pubs etc

Agreed, I love eating out and don't really have to watch what I'm spending but even I've flinched a bit at some of the bills I've been presented with recently.

It was my son's 18th inApril and five of us went to Hawksmoor, we certainly weren't depriving ourselves, a cocktail each, shared a dozen oysters, starters, two bottles of decent wine (mid-list about £50 each), mains with a few sides, pudding and pudding wine, coffee and a liquer.

And the bill was...

£978.

I did raise my eyebrows a little.

I think you can still get nice meals if you go to smaller independent restaurants. There’s a great one near us that’s BYOB (and they don’t charge corkage!) which really keeps the coat down, the food is tasty and plentiful, and they offer to bag up your leftovers to take home.

I also recently had a delicious brunch at a small independent cafe that was unsurprisingly packed out. It wasn’t cheap but I was only paying for myself as a treat with friends.

Pub meals I have been quite disappointed with recently. Vegetarian options are now always vegan and bland. For example I had a roast dinner with supposedly ‘stuffed butternut squash’ which was some slices of roasted undercooked squash with some stuffing balls on the side, not the same thing.

I don’t mind paying to eat out if it’s home-cooked, and as good or nicer than I would make at home, but if it’s just reheated catering ready meals I am not interested. Maybe people are getting better at home cooking now?

I also don’t believe all the online reviews!

Totally agree. Single parent to two teens so you're talking £50 just for a quick meal out.

And the service is non existent, most you have to use an app on your phone - then they ask for a service charge! And it's busy and loud and seats are rammed together and everyone is on phones or kids on iPads. It's just not fun anymore.

Most recently, the meals were all ready at different times but they just bring them out when they're done so no one even ate together.

We definitely eat out a lot less than we used to. We have also noticed that prices have massively increased but quality is lower in a lot of places.

There is an Italian place near us (not chain) and the starters in there are around £10-13 now!
I saw a menu for another local pub the other day, charging £7.50 for desserts - things like apple crumble, cheesecake etc.

DS is 11 but extremely tall for his age, with hollow legs, so he is on adult meals now which adds to the cost.

So, we mainly cook at home now.

It’s the poor quality and choice for me. We have totally stopped getting takeaways because they are all crap now.
My BIL/SIL still eat out a lot. But that’s because they have zero interest in cooking and they don’t really care what the food is like, they just want to go out all the time.

Totally agree about takeaways . I ordered Chinese the other month , sweet n sour chicken and rice used to be around £8 but this time just the chicken was £8 and far more veg far less chicken .
Fish n chips is now £12.80.
Went to our local garden centre and a slither of Victoria sponge wax £7.95. I’m just not going to pay it.

We eat out at least once a week but we don’t live together so it’s a bit more like dating

We’re quite lucky in that we live in a seaside town with a number of good independent restaurants and cafes

It, certainly, isn’t always cheap but we’ve found more and more places are doing lunch deals. Last Saturday eight of us were out at our local Thai which is extremely good. We all had two courses of high quality food plus drinks

£22 a head including service. Very good value in our opinion

Totally agree, we went to a local cafe last week for breakfast and it was £32 for two scrambled eggs on toast, a latte and orange juice. We also used to love going to our local pub but that is a rarity now. The kids have outgrown kids meals and last time we went it was over £100 without starters and deserts. We tend to just call in for a drink now but even that is £16 for two cokes, small wine and bottle of beer.

Yes it is crazy now. We eat our regularly, but have been discussing how shocked we are at the rising costs for a while now.

We’ve cut out alcohol and soft drinks and the adults skip starters/dessert. This reduces the bill by £30-40 easily. What triggered this was when we were noticing some places were charging over £4 for a soft drink, when beer was sometimes less than a pound more. We very quickly got used to not drinking alcohol and then that meant we could drive everywhere and try new places.

It feels liberating and everywhere we go now it’s tapwater! Feel healthier too LOL!

we didn’t do it in one go, it started with not buying soft drinks, which initially saved £15-£20. Then I decided to cut down on alcohol and my partner followed. Then we started noticing starters and deserts were close to £10, so we cut those out too. We don’t feel like we are missing out and we are eating a few calories and feeling better for it.

This thread makes me very sad. I worked in hospitality management from the early 90’s right up until 2017 when I career changed into teaching. Keeping afloat was never easy, and profit margins were minuscule. Then came Brexit and Covid, and the Ukraine war. It must be a living nightmare now to be running a pub or restaurant.

Food in general is so much dearer - my average supermarket shop is about 2x what it used to be a decade ago. A small fillet of salmon is over £2 per head. A decent steak around £5. When you add overheads, it’s no wonder restaurant prices are so high.

I really love eating out, but I agree it’s now a rare treat/luxury for birthdays or special events. I only choose decent venues, avoid “pub grub”. A bowl of pasta is £15, something more “extravagant” for a main is more like £20. A bottle of basic wine can be almost £20. We took a short break in mid Wales at Easter, the local gastro pub charged well over £30 for a steak, and desserts were £11 each.

We eat out at least once a week, but I agree it’s become really expensive.

We went to a pub on Monday for lunch, nothing special, and the bill for 2 was £80.

I agree. I'm not a vegetarian but I look at the vegetarian options and wonder how they have the nerve to charge so much for a slice of cauliflower or a few mushrooms. I buy only one piece of meat or chicken a week because meat is so expensive now. I eat loads of vegetables - I love them and they're cheap.

A great meal in a quality restaurant is a real treat

Ready meal from a chain, not so much

We only eat out if we can get a discount or free starter. Even then we avoid having lots of drinks or extras

DH and I treated ourselves to a meal out for our anniversary recently and whilst it was nice and I did order a seafood main I wouldn't cook at home it was so expensive compared to relatively recently. And I wasn't drinking- so not lots of alchohol. My zero gin and tonic alone was £9.
We used to eat out at least once a week. Not any more.If we want a treat we go out for breakfast/ brunch.But even that at our favourite cafe has almost doubled in price since we first discovered it.

All true.

Go out after making some food at home if you want the experience.
Order a drink, soup, toasted sandwich and a coffee etc but never spend more than you can afford.

Yes! I was out with the kids all day yesterday and DH wasn't going to be back from work in time to make dinner so he texted to ask me to pick up McD's on the way home. I started ordering in the app and it was going to be almost £30 for two happy meals and two adults meals! And everyone would have been hungry again by bedtime 🥴 So I spent £12 on ready meals instead, to which we added some frozen peas, and there's enough leftover for DH to take for lunch today.
On Friday I went to the local pub after school with some of the school mums and it was £9.50 for a HALF of shandy and two fruit shoots 😵‍💫
It's just not worth it anymore. And don't get me started on the ice cream van... 😂😭

It's not so much the expense, as the food no longer seeming worth it. It's the same old rubbish in so many places, with the menu padded out by ten varieties of burgers, and meat-substitute alternatives, to disguise how few options there are. Nothing home-made - just reheated stuff - why pay £12 + for a lasagne you could buy at Tesco for a third of that price? Paying £4 for a small soft drink to accompany the meal when it's a standard lemonade or coke. I understand they have overheads and staff need to be fairly paid, but when the food isn't different or better than what you could buy ready-made in the supermarket, it's a waste of money.

I think prices are a "postcode lottery" when it comes to eating out.

Here in the NW a curry plus drink at Wetherspoons is £12.26
Fish & chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce plus drink is £12.48

At a "posh" pub the same fish meal on "Fish Friday" plus drink is £14.95

There is a specialist fish restaurant in the area 1 course 16.95, 2 courses 19.95, the portions are a good size but drinks extra. Doesn't open every day.

Yes too expensive for ordinary food.

I feel it's all become so expensive when actually,we eat three meals a day. If I could eat once per week like a snake I could probably do so in a pub. As it is, I'm hungry again so quickly I feel ripped off. [But I am pregnant]

Tiny portion in the chip shop yesterday, I was starving.

We rarely eat out because we had other priorities, but when we do it's almost rage inducing. We've two DC & DH is a huge eater, so a meal out can cost half our grocery bill.

I also find the food has declined. Went to our local a couple of months ago, looking forward to a nice grilled Barra & it was now unaffordable. The cheaper fish I did get was cold & limp & veggies obviously from a prechopped bag. I could buy similar ar the supermarket next door.

We eat out a lot and I agree it’s not good value , a lot of meat dishes are circa £25 now . It’s only because most of our socialising involves meals . I do get that running , staffing and food costs have escalated for pubs . I guess everyone has a choice to make .

I agree with so many comments on this thread but then who are the people regularly eating out as if I go to my local big city, restaurants etc still seem really busy!?
We used to eat out fairly often, at least once if not twice a week. Now it seems we go only when on holiday or very special occasions.

We have never been able to go every week, but usually just birthdays and special occasions. I now just have lunch at home, but a coffee and cake when out shopping with DD. Our good friend is a wonderful cook and his roasts are legendary. We sometimes have Steak and cake ,as DD not keen on eating out as well.Cost of 2 teas (no cake) ladt week 4.40. In the village. Museum
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