Are you eating out less?

[Solasum]

I work in London, and the lunchtime cafes etc are still very busy, though it seems to me mainly with a young demographic. As a household though, we are definitely eating out and getting take away less. It just doesn’t seem worth it unless it is something really special.

In your local area, is there evidence of people majorly cutting back?

If anyone works in hospitality, have things changed a lot in recent years?

Not a journalist, just curious.

we used to be able to eat out for 3 of us (one 7 yr old) in a nice restaurant with wine for under £90. We often did it weekly. The same meal now costs £120. Between that and the food shop costs, we have reverted more to a weekend take away and eat out once or twice a month. The most expensive take away for 3 of us is £50.

It seems as busy as it always has been here, but we live in an affluent place I suppose.

We eat out about twice a week, usually a lunch and dinner out and possibly a takeaway once a month too. We have some lovely restaurants here. They’re on the expensive side though but they serve lovely food so it’s worth it.

I paid £15 for a takeaway jacket potato and beans. A bit gobsmacked

Was recently in the UK and was surprised at the prices. £3.30 for a cup of tea??!

We ate out a couple of times and it was around £100 for five people, which I didn't think was too bad (up North)

I retired this year and DH and I can afford to go out more, but we don't. I need to restrict salt (heart) and fat (no gallbladder). Joys of age. But, I go online and search for Copy Cat recipes, and duplicate some of my restaurant favorites. Egg Foo Young, Fried Rice, Oven baked chicken, Oven "fried" cauliflower, blackened fish sandwiches, broccoli and chicken in peanut sauce. It allows me to enjoy the meals I would order out, and control the fat and sodium. As an aside, it saves a lot of money!

I eat out a lot more because I earn loads more money than I used to. Just time of life I suppose. I get many fewer takeaways because there aren't really any nice takeaways where I live, just plastic fries and cardboard pizza and it's not even cheap. If I've really got nothing in and I'm knackered, I'll Uber Eats some stuff from the Co-Op, nowadays, over spending the same money on food that tastes like salted packaging.

But the pub food round here is getting better and better so we go out for a Sunday lunch quite often, and then maybe a midweek dinner with friends, lunch with colleagues, breakfast meeting, this sort of thing. All the places are always full here, but I know it's still so hard to make any money in hospitality.

The worst price I saw was £5.20 for a single scoop ice-cream, waffle cone. From an ice-cream van at Tatton Park.

Just madness.

Definitely. We've started to nip to M&S to get some nice food rather than go to a restaurant for lunch as a family - you can get a nice spread for the same you would pay for one main course.

Yes. Not because of cost though, because all the decent places we used to go to for meals have shut down! Plus we have recently moved and the takeaways that will deliver to the new location are not great.

Yes, not so much because of cost although that is a factor, but because of poor quality. It's getting harder and harder to find food that is anything special - unless you can pay Michelin prices.

So many menus now, half of them are taken up with burgers - if I want a burger it couldn't be simpler to cook one at home, it's hardly a treat meal. The rest is the same old rubbish, chicken in barbecue sauce, indifferent curries etc. Also menu space taken up by vegan options - I don't mind those if they are naturally vegan but they're always 'plant based' meat substitutes. Fewer and fewer places doing 'home cooking' - they are just heating up ready meals that you might as well buy yourself in Tesco.

I'm more inclined to have a cafe lunch than to go out for dinner, not too expensive and usually simple options but things you couldn't have on a picnic lunch such as a toasted sandwich, so it's worthwhile.

Yes I think one effect of people eating fewer meals out is that prices have gone way up for snacks, drinks and ice creams. The cafes need to survive somehow so prices go up for the smaller purchases that people are still buying.

Yes, not even just due to cost but the quality of the food and in some cases, the service. Miserable staff, usually very young with no idea of how to deal with the public. We do still eat out but we choose where from previously positive experiences.

100% eat put less.

Takeaways are legit less than 5 x per year.

We have cut back a lot due to prices. We used to go for a meal every few weeks a few years ago but it is only for special occasions nowadays.

Very very rarely eat out, but due to a combination of factors. We now eat out maybe twice a year; and when we do happy to splash out. Would rather spend £150+ for two on a really lovely meal once a year that neither of us could make at home, than eat out more regularly and be underwhelmed. Meet friends for coffee, which is still outrageously expensive for what it is, but get to do socialising for £4 a head or so, which fits the bill (and also feels like a treat still).

We eat out probably more but is just us now.
Our local does a nice Sunday roast for £15, l could probably make it cheaper at home but then l would have to wash up.
I live in a seaside town and lots of the resurants do cheap deals in the winter.
Unfortunately none of the takeaways deliver here so we dont get them very much. I do love a delivery when we go on holiday or to London.

Yes a lot less. And going on holiday less. Car finance agreement comes to an end soon and we will be looking for more affordable options/ looking for a used car instead. For the first time in 15 years. I’m sure many families are taking the same cost cutting measures.

What really scares me is the cost of food. It’s so depressing.

Yes, though not only as a cost cutting exercise. I'm retired now and the DC have grown up,but when I was working we'd get a takeaway 2 or 3 times a month on nights when I was late home from work and/or was driving teens round the county for hobbies. We've also a pub that does great food within walking distance so used to go there at least once a month. But since I retired and it's just DH and me at home the pace of life is much slower and I cook the vast majority of our meals. Obviously our income has dropped too though and prices have gone up so that has definitely had some impact. I can't remember when we last had a takeway though we do still eat out from time to time. It's more likely to be on a special occasion or if we have visitors than just for convenience now though.
The hospitality sector is definitely suffering though. We live in a popular holiday area and a lot of cafes and restaurants have closed or are struggling. We have got severa, friends who run such businesses and they are finding it hard, even though they are good, popular places that are usually full. The cost of ingredients, utilities, business rates, wages etc are all up and it is tricky to walk the line between charging too much and losing custom and keeping prices down and not covering costs. There's a real problem getting staff in lots of places too. It's a tough industry to be in at present.

We still eat out once a week....usually spend about £80-£100 for the 2 of us.
Both retired.

DP and I eat out once a week so no change, but we are late 50s so no longer paying a mortgage and the children are adults.

I have definitely noticed pubs and restaurants are not as busy as they used to be. I live quite rural and even a pub meal is around £50 with drinks. My DH and I will probably eat out once every 2 months don’t have many takeaways but I do meet my friends for lunches in the city say 3 x month.

We used to eat out in the evening at least a couple oc times at a local hotel or restaurant.

Now it's once a month for a cheap and cheerful lunch somewhere like a garden centre or golf club.

Much cheaper and tbh we can't be arsed going out in the evening now.

A lot, lot less. It’s sooo expensive, and the service and food are usually not up to the price charged imo.
but the supermarkets are charging so much now as well, it is really scary how much I spend each week for a family of 5 now despite being very careful, planning and budgeting etc I’m between £150-200
per week at Aldi.

As a child going out to eat was always a massive treat, and very seldom, and day trips would be with a picnic from home and a thermos. It might be partially my time of life (middle-aged, with school aged DC who eat like bottomless pits) but it feels like despite earning significantly more than I was at 25, there is no way I could justify eating out as much as I used to then. And even Pret sandwiches now seem extravagant

The price of eating out is severely detrimental to my level of enjoyment of said meal, so we don't go out all that much. DH feels the same way.