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 are definitely eating out less, hardly ever these days, and never get takeaways. Where i live, even pubs are £19/20 for a main course. I'm veggie, and it's just not worth paying that for some pasta or a risotto when I could make something better and more interesting at home. The only meal we will go out for is a decent Indian meal, and we'll go out for coffee ans cake every so often...but even then, £4 for a piece of cake??!

This.
It's not so much the price increase (we all know that the price of ingredients have increased,so of course,they have to increase their prices) but the quality seems to have decreased to the point that some meals are not any better (or worse) than getting some nice ready meals for the "luxury" range from most major supermarkets. You may as well stay in,buy some of those ready meals,get a nice bottle of wine and put a box set on!

Not eat out or takeaways since before COVID.

Where l.live prices were becoming really silly long before the cost of living crisis. Just charging what they could get away with

Might get the occasional meal deal. Sandwiches etc.

But l prefer to spend my money on good reality Specially Selected,chilled type.meals from M&S and the big supermarkets. Quality ingredients you can count on at about a third of the price of a takeaway

Even Iceland does some pretty good 3 for £10 luxury meals

Enjoy
🍲🥩🍗🍔🍜🦞🫕
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I go to cafes for a coffee regularly. Occssionally a restaurant, but very selectively. I’m looking for a really nice independent. I find you can still eat beautiful food for a fair price if you go for the fixed price lunch menu.

We are rural so home deliveries are out of the question. We do eat out once or twice a month which hasn’t changed much.

i will say that im finding the quality of restaurant offerings has been disappointing at times. I try and eat things I can’t cook at home and some have been measly.

we also walked out of a restaurant where we had a booking. Was told upon arrival they were busy (we had a reservation) but watched two tables seated after us, receiving their meals before us.

Nearly an hour went by with still no entree (bread and table olives) and only 1 drink so we got up and paid for that and left. The cashier checked our table to see if we had eaten, confirmed there was nothing there (the computer had our orders showing) so charged us for the drink.

as the restaurant had a 2 hour time limit for bookings, I reflected on that in a review and the owner replied we left without paying.

i edited my reply to show our receipt.

last week an article popped up in the local rag to announce she was stepping back and someone else taking it over.

so I think standards are slipping…

Yes, we're a household of 2 parents + 2 adult DC and we've definitely cut back a lot. We now only go out to eat once a month or less but do go to slightly more expensive restaurants knowing that we'll 'enjoy' the food which makes a better value for money. When a McD's cost nearly £40 for 3 meals (shared among 4) and it's £25 for 2 coffees + a slice of cake at a garden centre then it goes past being a weekly treat and feels like a rip off. We used to get a takeaway weekly but now it's about every 6 weeks because we got fed up with feeling fleeced with less food and more money. Put prices up if you have to but don't then reduce portions as well because customers will not come back if it doesn't seem like value for money.
So we've gone from 1 x takeaway/2 X coffee/cake trips weekly & 1 x meal out per fortnight to 1 x takeaway/meal out every month/6 weeks approx and 1 x coffee/cake trip weekly or fortnightly. Sometimes we do go somewhere for breakfast which supports our local independent café and our takeaway go to is local too. The only commercial place that still does very good value takeaway is KFC (bargain buckets) and if we eat out before/after a cinema trip then 5 Guys is still very good on portions + price but we now rarely do this anyway as we eat before we go.

I think that looking at price to portion ratios makes you realise how expensive it has all become. If we want a quick Saturday night treat 'takeaway' that we don't have to cook from scratch then we now get ready made curry from Sainsbury's and get microwave rice at £1 a pouch or get frozen pizza (half the price of fresh) and add extra toppings/cheese. I look back and think that we slipped into lazy ways with money and we honestly don't miss it.

I used to eat out a lot and buy lunch every day at office. Now I bring lunch in - it's healthier and a lot cheaper. I don't go out as much now I have young DC, so when I do, I really enjoy it and don't mimd the cost. Not a fan of takeaways - they're often disappointing, expensive and far too much. I don't want to be eating it for days after!

We used to eat out ‘properly’ at least once a month, usually with friends, at a restaurant or pub. Now we just meet at each other’s houses and cook or have a bbq. I can’t remember the last time we actually ate out.

We also used to have lunch in a nice cafe or restaurant every other week on a week day. A combination of cost and hybrid working has put an end to that. Now I just take a packed lunch to work as I can’t justify the cost of lunch in a cafe and I’m not a fan of supermarket sandwiches.

We order takeaway once a month just because we love the food from one particular place. But that also used to be every other week when it was about £25 for both of us. Now it’s almost £40 for the same food.

I’m much more selective when it comes to eating out as I don’t want to pay for something I can make myself, often with better ingredients.

Yes, definitely. There are some nice pubs around where we live, but the prices have gone up from around £13-£18 for a main course to £19-£25 within just a few years.
We still go very occasionally, but much less often than before.
Never get takeaways – they’re bit rubbish around here.

I eat out less and don't eat take aways anymore, except for fish and chips at the seaside, should I be on holiday.

It's not so much about money for me, more health and weight. I have lost about 30kg, and cut out UPFs, so not wanting to eat rubbish. We do eat out sometimes though, it will most likely be a Japanese restaurant or a nice pub. Although saying that I have eaten out once a week for the past few weeks, but this is more due to occasions than just for the sake of it

Yes, I think we are. We used to go out fairly freely, but now it's unusual to go for a meal. We still go for coffees. I can't decide if its because im on mounjaro so tend to snack a lot more, or whether its the cost seems to have escalated and its very hard now to feel like you get good value. I guess the cost has escalated back to the point where its a "special occasion" meal like a birthday, rather than something you'd decide to do on spec.

I suppose that's because we've got less disposable income. It hurts to spend money rather than save it.

On hols night 5 and cooking for the third time. So yes, I'd prefer to go out more

Yes. Im quite a good cook, as is my DP, and I started to resent paying the earth for something I could russle up in the kitchen almost as as successfully. Going to restaurants in the last couple of years has been disappointing. There is a very nice Chinese take away that I still use about once every 3 weeks as a treat, but Ive very much cut back on eating out in reataurants. I think a lot of places are an absolute rip off. I really really do.

👏I think pppl should vote with their feet..Then maybe some good value for money places will start springing up. People shouldnt put up with it. We are being ripped off right, left and centre nowadays and it's really not good enough.

I meet friends for lunch fairly frequently, usually in local cafes. The cost of that now is pretty much what I would have paid for dinner in a restaurant a few years back. Dinner is almost prohibitively expensive so we do that much less often, usually just for special occasions. Like others, I find the quality of restaurant food has gone downhill and I resent the cost. I enjoy cooking and am reasonably good at it - I think I've become a victim of my own success though!

We are. Mains that use to cost £12 cost £20 now, alongside one child now eating adult portions + drinks rising.... Meals out used to cost £50ish, now closer to £100. Can't do it. Going on a British holiday next week and been looking and menus in the area and we just can't do it

We no longer go out for meals or have takeaways.
Used to do it a couple of times a week.
The prices have gone up hugely but the quality of food and service has plummeted and it is not enjoyable.

Yes, much less. We used to go to a chain with a discount code at least once a month, sometimes even if we didn't fancy cooking - it was great value and something different.

Now we only go out for special occasions, and rarely to chains unless catering for tricky tastes because they're so expensive for what you get.

Used to eat out a lot but actively avoid it now and would rather spend the money on a weekly shop than pay over the odds for poorer quality that could be cooked better at home.

I’d say I extend this to pretty much all hospitality places now such as Costa and the like. I resent paying £5odd for a tiny, upf laden cake

Even a Nando’s is over £40 for two of us now if we both have a soft drink. It’s just too much.

I don’t think we eat out less, but we are more likely to choose nicer places or independent places these days. I don’t think a Nando’s is worth £40+ (as a Nando’s lover).

We spent £1013 eating out 2024-2025 and £749 2025-2026. We just can't be bothered anymore. I suspect 2026-2027 will be even lower as no food is worth the prices paid to go out.

We're a poor country now and need to come to terms with everything becoming more and more expensive. Necessities like housing are unaffordable, and anything else that made life worthwhile is going the same way.

Let's see if we start exporting our children as economic migrants to richer countries in the next decade or 2... I wouldn't be surprised.

Used to get a tske away or eat out once every 6 weeks but now its once every 3 months. I dont know what has happened to London cafe / restaurant prices - they've gone through the roof.

Went to Cheltenham and ate in a lovely pub in the middle of nowhere for half the.cost of what it would have been in London.

Currently in the Mediterranean and the price differential between London and here 5 years ago was maybe 30: cheaper than London. Now its at least half the cost of London.

I feel bad for restaurants as I walk past and see them empty but I refuse to buy food I can make better myself at home for 20% of the cost.

Yes we eat out a lot less now. Used to be maybe one or twice a month now more like once in a blue moon! Special occasions only now really.

I genuinely think restaurants just can't afford to lower their prices - rent, wages, ingredients and utilities cost A LOT and they try to survive by using as cheap as possible ingredients but end up serving mediocre / low quality food as this is the main area they can save on so end up loosing more customers.

I'm in a London suburb and I saw my local chicken shop location advertised for £60k/year in rent.