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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how often you go to coffee shops...

177 replies

TinaTeaspoons · 09/07/2023 12:55

Or eat out at restaurants/get a takeaway etc?

Us-
Coffee shops- 2 or 3 times a week.
Eat out at restaurants- Once a week and somewhere cheap like mcdonalds or wetherspoons.
Takeaways- A couple of times a year. Used to get them a lot but too expensive now.

We don't drink alcohol or smoke so coffee shops are our treat.

OP posts:
TinyTeacher · 09/07/2023 14:52

Rarely! Our children are still small, so eating out is somewhat hard work unless it's with grandparents or similar. But I'm looking forward to taking my eldest (nearly 7) out to Pizza Express for a "big girl" meal next week

Slowlivingiwish · 09/07/2023 14:53

Runnersandtoms · 09/07/2023 14:46

Probably would have to be a separate thread but how often do people buy drinks in a pub? I know a lot of people who seem to go to the pub a lot. I only go if there's some kind of social event and I'm always quietly horrified at the price of drinks compared to what they would cost in a supermarket. £8 for a glass of wine when you can buy a really nice bottle for that. I can understand the social aspect but I know people that go to the pub just with their partner. I can't see why you wouldn't just have a much cheaper drink and a chat at home.

Couldn't you say that about everything though? 😂

Your thought process is a bit silly.

Fwiw - we go to the pub for different craft beer and new local gins which aren't available in the shops. It's nice to try new things.

DamaskRosie · 09/07/2023 14:54

Coffee- pretty much never
Restaurant- once or twice a month, somewhere nice
Takeaway- maybe once a fortnight

Tinytigertail · 09/07/2023 14:55

Coffee shops 2-3 times per week, usually to catch up with friends or between meetings at work.
Restaurants: Probably twice a week on average. I avoid chains, but will quite often pop to our local pub for dinner as it has an amazing menu
Take Away: Not often at all, I find them disappointing.

3BSHKATS · 09/07/2023 14:56

Coffee shop & Pret daily working in the city centre, otherwise months can go by without either

NeverThatSerious · 09/07/2023 14:58

Coffee shops, very rarely, we live rurally so it’s not like I can just pop in anywhere.
Eat out in a restaurant pub maybe once every month or so. Sometimes lunch (often on a Sunday for a carvery!), sometimes of an evening, but that’s more rare due to having a toddler/needing childcare.
Have a takeaway, once a week, on a Sunday evening (unless we’ve just had the aforementioned carvery!). MIL, FIL and BIL come to ours and we have a takeaway and play card games. Love our little Sunday night ritual.

SwordToFlamethrower · 09/07/2023 14:59

Meowandthen · 09/07/2023 12:57

Why? What’s the purpose of the question?

I wouldn’t set foot in a Wetherspoons or McDonalds if you paid me.

Why does it matter??? Its just a question, nobody is forcing you to participate, just jog on?

Iamblossom · 09/07/2023 15:03

Coffee shops - rarely, twice, three times a year? It would be to kill time....

Restaurants - once a month maybe? DH isn't that big on eating out as he cooks so much at home and thinks it's a waste of money. I'm not bothered.

Takeaways - maybe once every two months. DH makes far superior curries and Chinese dishes then our local takeaways serve. The only time we would get a takeaway would be fish and chips if we are really hungover, or a kebab.

yikesanotherbooboo · 09/07/2023 15:08

Coffee shop every 3 months or so
Takeaway about the same
Pub meal/ restaurant on holiday so a few a year... mainly self catering.

Augend23 · 09/07/2023 15:13

I think I average dinner put about 3x a month, and then br/lunch/coffee out about 3x a month as well.

I have a few places I return to regularly because they're independent, the food is excellent and frankly I don't want them to go bust. I'm quite fussy though because I am a pretty good cook and most things I can produce at home as well as or better than a restaurant, so they have to be using really good ingredients etc for it to be worth it.

JaceLancs · 09/07/2023 15:15

Coffee shop every day
takeaways never
restaurant maybe averages out at once every 6 weeks

Aquestioningmind · 09/07/2023 15:17

Coffee shops - Daily, but always independent ones (I avoid chains like the plague). Even in Central London there are some fantastic non-chain ones. I do have a very nice coffee machine at home (heat my own milk, grins the beans etc) but supporting a small business is worth the £3.50 each coffee out.

Takeaways - never, I can do better at home.

Restaurants - once a year? Again, I can usually do better at home with the same ingredients AND I don't need to listen to the conversation at the table next to me as people are so drunk they forget what normal volume is.

Unlike coffee shops, I'm yet to find a restaurant that I'm happy to pay through the nose for!

Beezknees · 09/07/2023 15:19

Coffee shop - maybe once a week.
Restaurant and takeaway - once a month.
Pub - every couple of weeks or so. I drink every weekend but mostly at home.

Kabbalah · 09/07/2023 15:19

Coffee shop on a daily basis - we have three at the hospital where I work and essential on a night shift. Fish and chips or a Ruby probably once/twice a month. And if I want to see friends I use my local Wetherspoons, who are very good.

If you want to pay £120 for two burgers and two glasses of wine then you're an idiot altho Jamie Oliver and Heston Blumenthal will be pissing themselves laughing.

Malarandras · 09/07/2023 15:21

I rarely go to coffee shops as I have an amazing coffee machine at home - I love coffee so this was a must for me!

Restaurants I go to fairly frequently, depends though on what else is going on.

Takeaways I only have on holiday as there are no good takeaways near my house. Just as well probably as it stops me eating them!

Lovelydovey · 09/07/2023 15:21

Coffee shop - never, I don't drink tea or coffee and invariably eat home made treats instead

Takeaway - maybe once a year, I think they're very overpriced for what they are

Restaurant - maybe McDonalds or similar with the kids every other month. Otherwise probably once a month/six weeks.

Poblano · 09/07/2023 15:21

Runnersandtoms · 09/07/2023 14:46

Probably would have to be a separate thread but how often do people buy drinks in a pub? I know a lot of people who seem to go to the pub a lot. I only go if there's some kind of social event and I'm always quietly horrified at the price of drinks compared to what they would cost in a supermarket. £8 for a glass of wine when you can buy a really nice bottle for that. I can understand the social aspect but I know people that go to the pub just with their partner. I can't see why you wouldn't just have a much cheaper drink and a chat at home.

It's the same for everything though isn't it? I can make coffee at home, but I go to a coffee shop to socialise and for the nice relaxing environment after work. It's the same if I go to the bar. I'm paying for the experience rather than the product.

megletthesecond · 09/07/2023 15:22

Coffee shops; maybe every other month after a different parkrun. The one I love had a delicious vegan brunch.
Restaurants; two or three times a year. The teens aren't interested these days. I ate out loads when they were little.
Takeaway; the kids have fish n chips every few weeks.

AdoraBell · 09/07/2023 15:23

Coffee shop - 5/6 times per week
Take-away - almost never
Eat out- depends on situations, either weekly or once once every 3 months

RedVanYellowVan · 09/07/2023 15:23

Coffee shops: virtually never although I did go to one in about 2017.

Restaurants: two or three times a year.

Takeaways: once or twice a year.

Lovely homemade picnic on a mountain, moor, fell or coast path: about 20 or 30 times a year.

Like another poster I would not set foot in a Wetherspoons or McDonald's however much you paid me.

Sceptre86 · 09/07/2023 15:23

I'm not much of a coffee drinker so we tend to go only if out at a shopping centre. Takeaways maybe once a fortnight but tbh it's not a set thing, our dd1 likes fish and chips from the chippy. Mcdonalds is a lunch option if out shopping with the kids, they'll all eat it without complaint. Restaurants tend to be for special occasions so a few times a year, more when we go away.

Yfory · 09/07/2023 15:23

Restaurants - almost never
Spoons/McDs - once a month
Takeaway - once a month
Cafes - Only if Im meeting a friend so maybe once a month.
Sandwiches/Greggs - once a week

IknowYouButIdontLikeYou · 09/07/2023 15:24

I wouldn't ever go to McDonald's (nor BurgerKing, KFC or anywhere similar).

We go to the pub for dinner once a fortnight (not Wetherspoons, although we have been there on occasion), and we go to cafes/coffee shops once or twice a week. We have a takeaway (Indian) once a month or so.

Yfory · 09/07/2023 15:25

And pubs (except an occasional snack/lunch in Spoons with a friend) never

GrapeHyacinth · 09/07/2023 15:26

Coffee shops. About once a fortnight.
Takeaway - once a month