Finding it increasingly difficult to justify eating out at pubs etc

[JupiterJa]

This is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, but I just find the financial outlay to be hard to justify now. A fairly average meal is now usually between £17-£20 (say a burger, or fish and chips) with a pint or glass of wine usually over £6. I just don’t feel the experience warrants the outlay now, especially midweek, so these trips are becoming rarer and rarer.

Not so long ago £15 would comfortably cover everything and I felt that was good value.

Does anyone else find themselves making less frequent visits now?

I am finding it increasingly difficult to afford going out at all even for coffee and a sandwich, paid £10 the other day for a cheese toastie and a cappuchino in a local cafe the other day. It was about £7.50p a year ago. Did a moderately big shop today at Asda, it was £55, nothing extravagant, no ready meals as I cook a lot and menu plan. I and a few mates used to go out once a month to eat out, see a film and have a couple of drinks but we have had to cut this down to once every couple of months, no meal and maybe have a coffee before we see the film. Things are so costly and not very good value for what you get

We basically never have dinner out, but we do tend to go to a cafe for breakfast/brunch once a week, usually around £25 for 2 people.

I much prefer going for a coffee/cake etc and that's how I socialise rather than at a restaurant, or again, breakfast with friends. It's so much cheaper and you still can be there for an hour and a half, having two hot drinks, and you won't spend as much.

I also work in a restaurant. It's extremely (EXTREMELY) busy and extremely expensive and I'm always frankly baffled at how many people are willing to pay the prices. Obviously glad they do 😂 but a typical meal with soft drinks and either a side or starter where I work will set you back easily £70 for a couple and I think that is a lot of money for a dinner out.

I go out occasionally to michelin starred restaurants or nice non chain places that have been recommended. I'd much rather go out once a year and pay £150 for an amazing experience.

Equally, I look at these businesses and wonder how they make ends meet when people pay c.£25 for a meal with a drink, including ingredients, staffing, utility bills, insurance etc. It’s a wonder they manage to keep going.

I agree, pretty much all pub food is the sort of meal it would be very easy to recreate at home.
The only pub meal i’ll occasionally entertain spending money on is a carvery because cooking a decent roast can be as expensive as a pub and time consuming.
We will order in or eat out for Indian, Chinese, Thai and Sushi. I feel like a lot of cooking skill that I don’t posses goes into a good curry.

We live in the south east but often work in the north West. There is a noticeable difference in prices and portion sizes! Which also leads to a noticeable difference in how busy the restaurants are - they are bustling on a weekday evening in just a normal town like Bolton whereas in our town in Kent many are empty and struggling to survive

Working in a restaurant I can honestly say it's no wonder so many go out of business. Labour costs and controlling them is such a huge issue every single day. Minimum wage is now £12.21 per hour and you don't get decent chefs and bartenders and waitresses for £12.21. The reason IMO why service is usually worse than it used to be now is that the industry standard of how many tables a server should have has increased. Back in even 2018 it would be usual for one waitress to have 5 tables in her section, or maybe 6 if they were all 2 tops. Now it is more likely to be at least 8, often more. Less bodies is a simple way to reduce massive staffing costs - but this is why it feels we now wait endlessly for bills, extra drinks, orders to be taken...

I'd honestly rather just go to cafes with counter service where this isnt a problem, or occasionally splurge on a very expensive small restaurant with top quality service. Spending £70-80 for mediocre isn't worth it to me.

Pàid £4.50 for q slice of dryish coffee cake, DH had vi toria sponge filled with artificial cream £4 at a national trust.

So next time it will be just a cup of tea.

We say this all the time. We used to have dinner out just for a quick tea type thing. Now we only go out for somewhere really nice that we know will be good and it’s a lot less frequent. Same with takeaways- I will just cook and we only get takeaways if we have a big day trip out and get back late.

This. Better restaurants less frequently.

Have never been one for pub food though.

Pub type restaurants especially are just not worth it, and the food is never very good - definitely not as good as DHs cooking. We stopped going years ago for that reason. We do still get curry takeaways, which, for a while, were significantly cheaper than pub restaurants, but even those are going up now.

Weirdly in our town, we have 2 pizza takeaways, which are still fairly cheap, so still get those occasionally. Cost of drinks is just ridiculous, relative to the cost of a bottle of wine from a supermarket - the difference has gradually increased over the years.

I'm amazed at how full all our cafes and restaurants seem to be though. I've always been a bit sceptical of the CoL crisis because of it TBH - some people might be struggling, but plenty aren't.

We used to eat out a couple of times a week but haven't at all for about 18 months because it's just too expensive. I really miss it. I like going out and I like food I HAVENT HAD TO COOK.

I prefer eating out much less for a better quality experience of food rather than mediocre food that's priced too high. I feel for the business owners to an extent and with the recent N.I increase that must be impacting but I hate feeling ripped off (who doesn't).

My local arts venue with a restaurant attached charge £12 for a fine but unexceptional salad, £18 for a nut roast Sunday lunch. Don't get me started on the service charge crap. I was in Germany last week and the prices there eating out are much lower in general. My local university allow anyone to walk in to eat food there at the student union, but even they charge £2.75 for a bread roll with a sausage and £4 for a jacket potato with tuna mayo! Place is half empty most of the time, most students bring their own food or go to a supermarket.

Yes, it is so expensive to go, but I do try to prioritise going sometimes, partly because I do like to go out so we get a break from cooking and cleaning, and because I worry about the places shutting-the high streets /malls all had shops when I was little, now most of them have gone and the cafes/restaurants/pubs that replaced them are closing too. It's so difficult with the budget changes-a lot of us didn't realise how badly it would affect people. Lots of pubs and restaurants have shut, and so many people are out of work. For those of us who are elder millennials/young Gen X, we could just walk into a waiting-on job. Now, that's really not easy, and servers will often have to cope with far fewer colleagues, leading poor experiences that some of you say you've had eating out. Even pro government media like the Guardian have said how many businesses will close due to the NI changes, and some of the places near us that closed recently apparently seemed to have fewer staff/menu choices shortly before they shut.

Agree, eating out is expensive & often the food isn't actually that great.

We have never been prepared to eat in bog standard pubs and mediocre/chain restaurants.

The last time we did it was £64 for fish pie and a grilled chicken salad with some bread and olives to start and a pint and a glass of wine. We were en-route and it worked at the time. I can grill two steaks, make up a salad, saute some mushrooms and bung some crispy potatoes in the oven for about £20/£25 and the steak is excellent quality. £12 buys a reasonable bottle of wine.

We prefer to very occasionally go to somewhere with a Michelin star. Whilst it's serious money, it's better value because we are served with exquisite food, cooked and presented beyond my capabilities

Agreed, can’t justify the cost. If we do on a very rare occasion go out, we get pudding at home.

I don’t mind so much if it’s just me out for food with friends, it’s worth it to be spending a couple of hours together. But going out for a family meal can easily be £120, which is about what we spend at the supermarket each week.

Last time we went out the drinks alone cost £50 (2 beers, 1 G&T, 5 soft drinks). Nearly fell off my chair. And don’t get me started on the price of starters!!

I also agree. A meal out is the main way I socialise, but it's so expensive that I only do this 2ish times a month, and I no longer see a properly good meal as reasonable value, and don't enjoy the food that's more affordable. But, it's still my main way of seeing friends. In good weather we can pick up a coffee and go for a walk, in bad weather we can just get a coffee, but it's not as nice as meeting up with a good friend and sharing an enjoyable meal together.

Same! Only dine out somewhere very nice as a rare treat now, no more pub grub and the same for takeaways. I can cook as good, often better, at home for so much less.

Most people feel that way, I think. Even those who have the money. The correlation between what you get and what you pay changed immensely. We used to go a lot and now stopped. Can't justify. Actually, the same happened to the formerly very affordable Wagamama. I have not gone in a while and after 2 years ordered a takeaway to be collected by myself, by phoning in. I was shocked when I picked it up - I don't think I shall be in a hurry to repeat the experience. It went up from the usual 40 to 75 quid for the same stuff. Not justifiable.

It’s sad isn’t it? As well as high wages, employers have to pay pension contributions and employer NI etc and we have one of the highest corporation taxes in Europe. Who’d want to enter an industry which requires a lot of employees now? I know I wouldn’t.

I miss the experience as we rarely eat out anymore
I’m a very good cook and will only eat out if it’s as good as or better than my cooking or something I wouldn’t cook at home
I’m happy to pay more for a better experience - it just means we do it less often

The wheel has gone full circle. When we were young it was pack a picnic for a family day out, 80s we couldn't justify the price of a meal for four very often. Fast forward post COVID my grandchildren are now having picnics with parents on a day out. As pp said £100 for a family is ridiculous.

I hear you. I can't afford to drink more than one drink in the pub now, about once or twice a month. And I sometimes get crisps which cost £1.50. if it wasn't for my mate asking me there I wouldn't bother go at all really.
I used to be able to afford to actually get drunk and have a meal?!
Life is cruel isn't it. Nice things are harder now.