£100 for a casual lunch out for 4 is too much

[GrealishGoddess]

Deeply middle class problem but. Anyone else noticed that you can no longer get out of the likes of Bill’s, Wagamama, Pizza Express, etc , with two teens, for less than £100. Is this just inflation, NI effects, price gouging, what? AIBU to stay home?

It’s a diet meal for one person
Leaves are bulky in that they take up space but they’re not a dense meal
Can’t believe you think it’s a meal for 4?

What do you mean by a full size salad? Because the mixed salad isn’t going to fill anyone up even alongside a pizza.

One of the main course salads would.

Pizza Express have really hiked their prices up.
I went to a farm today with the DC and even just getting an en route Tesco meal deal for 4 and a box of grapes and bag of cherry tomatoes to share was over £20.

The farm was £15 per person so the whole outing was more than £80. Just for about 3 hours of mild entertainment. It’s really a lot.

It’s for four people or more, maybe even a whole rugby team at a push.

Rugby,yes they are softies i see how a diet pizza would flummoxthem
Hurling team could demolish the leggera

Paid £72 for three at pizza express the other day. Dough balls, pizza, Diet Coke to drink. We did leave a decent tip (12ish percent) but still… crazy

Yes, a pizza each without wine or desserts, with a shared starter and 2 X kids meal we would still hit around £70 at a pizza express so I can totally believe this with two teens.

As a result we also don't eat out as much, and in fact we've also switched to hosting at home instead. At least that way I know what I'm getting too.

I’m not doing competitive under eating - a romana pizza is huge and enough for two people to share and it worries me that people are writing on here they need four pizzas and sides for four people. No wonder we’re all unhealthy. That’s ridiculous.

A whole PE pizza for one person is too much food in one sitting. That’s just fact. (I hope)

You must be joking

They’re largeish but they aren’t huge. Ordering one per person isn’t unusual.

One pizza per adult is perfectly adequate if you’re hungry!

Well recently bought lunch for four at a local wine bar. 3 burgers chips salad, spaghetti carbonara, plus puddings and soft drinks. Less than £80 so really depends on area and where you choose to eat.

you do understand that people are all different right? As a small eater myself, half a pizza might be ok for me but for a min meal 3/4 would be plenty. My over 6ft son and husband (both extremely sporty and fit) could devour one, and dough balls and a pudding and still snack later. You are competitively under eating. I’d be very worried about a teenage boy not getting enough calories if you think 500 for a main meal wouldn’t leave them hungry!

I know what you mean OP - we used to ‘casually’ eat out quite often in that we’d go for a day out and go to a local cafe or pub or whatever for lunch. Now we take packed lunches, because as you say it’s £100 for 4 people to have fairly mediocre food now and we can’t spend that on lunch 2 or 3 or 4 times a month.

I know it’s a super tough time for the hospitality industry but it’s a change we’ve had to make.

A Margarita Legera pizza at Pizza Express has 711 calories, so 182 calories each if you're sharing it among four. About as many calories as a small bag of crisps.

A hearty and filling meal, for sure!

Im early 60's and the only restaurant we were ever taken too was a Chinese down in Selsey - big family affair

We might get a treat of a Wimpy when we were on holiday at Bognor , and I have very vivid memories of my Aunt Pat wrapping up the half finished burgers in serviette's and putting them in her hand bag - we had them for supper that night :)

Take away was fish and chips on a Saturday night - and not every week

It would have been the 80's when eating out became more affordable for working classes with Bernie inns and Harvesters, Pizza Hut etc opening up

But as someone who has worked in hospitality all my life, it was definitely cheap labour and crap working conditions that kept it affordable for so long

Im so glad I read this thread

So PE have come up with a wheeze to sell just pizza crust and a half a small bag of rocket and get to charge you £15??????

Clever

I don't think 1000 calories is a lot for your main meal! I don't snack, and breakfast is normally a banana or yoghurt with muesli, with lunch being about 500 calories. How little do people eat?!

Depends on your height. I’m 5ft 5 and to maintain weight I only need 1450 cals approx unless I’m doing g lots of exercise.

I love a double carb fest once in a while.

You will get business people saying costs have gone up. But our salaries haven’t. So we won’t eat out as much. It’s tedious.

Indeed and on mumsmet that is a banquet for family and plenty left for next day
Yup it is a thing pizza with a hole in it for £15

A 500 calorie pizza with a hole in it with some leaves in middle is not huge. Not at all. For most people that’s not in huge let’s share category

It's he time to shop around for deals now. Tuesday 241 makes pizza possible but we still only order 2 for 3 of us plus a side and tap water all round please. It's about £25 Inc service and we live in London.

YANBU, but most chains like these have lots of offers, especially in their apps. If you and another diner both have the app and pay separately then you can often avoid paying full price. Lie about when your birthday is for birthday freebies (there’s a list of these on MSE I think), and use different email addresses to set up new accounts with free intro offers every time you go out!

Taste and Blue Light cards are useful for this too. Check your add-ons with your bank, Compare the Meercat, union membership etc too.

DH took two 16 year olds to London for a weekend recently and spent about £100 on food for the three of them over two days. It certainly wasn’t fine dining, just chains, but a lot of it was sit down food.

BTW, I don’t feel bad about ‘cheating’ big corporate companies like this: I’d never do it for a smaller or independent establishment though.