"We can't justify a £52 lunch" - AIBU to think you didn't need to?

[PropitiousJump]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg3g11z6d8o

I found this article irritating. Middle earning families complaining they can't afford a day out, in part because of the expense of eating lunch and dinner out. A family of four in both cases.

I completely agree it's got expensive to eat out, but have they never heard of taking your own sandwiches?

And if you look at what they've eaten, they've ordered a lot of extras that have bumped up the bill.

Costa family - £52 lunch for four. If they could have done without an overpriced bag of crisps on top of their mains, and not had puddings (this was lunch, not dinner) they could have got the bill down to a more reasonable £40ish - a tenner each.

Pizza Express family - £174 dinner for four. If they cut out the starter and side orders and the adults had soft drinks instead of alcohol, they could have got the bill down to approx £109 for soft drinks, mains and a dessert each.

This isn't saying they are eating too much - it's not a diet-bashing thread - but common sense says that if you are eating in a chain place on a day out and trying to keep costs down, you don't order loads of extras and alcohol. Have a drink and a snack at home if you're still hungry. Save all the extras for an 'occasion' where eating out is the focus of the event and you're going somewhere special, not fuelling up in a chain restaurant.

AIBU?

i think you're BVU. cost of living increases over the past few years have put the little treats that people used to enjoy after working hard all week out of reach. it's weird to blame people for that. you could refuse to ever eat out, and live on bread and rice eaten on the sofa at home, and you'd be saving money, but it's not much of a life is it?

DC1 has a second job in a pub. They’ve had record takings in the last 6 months, the manager was so desperate for staff to stay on last Saturday as it was so busy he paid £30 per hour.

It is supply and demand though isn't it? We've had the same in the high street since forever. Unless they sell what people want to buy then they close down.

Cost of living is biting us in every aspect, it's been happening for a few years now. The bubble has burst on the endless, expensive chains but people do still find money to do things they really want, they just don't want to spend it on expensive and not nice food.

For me that’s the point, it used to be easy to find affordable food or day out activities that include something to do with the kids and a bit of lunch.. Now you’re scouring websites, downloading apps, collecting vouchers, making a packed lunch, filling a coffee flask, carrying water bottles and god forbid your child wants an ice cream.

And we’re falling over ourselves to argue it’s a good thing rather than a necessity.

That's good news for that pub! But they are closing down, that we know.

We used to do a free outdoor thing and make up food boxes, or take a chosen friend out for the day or have fewer friends for tea or borrow grandma’s house or hire a cheap hall to do games and we did the food….There are many creative ways to save money.

Not improved health at X age they reach, but improved health in order to reach that age. Co-morbidities mostly exist due to advanced aged reached, due to improvements in healthcare and sophistication of treatment. Getting into a discussion on halting the progression of medicine would be a whole other kettle of fish!

It is possible to make a wine that most people can't tell from shop bought wine. Needs a little bit of being able to do a little sciency stuff, but that's not problem.

well - no one is making you got go Pizza Express and choosing to spend £35 each on food and drink.

Its the complaining rgds the cost that's the issue. Have what you like but don't then whinge that it's expensive.

while I share the sentiment it makes really difficult for me to support the unrealistic examples in this article. The couple at Pizza Express has two under 10 kids. In real world all people I know will order 2 kids meals which are £8.50 each, and then they won’t order 4 desserts and separate kids drinks. The rest would be 2 pizzas for adults, 2 drinks for adults even alcoholic plus 1-2 starters/ salads to share because kids meal includes starter, dessert and drink. Why on earth they needed 3 pizzas (one with extra toppings) and 4 desserts and so many sides/ starters and 3 alcoholic drinks? They only ordered it because Panorama paid, I bet they never ate like this when they paid themselves.
My point is that yes prices have gone up and yes it’s outrageous that people working full time and earning ABOVE average can’t go out relaxingly for a meal at Pizza Expeess. But please can we have a realistic truthful conversation about it, being untruthful works against us themselves. Now anyone would say : But you ate double amount in one go what did you expect? And there is no answer to that as it’s right.

Obesity is costing the NHS billions, that is a fact.

I could spend a fortune at Pizza Express if someone else was paying for it and I wanted to prove a point ...
for a family of 4, We could all order the £20 pizza each, a £9 starters , a £7 side, an £8 dessert, a couple of alholic drinks at £9-10. and maybe a few bowls of olives for the table etc. That's an easy £250+

You miss the point. Being able to borrow grandma's house or hire a cheaper hall both rely on such things being available to you, and don't address the point about mothers working more either. It's all very well telling people they should get freebies from relatives, but that's a privilege.

How old are your kids roughly, btw? I'm interested to hear what time period we're talking about.

Independents are struggling even more, especially outside the big cities. Chains - restaurants and shops - are the only ones with a hope of surviving. There will be some outliers - towns with a large wealthy population mainly - but the general trend throughout the country is that retail and hospitality are having an absolute nightmare. Their costs have all rocketed while at the same time people are spending less.

I'm not sure soft drinks are very cheap either as an alternative.

Our post-boomers generations will never have their turn.
The economy is screwed for the foreseeable, we will die with no pensions either as the raids on savings and pensions have already started and it will only get worse with the wars we're involved in.

I've heard similar stories. As I understand it, the hospitality sector overall is struggling but it's a wildly varying picture. People are tending to concentrate more in certain areas and venues.

My kids are in their early 20s and we both worked. Could never have afforded whole class parties at soft play and wouldn’t want to either as they’re grim.

Using grandmas lounge isn’t a freebie. We had parties in our smaller house too, just less children. Nobody needs whole class parties.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/costa-coffee-prices-losses-sale-coca-cola-b2893440.html

According to this article, indies are part of the reason why costa is struggling. I think the smart business owners offering different experiences or better for the money are doing ok. As is always, necessity is the mother of invention. Those who don't keep up with the times are the ones to go - same was said for many a well-established high street shop that we've lost over the years.

Additionally, Black pointed out that a “whole plethora of independent, often artisanal players offering a better experience, a better ambience, a better story, so less corporate and much better food” was also a big factor for the legacy chain to contend with.

Wait, what?

What's your point exactly? I'm just pointing out that the cost of eating out in an average priced restaurant is way beyond inflation. £35 a head is average these days. (My kids are adults btw).

If people don't spend money in shops and restaurants, they will fail. Pizza Express employs over 9,000 people in the UK. If they all lose their jobs, there aren't loads of successful retail and restaurant chains they can find work in instead. And who do you think will be picking up the bill for their benefits? Do you want to pay more tax/have worse public services?

What raids on savings and pensions have started? If you end up with no state pension you can only blame yourself - don’t vote for parties that threaten it.

Well we won’t have pensions if we think eating out in Costa and pizza express is an entitlement and more worthy of our cash than pensions.

You can’t have it all.

Agreed. The food is gross in Costa, I have seen bugs hovering in more than one of them. Very few I would choose to spend time in.