"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?

Well theres a similar thread to that refrain running about Denby.

Apparently no one is buying expensive plates anymore so they might go bust

Is it some sort of social duty to buy stuff so that people keep their jobs?

I think in other countries, people buy local/independent, or eat local/independent because its cheap

Here, the local or independent is more expensive. We had 2 experiences of this, this weekend, virtually the same intake of food, just as nice in both spots but hugely more expensive in the independent place, which we would like to support, but how can you?

I’m a high earner and I think that £100 for 4 for pizza express without alcohol is bananas.

The point is it didn’t used to be expensive, being able to buy lunch out for a family of 4 at a bog standard, family friendly chain never used to be a considered spend, the way it is now.

I’d never have considered PE to be expensive or fancy, it was a place to have a cheap pre-theatre meal or lunch when you were out for the day. I’d now look for other options because if I’m going to spend £100+ I want something nicer than mass produced pizza.

The point is, you shouldn't be having to risk your mortgage or pension to spend on these small things.

And until recently, for quite a long time, many people were able to do both. There's been a big change. And it isn't good news.

It seems to have been a recent change really. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and we only ate out for someone’s birthday as a treat.
We took picnics if we had a day out. We might buy cakes from a bakery as a nice treat.
With my kids (they are now 19,22,24) we had more days out to places but I always took food and drink with me, or went to places where there was a voucher to save some money. My husband has always been a high earner but we live as we were brought up, fairly simply and we watch our spending. Now I work full time too, I always treat myself but certainly watch the pennies.
It seems a lot of younger families now seem shocked that they might need to rein in their spending on treats because there are bigger issues in the world that are affecting the cost of things in our country. Not fair, but hey, that’s life!
We foster and are acutely aware that some people have so little when some have so much. It’s sickening really.
A day out is more about spending time together and having fun. If you set your family up to think this involves eating out all the time and spending loads of money then that is up to you, but kids really just want your time and attention.

Well those points need to be pointed toward people who express disdain to restaurants then, as I didnt, therefore irrelevant.

'Many' may be eating out in your local city, but they're defying wider trends if so.

No it isn't. It is that people can no longer afford to spend money on things they could afford previously and that this has a knock on effect on the economy. There is a reason Rishi Sunak did the 'eat out to help out' scheme.

Just imagine a scenario where the average person can no longer a meal out, a hair cut, a trip to the cinema or theatre, a day out at a theme park. All these places close. What happens to the workers? Where do they find jobs now? Look forward to the benefit bill increasing and oh look even less money for everyone to spend...

We have a healthy income (100k ish) and a big family (3-4 kids) and five years ago, we could afford an event and lunch out every weekend or two. It would cost about £100. Now I find those trips cost about £150-200. It’s gone up rapidly.

No people have not been able to do both. My kids are only in their early 20s and we definitely couldn’t do it unless we wanted to go into debt,.people couldn’t in the decades before that.

Household debt is out of control and people have been spending beyond their means.

I just want to add as I am genuinely curious…

I am someone who never takes a packed lunch out, but there was an occasion last year we went to the park and instead of getting a meal deal/buying sandwiches at the park cafe I decided to pack a lunch. It was more expensive than buying the damn things there! Whole pack of ham, whole loaf of bread, 2 packs of scotch eggs/pork pies/sausage rolls (which aren’t cheap anymore), 2 punnets of berries, other fruit etc and the day after had to replace the things as we needed them for the week ahead! By the time I finished I might as well have saved myself the inconvenience and just bought there or stopped for a meal deal on the way. Obviously not comparing the pizza express it’s more so if going to the park or the farm and taking a packed lunch. It really isn’t always cheaper and I would rather pay a bit more than have the hassle

Wholeheartedly agree. Sandwiches and then if you were lucky you’d swing by a bakers or get an ice cream as a treat. Taking kids out for lunch is daft anyway as they are so fussy. They’d far rather prefer home made sandwiches.

Our economy isn't the same as the rest of Europe - Brexit saw to that. We're reaping what we sowed in that regard.

The problem isn't that we have a 'duty' to support local business - if you can't, you can't - but if all those businesses fold, and we're well down the path of that happening, then we risk massive economic collapse. And we're well down the path of that happening, too.

What’s with the pork pies etc? Grim UPF saturated fat. Avoid. Sandwiches. Ham or cheese with some salad is fine.

You've been expressing very weird views on this thread :) Like people are obese because they eat out, third world countries have no take aways, younger generations will have no pensions because they eat out at Costas etc.
You have also been shouting a lot since 7am, with 3-4 exclamation marks per sentence.

Maybe seek some help?

The idea that we all go into debt to prop up crappy businesses nobody wants or needs is ludicrous.

They've been really enjoying judging everyone!

I didn't vote at all but then again I'm sure you'll tell me it's also my fault 😂

You mean views you don’t like.

Why didnt you just take the amount that you would have eaten at home for lunch. Thats what a packed lunch entails. Your lunch on the go.

It’s also a quality of life thing. I could, and have, died my own hair but I enjoy going to the hairdressers and then going it properly. I can, and do, take my own food on days out but I also enjoy eating a nice meal that I haven’t had to cook. I can, and do, watch movies at home but I also enjoy the “big screen” movie experience.

Yes woodland walks and days at the beach have their charm, but so does taking my daughter out for a coffee. Two people working in professional jobs should be able to afford to engage in simple activities that 5 years ago would be a normal day out, not a treat.

You're not serious?

Can you really not see the difference in the amount of food?

What you bought was no more illustration of the cost of a packed lunch vs bought food than the programme was about how much a family lunch is at Pizza Express.

I eat out plenty, but don’t buy sandwiches or similar because I can make better myself and the cost is probably around a third of what it costs to buy ready made.

Exactly! Should we all be getting our nails done, or £100s of hair treatments etc to prop up the high street? Sell me something I want to buy and I’ll pay good money for it. If not I’m not spending anything.

Nobody said anything about going into debt or about supporting crappy businesses. You are projecting incredibly hard all over this thread. What is your deal? It sounds like you won't be happy until everyone is staying at home the whole time eating bread and cheese.

This.

It is not my job to falsely prop up an economy. It’s why I cringe at the “shop small” campaigns too.

I am a high earner and high spender, our credit card bill takes all our discretionary spend and is in the region for £3-5k a month as an example.

I do spend a lot of money with local independents, but only where they have a good business model and sell things and services that I actually want. I should not be guilted into handing my money over to poor business models under the guise of keeping the economy alive.

I looked at the Denby website and they were extortionately priced (which I can forgive and wouldn’t have ruled out on this basis given they’re UK made which is more expensive) and nothing was that nice or distinctive, so I won’t be buying from them.

I’d much prefer we imposed greater tariffs on imports of pottery to help level the playing field between imports and home made, rather than being guilted into spending money on something substandard to what I want.