Does anyone else do this for the rest of the week if you've been out for a meal?

[Sshhhitsstillsummer]

Never used to, but restaurant prices were not as extortionate as they seem to be nowadays.
Went out for a nice lunch today, spent around 70, which is quite a lot for us, but we wanted an end of holidays last meal.
Now I will probably cut right back for the week on food spending.
For example, simple pasta dishes, omlettes, beans on toast and jacket potatoes for the week.
Does anyone else do this?

If I'd eaten out I usually follow up for a few days on higher protein and low carbs.

We paid £126 for a tapas lunch this week. We did have 3 glasses of wine between us and a glass of desert wine each but even though I can afford it, it's not that long ago we could do the same and it was £90-100. We go out less now because of this.

I don't but having been out for a family dinner at admittedly quite a nice restaurant yesterday, I decided it just wasn't worth how shockingly high the bill was. There are much better things I could have done with that amount of money. I don't think I'll bother eating out for a while.

Why do you feel you deserve something good for once? Thats a very negative way to think about life.Surely the fact you have food and shelter, you can stay warm in winter, are both fit and healthy and have a child of your own is something good. Your life shouldn’t be based on things you can buy!

Perhaps you spent too much without thinking a few years ago and that’s why you don’t feel content now. Always better to live well below your means. Much easier to weather the increase in cost of living if you have a solid buffer behind you.

Not in the same way but if I’ve spent over my budget in one week’s food shops then I will try and spend less the next week. Sometimes I’ll even try and not do a food shop at all so we have to live out of freezer / cupboards. Helps me recoup costs overall because I naturally spend quite a lot (for me - reading this thread it’s probably not) because I bake and cook from scratch so I’m always buying new ingredients.

But we don’t eat out anymore. And we share the steak we buy between us if we have one as our treat.

Perfectly reasonable. We have savings so I guess we could afford to do things like that but actually we eat out once every few months and would have a few days of cheaper meals the same week. We do similar when not eating out anyway, like we'd have a good, expensive bit of meat that lasts a couple of days then pasta or veggie stir-fry or shakshuka for the next few days.

No but I don’t eat out a lot. Next week I’ll be visiting my son and we will be, but it’s something I budget for in advance so rather than cut back on food I just know it’s coming up so I’m aware I need the money.

Oh shush 🙄

Has anyone suggested that extortionate is rather hyperbolic in this case? I doubt OP was forced or intimidated into paying £70 for their lunch.

And then been accused of being pedantic.

Personally before any indulgence, health or financial, I prefer to cut back before rather than after. Causes me less stress at any spending and its less depressing than having to be frugal for something that's been and gone.

I try to eat quite simply and cheaply during the week anyway and it means I can splash out a bit more come Friday & Saturday but yes, if I had a £70 lunch out on a Sunday I’d not feel it was a hardship to cut back a bit further all week.

I need to balance my finances, and my calorie consumption!

Nope. That would never occur to me. I might want to eat a bit more simply when home after a break with lots of meals out but it would be based on cost.

I do but I also equate it to a weeks food shop.

Can’t help it.

£70 is a weeks shop for the 4 of us in this house if I meal plan and buy exactly what is on the list at Aldi.

I would be super frugal for the rest of the week.

We put money aside to go for special meals, if it’s someone’s birthday for example but we have now stopped going to our favourite restaurant because it was over £120 last time which is way way way out of our comfort zone.

Now opt for a takeaway but I won’t order anything to keep cost down and just have a little bit of dh’s. It’s generally around £40.

I would not spend my shopping budget on a meal out

I would do if I had an expensive meal in a restaurant. I would also take home leftovers in a box as my appetite is smaller now.

Just sticking my oar in here. When DH was alive I wasn't a fan of eating out - he was a fab cook & if we ate out I'd be totting up how much less that would've been to make it at home. Now? much the same, really. Whatever £££ I have to spend, I spend on cinema, theatre, exhibitions, trips, and so on. The things I really can't do for myself. It's VFM for me.

Yes. I don't have enough money to be able to simply absorb the cost of an expensive meal. I also have just one paid-for drink with a meal, then go onto tap water, and rather than a pudding at the restaurant, I'll have some ice-cream when I get home. Yes, it looks a bit tight-fisted, but these little tricks mean I can still afford out occasionally.

No but I’m not price sensitive particularly, that said my shopping was only £40 this week anyway

Everyone's finances are different, if you need to cut back because you had the meal out then cut back.

We had a carvery tonight and 2 drinks. It came to under £40 for 2 of us (and we were stuffed afterwards), so compared to this £70 is a lot!

Well, the point of a carvery is the moderate cost, so that isn't surprising. Depending on quality, I still don't think that £70.00 for two (plus a child!) is all that expensive. Everything has risen in price lately. That said, I am an excellent cook so I tend to only go out if the restaurant is truly outstanding, whatever it costs.

It's not 'extortionate', no. But the fact that it's not extortionate doesn't mean it's easily affordable.

Is it a reasonable price for a nice lunch? Yes. Does that mean £70 is a small amount of money? No.

'Good value' and 'affordable' aren't the same thing. Lots of things are good value, but it doesn't mean the cost doesn't represent a lot of money to someone.

No, I can't say it has ever crossed my mind - but I do cut back on calories!

If a meal out is not affordable without cutting right back financially afterwards, I'd probably just not go in the first place. Live within your means.

It's pretty meaningless to compare the prices of dissimilar restaurants, though. It's like saying £35 for a fillet steak is a lot compared to £12 for a pizza. They're two completely different things and are priced differently for that reason; the fact that a pizza is £12 doesn't mean the fillet steak isn't fairly priced at £35.

£70 for a carvery for two people would be expensive because a carvery requires you get up and queue for your food and it's bulk catering with a fairly limited range of dishes that aren't prepared individually. That's why carveries are cheaper.

£70 for two people in a fine-dining restaurant wouldn't be expensive because the chefs, the ingredients, the service and the choice of dishes means the restaurant's costs are much higher.