How often do you "dine out" per week? Does not count breakfast or work lunch.

[EnigmaO01]

I saw a stat on CNN the other day that said the average American dines out 3.2 times a week. I'm assuming dining out does not count work lunches or breakfast, but I could be wrong.

I find this hard to believe if it truly is evening dining. Even the retired folks in my area probably dine out once a week at the most. I wasn't area people had this kind of extra money during the present state of the economy.

Perhaps my region of the country is different than the rest?

 

[1069]

I saw a stat on CNN the other day that said the average American dines out 3.2 times a week. I'm assuming dining out does not count work lunches or breakfast, but I could be wrong.

Not sure why you'd assume that.
Typically, "dining out" means eating prepared food in a restaurant, regardless of the time of day.
My husband and I do eat out quite a bit lately; I'd say three or four times a week, average.

 

[EnigmaO01]

Not sure why you'd assume that.
Typically, "dining out" means eating prepared food in a restaurant, regardless of the time of day.

The wife and I consider "dining out" not just grabbing a quick burrito for breakfast or a work lunch. So we're wrong?

 

[Singularity]

Almost every meal is dining out for me. Rarely (if ever) do I cook or prepare anything at home. Other than some nice beverages, my fridge is generally barren. However, i'm a pretty healthy eater minus the weekend forays into my favorite burger joint and tap room.

 

[earthworm]

How about once per month, at best.
IMO, social security is generous.....to a point.
Of course, no vote..
Why do the pollsters insist on so much control??

 

[Catz Part Deux]

When I'm home, I usually cook meals from scratch for my kids, using fresh ingredients and healthy food. We maybe eat out once a week. But, when I travel for work, I eat in restaurants all the time. There's a correlation. The more I travel for work, the more I want to eat at home. The less traveling I do in a month, the more we eat out.

 

[digsbe]

What about less than once a week? Me and my family dine out only on special occasions, which are like once every other month. It's expensive, and we do a lot of cooking at the house instead. However at a personal level. If you define eating lunches at school or work as "dining out" then I would probably do that roughly 1-3 times per week. I usually grab something cheep during my lunch break at work or I get something cheap at school.

 

[EnigmaO01]

Almost every meal is dining out for me. Rarely (if ever) do I cook or prepare anything at home. Other than some nice beverages, my fridge is generally barren. However, i'm a pretty healthy eater minus the weekend forays into my favorite burger joint and tap room.

How can you afford to eat out so much? Are you aware of all the filler and unhealthy things that are put into dining out food that may not be as healthy as the food you prepare yourself?

 

[EnigmaO01]

How about once per month, at best.
IMO, social security is generous.....to a point.
Of course, no vote..
Why do the pollsters insist on so much control??

After I typed in the options I wanted to change the first one to "once per week or less" but apparently it's not possible to modify a poll once you post it. Sorry. :3oops:

 

[Singularity]

How can you afford to eat out so much? Are you aware of all the filler and unhealthy things that are put into dining out food that may not be as healthy as the food you prepare yourself?

I think that's true in theory, but not in practice. First off, it isn't where you eat, but what you eat. Many Americans eat just plain garbage at home - chips, ice cream, fatty foods, etc. When I dine out, I don't eat unhealthy food save for splurging on the weekends. I don't eat fast food, either. On occasion i'll get a veggie sub from subway on whole wheat, but I dunno if you consider that fast food or not. I can give you an example of my typical diet. Here is what I ate on Friday:

Breakfast: Stuffed whole wheat pita w/ egg whites, alfalfa sprouts, and mushrooms from Sunrise Kitchen up the street from work
Snack: Protein bar, carrot sticks
Lunch: Mediterranean veggie sandwich (minus the hummus) from Panera Bread, fruit cup, sweet tea (my weakness!)
Dinner: Alicha Kik from the Ethipian restaurant (split peas in garlic, onions, ginger, herbs, with steamed rice)

 

[spud_meister]

Does fish and chips at the beach count? I eat out maybe once every few months, can't afford to do it more often. :lol:

 

[molten_dragon]

generally 3-4 times per week. Sometimes more. And that's really just dinner and sometimes lunch on the weekends.

 

[jamesrage]

Once a month maybe twice a month. I know how to cook and I am not above using cheap convenience products like Ramen,precooked sausage patties, canned vegetables and other stuff.

 

[Gipper]

I eat out on a relatively daily basis. Cooking for one sucks and is a waste of time.

Usually 1-2 nights a week will be some sort of food-like substance I throw in a crock pot, plug in, and turn on while I'm asleep or at work the next day. Any other time, my meals come with sauce and ketchup packets.

 

[Ockham]

I couldn't answer the poll because I only eat out once a month if that. Working at multiple restaurants when I was young ruined me so I try to avoid eating out if possible.

 

[Cephus]

I would consider lunches to be valid, since I eat out for lunch 5x a week, but otherwise, we do eat out (or bring in outside food), probably 2-3x per week. When you have busy schedules and lots of people doing lots of things, there just isn't time to cook many nights.

 

[obvious Child]

I buy lunch at work once a week and usually eat out with friends on weekends once. So if we count lunch, twice a week.

 

[Kushinator]

When i had real time (not counting my time spent on this site:2razz, i would eat out around three times per week.

 

[TheGirlNextDoor]

I saw a stat on CNN the other day that said the average American dines out 3.2 times a week. I'm assuming dining out does not count work lunches or breakfast, but I could be wrong.

I find this hard to believe if it truly is evening dining. Even the retired folks in my area probably dine out once a week at the most. I wasn't area people had this kind of extra money during the present state of the economy.

Perhaps my region of the country is different than the rest?

I eat out maybe once month. It's too expensive to eat out more often than that ...

 

[EnigmaO01]

I couldn't answer the poll because I only eat out once a month if that. Working at multiple restaurants when I was young ruined me so I try to avoid eating out if possible.

Hopefully you didn't see partially eaten salads recycled off of plates like my wife did when she worked at a restaraunt! I've heard if one only knew what gets dropped on the floor and picked back up!

I once got severely ill at a Holiday Inn restaurant within 5 minutes of eating a hamburger. I was ill for several days -- puking and the other end. It was a board meeting and strangely this was an extra hamburger no one ordered. No one else got sick. It was a taxidermy board meeting and have to wonder if someone in the kitchen was an animal rights activist or something.

 

[Ockham]

Hopefully you didn't see partially eaten salads recycled off of plates like my wife did when she worked at a restaraunt! I've heard if one only knew what gets dropped on the floor and picked back up!

I once got severely ill at a Holiday Inn restaurant within 5 minutes of eating a hamburger. I was ill for several days -- puking and the other end. It was a board meeting and strangely this was an extra hamburger no one ordered. No one else got sick. It was a taxidermy board meeting and have to wonder if someone in the kitchen was an animal rights activist or something.

Half eaten salads are mild to what I saw. You may have gotten a bad burger but you may also have gotten a virus from somewhere else as well. But what ruined me was a joke the morning cook played on the young attractive afternoon waitress; the deep fried mouse in tempura batter with the mouse trap still attached, on a bed of lettuce, tomatoe and fries on the side. See stuff like that for a few years and I think it'll ruin anyone.

 

[EnigmaO01]

Man that's disgusting.

As far as a virus, I wasn't aware virus's worked that quickly. From what little microbiology and pathology training I have it's the bacterial pathogens that move the swiftest.

 

[jallman]

I saw a stat on CNN the other day that said the average American dines out 3.2 times a week. I'm assuming dining out does not count work lunches or breakfast, but I could be wrong.

I find this hard to believe if it truly is evening dining. Even the retired folks in my area probably dine out once a week at the most. I wasn't area people had this kind of extra money during the present state of the economy.

Perhaps my region of the country is different than the rest?

It's funny...I eat out 3 times a week but I don't eat out for lunch or breakfast very often. The five meals I consume at work, I take with me every day. However, I dine out in the evenings pretty often just because I dont feel like doing much by the end of my day. Once a week, my other half and I eat at this Korean BBQ together, sort of like our date night. I usually dine out with a close friend at least once a week at one of two places. We always eat out on Friday and Saturday just because we are already out and about. Sunday it's usually something light and easy since we are normally out that day too. I guess it's just a lifestyle thing.