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Food has really gone up in price. I have a few restaurants that I like. The lunch special is often the best deal. I can still find $10 lunch specials. I fulfill my craving and don't overeat. My husband and I recently went out for fajitas with a margarita. It was $80 with tip. Pretty steep, but it was our anniversary.
As the restaurant industry battles inflation, the large size of chains and their access to cash gives them the upper hand, but independents have advantages of their own when managing higher costs.
Feeling the pressure on their budgets, consumers have been cutting back on their restaurant visits in recent months. Monthly same-store restaurant traffic has been shrinking compared with the year-earlier period for eight consecutive months, according to industry tracker Black Box Intelligence. In response to that drop-off, both chains and independents are working to address the cost factor without alienating diners.
I sign up for restaurant emails and get good discounts and birthday freebies. Ruby Tuesday sends out weekly bogo specials, so it makes eating out very affordable. Around my birthday I get inundated with offers of free pizza, burgers (Red Robin) and other goodies :-)
My husband and I used to eat out almost daily before the pandemic. Now he gets fast food maybe 10 times a week. We might go out to a restaurant 1 or 2 times a week. We usually spend around 20-35 dollars including tip. Often we order a la carte to keep costs down.
Quite frankly I don’t know how people can afford to eat anymore. It’s absolutely insane. We are lucky in that we simply don’t eat much so we often share a meal or just get an appetizer. But we rarely eat out anyway.
Quite frankly I don’t know how people can afford to eat anymore. It’s absolutely insane. We are lucky in that we simply don’t eat much so we often share a meal or just get an appetizer. But we rarely eat out anyway.
That is what we did when we went to a restaurant in the big city last week. As we get older, we can't eat as much so a couple of us ordered a rib plate and shared it. We didn't even finish the thing! Way too much food.
The other person in our group ate theirs. Total bill was about 85 - but there were three mixed drinks involved in that -
That is what we did when we went to a restaurant in the big city last week. As we get older, we can't eat as much so a couple of us ordered a rib plate and shared it. We didn't even finish the thing! Way too much food.
The other person in our group ate theirs. Total bill was about 85 - but there were three mixed drinks involved in that -
My husband and I will occasionally get seated at the bar where we'll order drinks and split an appetizer. Depending on the establishment, a shared appetizer is often big enough to fill us up.
No longer able to eat out at restaurants because of health reasons. Not all bad as it's caused me to develop a new style of cooking that's much healthier, low sodium, but just as flavorful.
We still get takeout once a week, usually on Wednesday. Last week was from the Filipino restaurant. I had a skewer of pork barbeque, a skewer of grilled vegetables, 4 lumpia and a large helping of pancit for $9. My wife loves the catfish so she get 3 pieces of catfish along with grilled vegetables, lumpia and pancit for $12
Our favorite Thai restaurant runs about $12 for a curry or stir-fry dish and there is enough that my wife has a lunch from her leftovers. When we want Mexican I get a huarache for $12; my wife likes the shrimp quesadilla for $13
So while prices have certainly go up, it is still possible to get a decent meal around here at a somewhat reasonable price. As far as the chain restaurants out by the interstate, their parking lots are full almost all the time, so prices have not scared people off from them.
Yes, that bugs me, too, more than food prices. I generally drink water anyway, but if I am with someone who gets a soda, it is shocking to me what they charge for it.
There is a BOGO on Wenedsdays at Perkins, seems like a pretty good deal. But the BOGO is contingent on ordering two drinks, which brings up the price of the BOGO. We often go to Perkins on Wednesdays to take advantage of the BOGO, as my husband loves Perkins and can't pass up a bargain there. I think we end up saving maybe $10 on the two meals and beverages. Might be less as we might not order beverages unless we had to.
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