Comments on: Why I hate eating out

By: FreeUrChains

FreeUrChains — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:56:22 +0000

Just get the appetizer sampler platter as a meal and share it all with friends everytime. You eat your safe proportion of unhealthy food. It’s cheaper, and you make everyone happy.

By: aspeenat

aspeenat — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:34:50 +0000

My husband is the same way. He looks all over a menu, can take about 10 minutes but in the end he orders Chicken Alfredo. At least you realize you’re doing it hubby doesn’t even notice he does this. I as a good wife never mention he does it.

By: xcfx

xcfx — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:27:15 +0000

I don’t think you’re crazy. Just boring.

By: Charity

Charity — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:03:36 +0000

Interestingly, there was a short blurb on NPR yesterday morning about an Italian restaurant in New York that does the very thing Kate described. They have a different Italian “grandma” prepare whatever she feels like cooking each night.

Not sure if this will work, but here’s a link to the story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=105797432&m=105797431

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:41:03 +0000

I can understand your reasoning perfectly here, it’s fascinating to think about – since I share it in regard to investing, but not food. I’m glad you like Chipotle, since it’s at least healthier than many places. I love eating gourmet vegetarian/vegan foods, but I hate the time it takes to make it all…. I suppose our gourmet restaurant culture falls into the category of “unsustainable” – it’s a product of a very evolved, complex capitalist society that can turn food into “culture.” But eating simply at home is better anyway. If you can be content with just rice, carrots, apples, broccoli and chic peas, I’d even venture to say that’s all you even need to eat (and some nuts and beans every now and then).

By: Robyn

Robyn — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:05:19 +0000

I have the same problem with cooking at home – I have visions of being a great cook with quite the selection of indgredients, but I always default to the same few things I like. It works for me and I’m at peace with this
Makes food decisions and grocery shopping painless so I can get on with the other things more interesting to me. Food is functional for me and not something I like fussing over.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:36:12 +0000

I always wondered why there are no restaurants offering only today’s menu. I’d imagine with the scaling such a meal could cost $2-3 in which case I’d go there all the time.

By: Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife

Kate@LivingTheFrugalLife — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:16:32 +0000

There’s a restaurant in a small town in Italy that I used to go to as often as possible. It would solve your aversion to eating out. There was no menu. You ate what they had that night, or you didn’t eat there. The food was always superb, and I simply loved eating there. Occasionally they’d have two different soups, so you had to choose between them. Otherwise, they’d just offer you each course: salad, antipasto, pasta, meat/seafood. You could refuse any given course, or stop eating anytime you wanted to. They didn’t even keep a formal tab. The proprietor simply decided what to charge you at the end of your meal. Dessert was never much, just a nibble on a small cookie, but I rarely had room at that point. I loved having the decisions taken out of my hands and getting better food than even I could cook at home. (I *am* a gourmand and a professionally trained chef, so that’s saying something. I chalk it up to superior ingredients.)

It’s a good thing that that restaurant is so far away now. I’d be tempted to eat there all the time.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:51:34 +0000

@Hannah – Ideally I would, but currently the markets are just not that good. I invest mostly in individual stocks. I use indexes whenever dealing with individual positions becomes too cumbersome (bonds, debts, foreign stocks). 15 years is not a long time for an index but it is a long time for an individual investor. There are periods where indexes have gone nowhere for more than a decade. For instance, the Dow Jones have gone nowhere for the past 8 years. Risk free means predictable. With T-bonds you know the nominal value of the money you will have in N years. What you don’t know is how much money this will buy. Nobody knows. I would say if you want your money to work for you, keep learning, there are really no free solutions on the table. The alternative is to keep working for your money.

@adfecto – Appreciation depends on whether one’s ability to perceive is aligned with what’s offered. For instance, for many people poetry is a moving experience, but to me they’re mostly just words. Conversely, a coupled set of differential equations might be beautiful to me but to many people they’re just gibberish (what is wrong with you people??? ;-P ). I think I feel about food the same way many people feel about participating in sports. They’re content to jump on a stationary recumbent and that’s it. I’m wondering why riding downhill at 35mph is a challenge, why standing up in the saddle and sprinting takes courage or why companies make baggy cycling shorts.
Kinesthetically they want the equivalent of the burger. They are clueless and inexperienced. Pick this one and things will be alright. Same with food here. I’ve thought about going to restaurants more often so as to remember how different food combinations work but I discovered that as long as I’m not the one cooking I frankly don’t care, so I stopped.

By: Adfecto

Adfecto — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:27:16 +0000

Food is an integral part of living. It is not just fuel, it is an experience!

“Variety is the spice of life!”

Plain and simple, you are missing out on a great avenue to enhance your life by shunning food as a source of enjoyment. Use your rare meals out as a venue to broaden your pallet and indulge. Try things you’ve never had or combinations you would have never conceived on your own.

If you find mental anguish in being presented a menu how can you possibly face the internet. It is a multitude of choices and plethora of information. It is a skill to be able to parse massive amounts of information and multitudes of choices. It is also a valuable quality to be willing to stray outside your comfort zone and try new things. How can a menu pose such a challenge?

Wake up, smell the roses, and enjoy some of the finer things in life (and that includes restaurant food).

By: DNA

DNA — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:57:30 +0000

Bob raises many good points, to which I’ll add a reference to the article in the Wall St. Journal today which details how restaurants are changing their menu mix to reduce the ratio of high-priced meat and imported ingredients to domestic grain-based food (aka, high-margin pasta):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120493352022320755.html?mod=home_we_banner_left

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:20:03 +0000

I agree with you – far too many choices. I go to restaurants only for special occasions and usually under duress. Call me a curmudgeon. I hate waiting around to get a table, get served, deal with servers who are often too “chipper”. Tipping is a pain too. I detest high end restaurants the most – I sometimes see these chefs on food channel prodding and poking the food with their icky fingers. Oh the sublimity of the home – dinner with friends and the cheeriness of a good but modestly priced red wine. I get a good bottle for $8 – just about the price of a glass at many restaurants in Canada. And how about the noise of t.v.’s and piped music when you eat out? Enough said.

By: Kiran

Kiran — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:23:06 +0000

I hate subway for the same reason. As I am not a professional sandwich maker, why should I have to pick the items that goes on the sandwich.

There is no way I could pick the optimal toppings/dressing. I refuse subway, I go to Jimmy Johns.

Another bad thing is that a restaurant probably has upwards of a dozen things that sound good, and half of those are at prices that I’m willing to pay. So each time I’ll try something different. Even though the first time I ordered the thing that sounds the best, and it is what tastes best to me.

The inefficiency of choice.

By: Ron@TheWisdomJournal

Ron@TheWisdomJournal — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:43:23 +0000

My solution: hand the menu to the server and say, “Surprise me.” I’m like you, the choices are overwhelming and since there are very, very few things I don’t like, I’ve never been disappointed! The other people sitting at my table are usually horrified and THAT alone is worth the price of admission!

By: Merry Maid

Merry Maid — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:47:40 +0000

As a consequence of having Aspergers (a learning disability), if I have to do 20 things to accomplish a goal or do the same thing 20 times (folding laundry, loading the dishwasher), I get very stressed and overwhelmed! Sometimes it’s to the point that I shut down. When I was a kid, I was considered “lazy.” Meal planning and following a recipe are the worst! So I feel your pain. I avoid activities that involve too many steps. You are not alone!

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:16:34 +0000

You remind me of the guy in a video we watched in health class in seventh grade. Everywhere he went he ordered cheeseburgers. Everywhere. We ended up finding out that he couldn’t read. (Eventually he learned and moral of the story: learn how to read.)

By: Hannah

Hannah — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:11:35 +0000

It’s a pet peeve for me whenever there is an obligatory/work-related event where I have to eat out. I guess one can’t alienate one’s co-workers or the boss, but still, it’s a nuisance. I like your idea of ordering just one basic item… I’ll start to try that!

Jacob, on an unrelated note, I wanted to know if you invest all your money in the stock market (whether through individual stocks or index funds) or if you put a percentage in “risk-free” investments like bonds/T-bills. I ask because I have managed to save a small sum, and want to know how much I should put in an index fund (as opposed to a bond/T-bill). Given a long enough time frame, won’t an index fund’s returns always beat risk-free investment returns (I’m looking 15-yr), and does that mean the index fund is virtually risk-free?

I would really appreciate your thoughts, and apologies in advance for the amateur-ish question. I’m still in the process of learning

Regards,
Hannah

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:21:29 +0000

Mmm… Chipotle

By: calgirlfinance

calgirlfinance — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:03:52 +0000

That’s funny how you guys hate choice! My problem is I like to go to the same restaurants over and over again and then order my favorites! I already know I like the restaurant and those specific dishes, so I don’t want to “waste” my eating out experience on something that I might not enjoy as much.

And with Steve’s comment – I’m one of those women who is often guilty of “suggesting” to my husband what he should get! Often he doesn’t mind, but sometimes he really wants something else, so he’ll let me know and get what he really wants.

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:33:08 +0000

An appetizer and salad can alaways be fulfilling. That is my index. LOL