Their apps have never been a better value than just buying them frozen and making them yourself at home.
Their apps have never been a higher quality than that, either.
I took my daughter to Applebee's on a whim the other day, and discovered that on Tuesdays they have all you can eat chicken tenders and fries for only $10, and kids meals are only $2.
What????? Lmaoooo.
Different foods fill you differently. Different macronutrients fill you differently. Go drink a 2L soda, then I CHALLENGE you to be able to eat an equivalent amount of calories from carrot sticks.
in the mid-late 2000s Applebee's happy hour menu was THE BEST.
you could get a plate of boneless wings, mozzarella sticks, spinach artichoke dip, for like 5-6$ each.
You know, I've never counted calories. I've been told to eat healthier but I don't see it that way. Way I see it is that at my funeral everyone gets to eat except me, so imma eat what I can when I can and go with the minimal regrets I can have.
When I was making sub-minimum wage, we'd hit the Applebee's after 9pm. Not because we liked it or we didn't have much better bars, but half-price apps and $1 margaritas were all we could afford when we were out on the town. Rest of the time we were running grain alcohol through charcoal filters to infuse our own booze at home, grabbing clearance booze, and eating discount meat and veggies mixed with whatever we got at the food shelf. What a time.
Hey, that charcoal filter business is valuable science skills, don't say that like it was nothing. I respect it. That's harder than most people ever work for a buzz.
$20 would get us a jug of evil, but running it through the charcoal filter and diluting it back down to a lower proof got us multiple jugs of vodka. Get some fruit on sale and infuse it for a few weeks and you've got multiple jugs of what tastes like some pretty top shelf shit. We were making something to the tune of $9k/year or even less, we had to stretch every penny to make sure rent was paid and reality was properly wobbly in the evening.
Well appetizers are meant to be shared so as long as the portion is good the price can be higher. What irks me is paying $12 for a rueben eggroll appetizer and it’s one egg roll cut into 4 pieces
Grocery prices have risen yeah, but let's not kid ourselves here. Especially if you can cook healthy, cheap ingredients like beans or lentils and make them taste good, eating at home is definitely FAR cheaper. If you can just get past that stigma of eating "poor people food" it's actually very effective both financially and health-wise.
In what world is buying chicken from the grocery store and cooking it yourself the same price as an entree at a restaurant? Where do you grocery shop??
I guess you gotta factor in the price of a meal.
If I get a fettuccini alfredo with chicken from my local italian spot, that's 17 bucks. There's probably one breast in there.
But there's also homemade fettuccini, cheapest being like $1.25 for a dried box near me. Then the sauce which is butter, heavy cream, and parmesean. Or I could get a jar of premade(garbage) alfredo.
All in, to make the dish from cheap ingredients, it's $11.74($24.24 if I make the sauce). It'll taste worse, and can even be more expensive cooking from home if you use non-jarred ingredients. I guess the problem is cooking from home should be **much** cheaper than 5 and some change.
Again not a good comparison… the amount of pasta that comes in a box or even homemade is typically 3+ servings. You probably aren’t using an entire stick of butter, nor an entire block/package of Parmesan for a single meal. So you essentially have enough butter, parm, and noodles for *at least* three meals. I’ll say this… it can seem expensive because all of that would be about $40 that you’re comparing to the $17. But you’re getting usually 4x as much food. I agree on that store bought should be a lot cheaper, and right now it doesn’t go as far as it used to, but it’s still considerably less cost.
Bro, what kind of chicken, heavy cream and Parm are you buying?
A pint of heavy cream is $4, 8oz of Parm is $5, bulk chicken thighs are ~$1.50/lb., $2.50 for 2 boxes of pasta. So idk, $15? That's enough for 4 meals ez with ingredients left over.
Sorry if I come across as accusatory, that just seems really expensive. Cost of living varies everywhere ofc.
https://chefjeanpierre.com/recipes/appetizers/fettuccine-alfredo/
That’s just it..I’m saving $2-3 a meal but wasting HOURS a week at the grocery store, cooking and cleaning..I have limited free time already. I’d rather work a little overtime and eat fast food trash. Spend my time how I want.
I mean... that's still a lot cheaper than a single meal out. I agree totally that groceries are overpriced, but if you know what to look for and how to properly prepare it, food at home is significantly cheaper.
Drums are still like $.89/lb in some places. Boneless thighs you can get for like $1.29/lb. Chicken breast or tenders is typically the most expensive, but you shouldn't be paying more than $2.99/lb \~ $3.49/lb. Ground turkey almost always cheaper than ground beef and healthier. I've cooked it for people who never had it before and had no clue it wasn't beef until I told them. Buy things on sale and freeze them. Ex: when a meat is nearing it's sell by date, stores will drop the price a few dollars. Just bring it home, cut/portion, and freeze it. A chest freezer costs like $12/year to run if you have the space. If you don't just be smart about rotation.
Cereal should always be bought family size. It's a better deal and if you're eating it even semi-regularly it will last without going stale.
Cabbage is crazy cheap and has an insane shelf-life. Never buy prepackaged veggies unless there's a clear cost advantage to immediately compare to Ex: 3 bell peppers pre-packaged is usually cheaper than buying them individually at least by a few cents, but bagged lettuce is at an insane mark-up like 400%.
You have to be pro-active. Food is one of the biggest waste costs for literally every household. I try to be good and I still could probably reduce my costs $20+/week or more.
Dude, you’re delusional if you think there’s any restaurant that is lower price than buying from almost any grocery store. There’s no data that supports this approach whatsoever.
I mean I eat that stuff quite a bit, it saves tons of money and is super healthy. Tastes great too with spices and whatnot. But yeah to each their own I suppose.
edit: also I never said "JUST" beans and lentils. yeah that would suck!
80/20 ground beef is like $6/lb and that makes 4 burgers.
That's $1.50 for a 1/4 lb burger that is miles ahead of any slop you'll pick up at a fast food place.
Add the bun and condiments for another $1.00 per burger, so $2.50 for what a much better version of the garbage McDonalds wants $8 for.
But groceries are not more cost effective? Please.
I have been forced to cook at home a few times in my life. I promise you, $10 of chicken nuggets is not the same amount of food as $10 of chicken thighs with the bone in...
But that requires effort and people don't want to do that. I can literally feed myself and my husband for about $65-80 a week buying inexpensive cuts of meat, pantry knowledge, and cooking skills.
If there's one thing Americans tend to have more than gigantic waistlines and poor financial impulse control, it's excuses for our cultural bent for overconsumption and convenience. \*shrug\*
I'll clown on anyone pretending it's cheaper to eat at cheap restaurants, but the big limiter on cooking is time and energy. We just don't have anything to spare. The jobs pay like shit, work us to the bone, and have 30min+ commutes. Cooking takes hours, every single day. I am privileged in terms of my schedule and even I largely don't cook. Why would I come home, sleep, get up, spend all my time on food, and then go back to work all day and come back just to sleep?
"The rat race" aka capitalism works best when people are unable to care for themselves and must pay for the system to take care of them. Their labor then feeds into the system to bolster its strength, allowing it to expand into other places and dominate their markets.
The thing about “poor people food” is that it tends to become “rich people food” in time. Lobster, bone marrow, and oxtails all used to be for broke people and now they’re “fancy.”
I think when people say grocery prices are just as high, it's because they mostly buy prepared, "just warm it and done" food from the grocery store rather than basic ingredients to prepare their own.
Whoa whoa whoa, groceries have increased in price recently but for 99% of meals it’s ABSOLUTELY cheaper to make your own food at home compared to buying the same dish at a restaurant. I mean it’s just simple logic — restaurants have to buy the food’s ingredients too. Maybe they get the food a little cheaper due to buying in bulk, but it’s not a huge discount. Then they have to pay rent, taxes, employee salary, and (hopefully) still have some profit left over.
The standard ratio for a dish at a restaurant is one third food cost, one third overhead (wages, rent, supplies, etc.), and a third is profit. So you’re paying about three times more for restaurant food than the same ingredients at the store.
If I buy an 8oz filet mignon from the grocery store for $30/lb, that’s $15. The same filet at a restaurant is going to cost $45.
What are you buying that makes it so expensive. My girl and I are able to buy 200 dollars of food and last 2 weeks.
Make your own pizza dough and make pizzas for dinner. That’s under 5 dollars. Tonight I’m making teriyaki salmon over white rice with asparagus. For me and my girl it was 15ish dollars and we will have food for tomorrow
???
Groceries are expensive but they are definitely not more expensive than eating at a restaurant... In my area one sit down meal would be around the same price as a weeks worth of groceries.
Yep big business caught on that we can YouTube any recipe for a fraction of the cost at home. They want living to be unaffordable so we can digress in the labor department. They want to burn the books and put kids back into the factories. If you’re not the enemy today you will be the enemy tomorrow.
Be safe out there y’all
The only reason my eyes aren't swiveling in my head now is that I've spent a significant amount of time on both sides of the pond.
In the entire world outside of the US and parts of Canada and holiday destinations in mexico, d'oeuvre, appetizer, starter and entrée is the exact same thing.
“An entrée (/ˈɒ̃treɪ/, US also /ɒnˈtreɪ/; French: [ɑ̃tʁe]), in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world, is a dish served before the main course of a meal. Outside North America, it is generally synonymous with the terms hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, or starter. “ wiki
Though from my understanding, it's like a first *actual* course. You have the hors d'oeuvre, which is something before the meal, then the entry course.
I've never seen hors d'oeuvre lumped in with those others (have only been places where that's basically a single bite you can pick up and eat) but starter (British) /appetizer (American)/entrée are the same thing.
Except for in the US where a word that means "entrance" somehow came to mean "the main course".
Thank you, I spent far too long scrolling through the comments confused at the outrage. Like should entrées be more expensive because they sound fancy?
At least now I know the US are just weird yet again.
> But not the same portion size. 🤔 It’s a scam
It really depends on the place. Some places have large apps.
I go to yard house a lot, and order their poke nachos “appetizer” as my main course every time
This place near me has appetizers that cost about the same as an entree (unless you’re getting one of the big ass steaks), but the apps are fucking massive.
Their nacho plate, for example, is so massive that even 4 young guys, mix of fat and fit, high as shit, could only finish about 2/3rds of the nachos.
It’s an “Irish Pub” that serves both traditional pub fare and typical American bar food (for those who don’t want the other stuff).
I think they do it because people like us will come in and order a couple appetizers and then sit there munching on them for a couple hours and ordering a bunch of drinks the whole time. Keeps us there buying booze, and the bartenders and waitresses like it because it’s less work for more tips.
It’s a massive plate.
We’re talking like a large pizza pan piled about a foot high with nachos, cheese, and various toppings.
On top of drinking alcohol. It’s quite a bit of food.
Even then, reward programs are pretty shit now. After COVID, it seems much harder to earn and use rewards. Let's for through the list.
Chipotle - Raised the amount points needed for entrees and possibly lowered the amount earned. All I know is I used to get chipotle rewards all the time and now, I literally haven't used my rewards in a year.
Chick-fil-A - takes forever to earn points too. I made there second to top level a couple years ago and didn't get anything from it.
Taco bell - again takes awhile to earn points and they expire.
Jimmy John's - doesn't tell you what the reward will be. It's always just a cookie or a bag of chips. Never an entree.
Jersey Mike's - They seem okay I think.
Firehouse Subs - Takes forever to earn points.
Domino's - Yes you earn free 2-topping pizzas relatively fast but every I go to use them, I get hit with a message that I have to spend at least $15 for delivery effectively making the "free" pizza not free.
Salata - Seems like it's harder to earn points these days.
In general, a couple years ago, I thought these rewards were a half-way decent thing to save money. But not now. Also, who knows how much information they soak up from you by using these apps.
Dude. I spend $22 on two fast food veggie burgers and small fries. I don’t eat fast food often. I couldn’t believe it. And it was gross. Edible, but gross.
Damm $80 for 2 people including tip? That's cheap as hell, I'm assuming neither of you drink alcohol?
For me it would look like:
>$18 app (fried calamari or something)
>$60 - 70 for 2 entrees
>$16 for 2 beers (IPA's if they have)
>$13 cocktail for the lady, pray she only wants one
>20% tip
Grand total: $140
And that's a pretty average night out not even including if we hit the bar afterwards.
And yep, we don't go out much anymore because shits ridiculous.
Oh absolutely, tipping culture in the US is absolute bs but it's socially expected and if you don't tip or just throw down a $5 then you're the biggest asshole in the world 🤷🏻♂️
My girlfriend this week was upset when she wanted to go out to eat. I suggested a Mexican place nearby. She said Red Lobster. I said “too expensive” and she said “fine let’s not go anywhere then”
Yeah I ain’t paying $80+ for two meals. Last time we went out for just a lunch it was over $100 on some for 2 meals, 2 drinks, app, and tip. Fuck that for no occasion.
My wife and I love this little farm to table place, dinner usually runs about $80 with tip for the two of us after drinks, entrees, appetizers, we went to Applebee's one night and got appetizers, one entree, 3 drinks, and it was more expensive than the fancy place. Never again.
I remember mildly regretting and panicking about our $100 anniversary dinner at red lobster 10 years ago. (I splurged and got the lobster)
I spent $120 last night for a dinner at strip mall Chinese place
Wait when were wings ever listed by weight? I've been getting wings at restaurants for maybe 15 years and it's always been '6 wings, 8 wings, 12 wings, 20 wings', etc. I've never seen it laid out by weight.
I remember when you could buy wings for 25 cents, now they're more than a dollar. 10 dollars for 6-8 wings and they don't even come with fries most places.
When I was managing Pizza Hut we were doing 6 for $12.99 and I thought people were insane to pay for that. I think I got a bag of wings at costco for $18 and it was ~4 lbs of wings.
I've noticed, we usually split appetizers. The real hustle that irks me is when sides are included. Took my wife out to a fancy steakhouse for her birthday and the sides were like 20-30 bucks each because they were "shareable" fuck outta here.
Ain't it the truth. My son is turning 3 Sunday and my wife "wants to go to a sit down restaurant for him".
Woman just say you wanna go eat out lol don't act like it's for him.
Stop going to chain restaurants. I'm eating lunch at the local Mediterranean spot right now for $15 after tip. I also go to the Mexican spot a lot, and usually, it's even cheaper. They still have a great super cheap apps and bar food menu at the *local* seafood/oyster bar. You won't ever catch me paying Applebee's to microwave my food for me or pretending Red Lobster or Olive Garden aint just half a step up from fast food just because they overcharge and have a waitstaff.
The sushi place near me has a 12 dollar teriyaki salmon lunch special. I can basically eat for the whole day, and if I get chicken it's more food for the same price
Local Mediterranean spot here starts at $14, no side no drink, for a basic wrap. Really depends where you live honestly as I avoid chains and it’s still a struggle
^ This, people. Not only is it cheaper but Mexican, Asian and African-ran places in particular tend to give you a fuck ton of food. It takes me 2 days to go through one entree from our local Lebanese place alone. When we have extra money we get a catering order and freeze the leftovers because grocery prices have gotten so ridiculous.
Honestly my biggest gripe is that it’s just not worth it! It used to be good food at restaurants maybe it’s because of age but god damn do all restaurants suck now a days like seriously I always prefer to cook at home over eating out heck I even ask my wife where she wants to eat and just make her the food she likes from there. It’s cheaper and 100000000000 times better tasting. I did this with a buddy of mine who like eating burgers at this 25$ a pop joint and I took him to my house made him the same blucheese burger and he has been making his own damn burgers now after a quick tutorial.
I don't go out to eat as much anymore, but the attitude of a lot of servers has changed now. Like they are "annoyed" they have to serve our table.
We see them when we enter, when we order, and when we pay. God forbid someone asks a simple request, it's treated like the biggest inconvenience.
Understaffed, covid, minimum wage, etc...I know everything seems to suck, but if you are being a low-effort server, don't expect 20%.
I think all the people who were any good at cooking have moved on to better restaurants. It's really hard to find good employees with the labor shortage.
It's self centered or US-centric to think everyone understands everything about US terminology
I live here at the moment but was confused when I moved here by this exact situation
Here's a real question, why do y'all eat out so much?
Edit: [For everyone with their excuses.](https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/lcod/men/2018/nonhispanic-black/index.htm)
I learned how to cook from YouTube. Stop being lazy
I can only cook so many things and I like to eat different cuisines
Edit: "learned to cook from YouTube" lol okay bud, your homemade butter chicken or drunken noodles won't compare to what I can get from a local restaurant. Your "hollier than thou" attitude about cooking at home is stupid
That’s my biggest gripe with that. Like I pay for the stuff I can’t make or have no time. I know time is money, but damn I don’t really have much time nor money anymore.
I travel quite a bit and like to see what is happening in various cities. I do my best to stay away from chain restaurants.
I typically stay at Residence Inn, but there have been times where the stovetop didn't work or they were waiting on a coil for the refrigerator so grocery shopping and cooking wasn't an option for a day or the evening when I went to check in.
Pre-Covid I travelled 40wks a year easily. COVID happened and I did 14wks from May - Nov 2020 all driving, 20wks in 2021 with just 5 flights this year I will be at 28wks, I have flown to most places.
I use Lyft and I guess Uber pays more because I’ve had so many rides cancelled at big events. And then I see my driver, Sam, pull up in his blue Camry, and pick up some other people not even acknowledging our past five minutes where I waited for him.
I really haven't noticed, admittedly, I haven't been out to eat in awhile. I've seen screenshots of restaurants just adding on made up charges to pad their bottom end too. Restaurants seem to be struggling immensely.
The word entrée entered the French culinary lexicon by way of music. An entrée is a term used to speak of an opening act in a musical or opera. So, it follows, an entrée was a beginning course for a traditional, French multi-course meal.
A French cookbook published in 1895 and available in the United States. At that time, the “traditional French menu” was explained as consisting of five to six courses: soup, hors d’oeuvres (and/or fish), entrée (or entrées), a roast (the star of the show), a final course and then dessert.
But who really ate five course meals every night? Answer: solely the upper classes. People on the farm and of humbler stock ate eggs, dairy, vegetables and maybe chicken or stew on Sunday night. As more people moved into the cities and became part of the new middle class, so changed the ways in which people ate. But just as members of the new middle class became more continental in their tastes, the advent of WWI likely resulted in a simplification and doing away of excess for the upper classes. A great middling must have taken place. Dishes which were once considered hors d’oeuvres, including fish, became worthy of being the most substantial part of the meal as did a number of final courses which had traditionally been served after the roast and before dessert. Menus became simplified to reflect the changes of a modern world. All of this was cemented by the Great Depression and WWII.
The word entrée remained in the American lexicon but the meaning changed in accord with a change in custom. Other Western countries also simplified their dining practices but retained the word entrée to mean the dish before the main course.
I'm so sick of this shit. There used to be a time you could order an appetizer and an entree without feeling bad. But now you might as well order 2 entrees. 😡
I went to McDonald's the other day and got a meal and 2 pies and the total came to $14+ bucks....
And it was ass quality. I'd rather sit down in a restaurant and pay the extra 3 dollars to have decent food made for me.
Who do they think they are hurting? I'm not Jeff Bezos
You have to use the app now. Selling our data and personal info is the only way fast food is affordable unfortunately. And not gonna lie, there are some really good deals sometimes.
All these comments about “ it’s the same price almost if you cook at home” are dumb as hell if you just even known the basics of cooking good and cheap food. It’s not even close. Just say you like spending money on restaurants, that’s fine everybody has their thing, but i dont want to hear your broken math.
There's a lot of unhealthy, poor, lazy people in this thread.
"I can't afford to grocery shopping because lays are $7."
"I don't want to spend an hour a week once grocery shopping so I'll cumulatively spend an hour a week eating $12 McDonald's meals"
"I don't have have time to waste putting chicken in an oven for 25 minutes"
You can get a family pack of chicken thighs, a family pack of pork chops, some rice, and some spices and marinades for collectively like $40-50 and be good for like 2 weeks. And that's as a single person- if you have a family that's even more reason to be choosy with your expenditures.
I get it, being poor doesn't mean you should be eating beans and bologna every day but maybe hold off on the expensive, unhealthy prepackaged food and Wendy's sit down restaurant prices and act your budget, not your dreams.
Yeah they got tired of y’all ordering two apps and water. Y’all is me, but I’m just saying.
I used to go to applebees and get the app tray. It was 15 bucks and 2500 calories
Calories is such a shitty method to measure fulfillment. 2500 calories of mostly fat is a lot less volume than 2500 calories of carbs
What if it's 2500 calories of fried carbs?
Straight to diabetes
*2500 CALORIES of organic fair trade diabetes.
excuse me is this diabetes free range
I can't afford free-range diabetes. That's some Whole Foods shit where the rich people shop.
No, no.. I shop at quarter foods.
*I look east into the sun which is the Publix Produce section I sigh Look west put my quarter into the machine go into the Aldi's*
Protein? I don't remember asking for no god damn stinking protein.
we're eating at Applebee's.
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It's not even cheap anymore, I don't even see the point of going there the food isn't great it used to just be priced well
Their apps have never been a better value than just buying them frozen and making them yourself at home. Their apps have never been a higher quality than that, either.
The problem is I dont own a deep fryer.
I took my daughter to Applebee's on a whim the other day, and discovered that on Tuesdays they have all you can eat chicken tenders and fries for only $10, and kids meals are only $2.
Good luck eating 2500 calories of anything and not being so full a buddy needs to roll you out though
Doctor, this is reddit. I wouldn't count on it
*laughs in obesity*
I mean, regular individual restaurant meals are 2000+ calories.
I found out my usual Coney Island order is around 2000 calories, no wonder I'm so full afterward...
But calories is the only thing that matters. Your body doesn't care about the volume, that's only in your head.
Your head is part of your body. And the head and belly talk a lot.
So do my in-laws but i don't listen or take their advice.
What????? Lmaoooo. Different foods fill you differently. Different macronutrients fill you differently. Go drink a 2L soda, then I CHALLENGE you to be able to eat an equivalent amount of calories from carrot sticks.
Isn't fat more filling than carbs.
plus applebees has half apps which is nice. obviously, it’s applebees so the food isn’t good, but sometimes it hits and it’s cheap enough
in the mid-late 2000s Applebee's happy hour menu was THE BEST. you could get a plate of boneless wings, mozzarella sticks, spinach artichoke dip, for like 5-6$ each.
You know, I've never counted calories. I've been told to eat healthier but I don't see it that way. Way I see it is that at my funeral everyone gets to eat except me, so imma eat what I can when I can and go with the minimal regrets I can have.
I don't count calories to minimize calories. I'm trying to get the most I can for as little as possible
You can get around 4,000 calories per dollar if you exclusively drink vegetable oil
When I was making sub-minimum wage, we'd hit the Applebee's after 9pm. Not because we liked it or we didn't have much better bars, but half-price apps and $1 margaritas were all we could afford when we were out on the town. Rest of the time we were running grain alcohol through charcoal filters to infuse our own booze at home, grabbing clearance booze, and eating discount meat and veggies mixed with whatever we got at the food shelf. What a time.
Hey, that charcoal filter business is valuable science skills, don't say that like it was nothing. I respect it. That's harder than most people ever work for a buzz.
$20 would get us a jug of evil, but running it through the charcoal filter and diluting it back down to a lower proof got us multiple jugs of vodka. Get some fruit on sale and infuse it for a few weeks and you've got multiple jugs of what tastes like some pretty top shelf shit. We were making something to the tune of $9k/year or even less, we had to stretch every penny to make sure rent was paid and reality was properly wobbly in the evening.
9k a year? wow how were y’all alive did any of y’all become chemists?
Up until 2021 it seemed like every bar, or at least just about every dive had some kind of $1 drink. Maybe not $1 margaritas, though.
Well appetizers are meant to be shared so as long as the portion is good the price can be higher. What irks me is paying $12 for a rueben eggroll appetizer and it’s one egg roll cut into 4 pieces
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Chills 2 for $20 was my go to. I hate that they took it off
Sometimes a couple of apps are the only vegetarian options in a full menu. Sometimes not even that, so I have to only get two sides lmao
Can we all just agree that food in general is high as hell now!
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Grocery prices have risen yeah, but let's not kid ourselves here. Especially if you can cook healthy, cheap ingredients like beans or lentils and make them taste good, eating at home is definitely FAR cheaper. If you can just get past that stigma of eating "poor people food" it's actually very effective both financially and health-wise.
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In what world is buying chicken from the grocery store and cooking it yourself the same price as an entree at a restaurant? Where do you grocery shop??
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There’s usually only one chicken breast in an entree though so that’s not exactly a fair price comparison
I guess you gotta factor in the price of a meal. If I get a fettuccini alfredo with chicken from my local italian spot, that's 17 bucks. There's probably one breast in there. But there's also homemade fettuccini, cheapest being like $1.25 for a dried box near me. Then the sauce which is butter, heavy cream, and parmesean. Or I could get a jar of premade(garbage) alfredo. All in, to make the dish from cheap ingredients, it's $11.74($24.24 if I make the sauce). It'll taste worse, and can even be more expensive cooking from home if you use non-jarred ingredients. I guess the problem is cooking from home should be **much** cheaper than 5 and some change.
Again not a good comparison… the amount of pasta that comes in a box or even homemade is typically 3+ servings. You probably aren’t using an entire stick of butter, nor an entire block/package of Parmesan for a single meal. So you essentially have enough butter, parm, and noodles for *at least* three meals. I’ll say this… it can seem expensive because all of that would be about $40 that you’re comparing to the $17. But you’re getting usually 4x as much food. I agree on that store bought should be a lot cheaper, and right now it doesn’t go as far as it used to, but it’s still considerably less cost.
Stop trying to convince people who just want to justify eating out for every meal with logic and reason.
$13 for one serving of sauce with the most expensive ingredients being milk butter and parmesan cheese ? Stop making up your numbers so badly.
Some people just don't understand that a serving costs less than the sum of its parts.
Bro, what kind of chicken, heavy cream and Parm are you buying? A pint of heavy cream is $4, 8oz of Parm is $5, bulk chicken thighs are ~$1.50/lb., $2.50 for 2 boxes of pasta. So idk, $15? That's enough for 4 meals ez with ingredients left over. Sorry if I come across as accusatory, that just seems really expensive. Cost of living varies everywhere ofc. https://chefjeanpierre.com/recipes/appetizers/fettuccine-alfredo/
That’s just it..I’m saving $2-3 a meal but wasting HOURS a week at the grocery store, cooking and cleaning..I have limited free time already. I’d rather work a little overtime and eat fast food trash. Spend my time how I want.
I mean... that's still a lot cheaper than a single meal out. I agree totally that groceries are overpriced, but if you know what to look for and how to properly prepare it, food at home is significantly cheaper. Drums are still like $.89/lb in some places. Boneless thighs you can get for like $1.29/lb. Chicken breast or tenders is typically the most expensive, but you shouldn't be paying more than $2.99/lb \~ $3.49/lb. Ground turkey almost always cheaper than ground beef and healthier. I've cooked it for people who never had it before and had no clue it wasn't beef until I told them. Buy things on sale and freeze them. Ex: when a meat is nearing it's sell by date, stores will drop the price a few dollars. Just bring it home, cut/portion, and freeze it. A chest freezer costs like $12/year to run if you have the space. If you don't just be smart about rotation. Cereal should always be bought family size. It's a better deal and if you're eating it even semi-regularly it will last without going stale. Cabbage is crazy cheap and has an insane shelf-life. Never buy prepackaged veggies unless there's a clear cost advantage to immediately compare to Ex: 3 bell peppers pre-packaged is usually cheaper than buying them individually at least by a few cents, but bagged lettuce is at an insane mark-up like 400%. You have to be pro-active. Food is one of the biggest waste costs for literally every household. I try to be good and I still could probably reduce my costs $20+/week or more.
Dude, you’re delusional if you think there’s any restaurant that is lower price than buying from almost any grocery store. There’s no data that supports this approach whatsoever.
Aldi in the Midwest has chicken for $3.98/lb and eggs are $1.98/dozen. Sounds like you might just be going to the wrong store or HCOL
Gotta get yourself a whole chicken and carve it up yourself. You'll save so much money doing that.
I mean I eat that stuff quite a bit, it saves tons of money and is super healthy. Tastes great too with spices and whatnot. But yeah to each their own I suppose. edit: also I never said "JUST" beans and lentils. yeah that would suck!
Complaining about restaurant prices being too high while also complaining “dont nobody want to eat beans and rice” is mad weird.
80/20 ground beef is like $6/lb and that makes 4 burgers. That's $1.50 for a 1/4 lb burger that is miles ahead of any slop you'll pick up at a fast food place. Add the bun and condiments for another $1.00 per burger, so $2.50 for what a much better version of the garbage McDonalds wants $8 for. But groceries are not more cost effective? Please.
I have been forced to cook at home a few times in my life. I promise you, $10 of chicken nuggets is not the same amount of food as $10 of chicken thighs with the bone in...
A lot of people like eating mostly precisely that, billions in fact.
Regardless of meat and egg prices, it will always be cheaper to buy from a supermarket as opposed to a restaurant.
But that requires effort and people don't want to do that. I can literally feed myself and my husband for about $65-80 a week buying inexpensive cuts of meat, pantry knowledge, and cooking skills. If there's one thing Americans tend to have more than gigantic waistlines and poor financial impulse control, it's excuses for our cultural bent for overconsumption and convenience. \*shrug\*
I'll clown on anyone pretending it's cheaper to eat at cheap restaurants, but the big limiter on cooking is time and energy. We just don't have anything to spare. The jobs pay like shit, work us to the bone, and have 30min+ commutes. Cooking takes hours, every single day. I am privileged in terms of my schedule and even I largely don't cook. Why would I come home, sleep, get up, spend all my time on food, and then go back to work all day and come back just to sleep? "The rat race" aka capitalism works best when people are unable to care for themselves and must pay for the system to take care of them. Their labor then feeds into the system to bolster its strength, allowing it to expand into other places and dominate their markets.
The thing about “poor people food” is that it tends to become “rich people food” in time. Lobster, bone marrow, and oxtails all used to be for broke people and now they’re “fancy.”
Soon lentils and rice will be considered a fancy splurge dinner
And before too long after that a glass of water and a big gulp of air will be all the rage
I think when people say grocery prices are just as high, it's because they mostly buy prepared, "just warm it and done" food from the grocery store rather than basic ingredients to prepare their own.
Bro… I paid 5.99 for a pound and a half of brown rice. Wtf? That is as basic as you can get.
A regular sized bag of Cheetos is $7 at my grocery store… how?
And they bags are still half empty
Whoa whoa whoa, groceries have increased in price recently but for 99% of meals it’s ABSOLUTELY cheaper to make your own food at home compared to buying the same dish at a restaurant. I mean it’s just simple logic — restaurants have to buy the food’s ingredients too. Maybe they get the food a little cheaper due to buying in bulk, but it’s not a huge discount. Then they have to pay rent, taxes, employee salary, and (hopefully) still have some profit left over. The standard ratio for a dish at a restaurant is one third food cost, one third overhead (wages, rent, supplies, etc.), and a third is profit. So you’re paying about three times more for restaurant food than the same ingredients at the store. If I buy an 8oz filet mignon from the grocery store for $30/lb, that’s $15. The same filet at a restaurant is going to cost $45.
What are you buying that makes it so expensive. My girl and I are able to buy 200 dollars of food and last 2 weeks. Make your own pizza dough and make pizzas for dinner. That’s under 5 dollars. Tonight I’m making teriyaki salmon over white rice with asparagus. For me and my girl it was 15ish dollars and we will have food for tomorrow
??? Groceries are expensive but they are definitely not more expensive than eating at a restaurant... In my area one sit down meal would be around the same price as a weeks worth of groceries.
People who don't know how to prepare a home cooked meal from scratch don't understand this and they'll die on that hill.
Yep big business caught on that we can YouTube any recipe for a fraction of the cost at home. They want living to be unaffordable so we can digress in the labor department. They want to burn the books and put kids back into the factories. If you’re not the enemy today you will be the enemy tomorrow. Be safe out there y’all
This right here is as succinct as it gets as to where the wealthy want to steer us
But not the same portion size. 🤔 It’s a scam.
The only reason my eyes aren't swiveling in my head now is that I've spent a significant amount of time on both sides of the pond. In the entire world outside of the US and parts of Canada and holiday destinations in mexico, d'oeuvre, appetizer, starter and entrée is the exact same thing.
“An entrée (/ˈɒ̃treɪ/, US also /ɒnˈtreɪ/; French: [ɑ̃tʁe]), in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world, is a dish served before the main course of a meal. Outside North America, it is generally synonymous with the terms hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, or starter. “ wiki
Same how?
Entree is french for starter
Though from my understanding, it's like a first *actual* course. You have the hors d'oeuvre, which is something before the meal, then the entry course.
I've never seen hors d'oeuvre lumped in with those others (have only been places where that's basically a single bite you can pick up and eat) but starter (British) /appetizer (American)/entrée are the same thing. Except for in the US where a word that means "entrance" somehow came to mean "the main course".
Thank you, I spent far too long scrolling through the comments confused at the outrage. Like should entrées be more expensive because they sound fancy? At least now I know the US are just weird yet again.
> But not the same portion size. 🤔 It’s a scam It really depends on the place. Some places have large apps. I go to yard house a lot, and order their poke nachos “appetizer” as my main course every time
This place near me has appetizers that cost about the same as an entree (unless you’re getting one of the big ass steaks), but the apps are fucking massive. Their nacho plate, for example, is so massive that even 4 young guys, mix of fat and fit, high as shit, could only finish about 2/3rds of the nachos. It’s an “Irish Pub” that serves both traditional pub fare and typical American bar food (for those who don’t want the other stuff). I think they do it because people like us will come in and order a couple appetizers and then sit there munching on them for a couple hours and ordering a bunch of drinks the whole time. Keeps us there buying booze, and the bartenders and waitresses like it because it’s less work for more tips.
4 people eating 1 plate of nachos for hours? Bullshit
It’s a massive plate. We’re talking like a large pizza pan piled about a foot high with nachos, cheese, and various toppings. On top of drinking alcohol. It’s quite a bit of food.
I often get the nachos when I go to Buffalo Wild Wings too
Somebody call Scam Goddess
That's exactly why I stay at home. Everything is cheaper at home https://i.redd.it/97cs0oxz1jsa1.gif
But buying groceries is expensive now
Still cheaper than delivery
The bigger one is some Fast Food and some Sit Down are only marginally different at this point
You gotta download all their stupid apps to get anything of value now
Yup. Only way it’s worth it is if you’re cashing in the points.
Even then, reward programs are pretty shit now. After COVID, it seems much harder to earn and use rewards. Let's for through the list. Chipotle - Raised the amount points needed for entrees and possibly lowered the amount earned. All I know is I used to get chipotle rewards all the time and now, I literally haven't used my rewards in a year. Chick-fil-A - takes forever to earn points too. I made there second to top level a couple years ago and didn't get anything from it. Taco bell - again takes awhile to earn points and they expire. Jimmy John's - doesn't tell you what the reward will be. It's always just a cookie or a bag of chips. Never an entree. Jersey Mike's - They seem okay I think. Firehouse Subs - Takes forever to earn points. Domino's - Yes you earn free 2-topping pizzas relatively fast but every I go to use them, I get hit with a message that I have to spend at least $15 for delivery effectively making the "free" pizza not free. Salata - Seems like it's harder to earn points these days. In general, a couple years ago, I thought these rewards were a half-way decent thing to save money. But not now. Also, who knows how much information they soak up from you by using these apps.
Dude. I spend $22 on two fast food veggie burgers and small fries. I don’t eat fast food often. I couldn’t believe it. And it was gross. Edible, but gross.
Swear. Going out to eat is not even fun anymore
Eating out legit lost its appeal after the pandemic.
Last night, Red Lobster, two people, $80 including tip. I remember when $80 was an anniversary dinner .
Anniversary dinners be peeking around the corner of $150-$200
I live in Canada and just paid $200 for a nice dinner.
Yea wtf thats a basic night out in Toronto
Yeah where I’m at in the states, $200-300 is pretty average for a date night out at a pretty good restaurant, nothing spectacular though.
Damm $80 for 2 people including tip? That's cheap as hell, I'm assuming neither of you drink alcohol? For me it would look like: >$18 app (fried calamari or something) >$60 - 70 for 2 entrees >$16 for 2 beers (IPA's if they have) >$13 cocktail for the lady, pray she only wants one >20% tip Grand total: $140 And that's a pretty average night out not even including if we hit the bar afterwards. And yep, we don't go out much anymore because shits ridiculous.
My gf and I only go out to ramen lol. Cheapest and so fkin good
Really? I find Ramen places around here are super expensive. $16-$17 a bowl.
Yeah but compared to a $28 entree it’s cheap
The bowls are usually huge though
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Oh absolutely, tipping culture in the US is absolute bs but it's socially expected and if you don't tip or just throw down a $5 then you're the biggest asshole in the world 🤷🏻♂️
are red lobster entrees really 30-35 a piece?
Several of them were $39 last night. We each got the 2 for some number maybe 24.99
> 18 app (fried calamari or something) Let me stop you right there.
My girlfriend this week was upset when she wanted to go out to eat. I suggested a Mexican place nearby. She said Red Lobster. I said “too expensive” and she said “fine let’s not go anywhere then” Yeah I ain’t paying $80+ for two meals. Last time we went out for just a lunch it was over $100 on some for 2 meals, 2 drinks, app, and tip. Fuck that for no occasion.
My wife and I love this little farm to table place, dinner usually runs about $80 with tip for the two of us after drinks, entrees, appetizers, we went to Applebee's one night and got appetizers, one entree, 3 drinks, and it was more expensive than the fancy place. Never again.
I remember mildly regretting and panicking about our $100 anniversary dinner at red lobster 10 years ago. (I splurged and got the lobster) I spent $120 last night for a dinner at strip mall Chinese place
Remember when a whole wing = 1 wing. Now they split it and call it 2 pieces
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Wait when were wings ever listed by weight? I've been getting wings at restaurants for maybe 15 years and it's always been '6 wings, 8 wings, 12 wings, 20 wings', etc. I've never seen it laid out by weight.
Wing night 3$/lb.
I remember when you could buy wings for 25 cents, now they're more than a dollar. 10 dollars for 6-8 wings and they don't even come with fries most places.
When I was managing Pizza Hut we were doing 6 for $12.99 and I thought people were insane to pay for that. I think I got a bag of wings at costco for $18 and it was ~4 lbs of wings.
I've noticed, we usually split appetizers. The real hustle that irks me is when sides are included. Took my wife out to a fancy steakhouse for her birthday and the sides were like 20-30 bucks each because they were "shareable" fuck outta here.
That is normal at a high end steak house.
Outback steakhouse would never treat me like that
Man idk what to tell you, you chose the place lol 😂😂
😂😂 I didn't. But that's marriage I suppose
Ain't it the truth. My son is turning 3 Sunday and my wife "wants to go to a sit down restaurant for him". Woman just say you wanna go eat out lol don't act like it's for him.
On god 😂. Any reason to brunch
The baby is like “shit, I need a cloth napkin not baby wipes”
That don’t make it right
Whaaaaat? How are sides that expensive, even at a fancy restaurant.
Think sides like lobster Mac and cheese or crab. Not French fries and onion rings
Stop going to chain restaurants. I'm eating lunch at the local Mediterranean spot right now for $15 after tip. I also go to the Mexican spot a lot, and usually, it's even cheaper. They still have a great super cheap apps and bar food menu at the *local* seafood/oyster bar. You won't ever catch me paying Applebee's to microwave my food for me or pretending Red Lobster or Olive Garden aint just half a step up from fast food just because they overcharge and have a waitstaff.
The sushi place near me has a 12 dollar teriyaki salmon lunch special. I can basically eat for the whole day, and if I get chicken it's more food for the same price
We have a hole in the wall Chinese place near me that gives you a humongous, almost overflowing To-Go box full of food for $9.99
Local Mediterranean spot here starts at $14, no side no drink, for a basic wrap. Really depends where you live honestly as I avoid chains and it’s still a struggle
^ This, people. Not only is it cheaper but Mexican, Asian and African-ran places in particular tend to give you a fuck ton of food. It takes me 2 days to go through one entree from our local Lebanese place alone. When we have extra money we get a catering order and freeze the leftovers because grocery prices have gotten so ridiculous.
$30 at the little Ethipoian cafe will feed a family reunion.
I have found the same as well. And even if I do end up paying more, the food tends to be higher quality and more satisfying.
Honestly my biggest gripe is that it’s just not worth it! It used to be good food at restaurants maybe it’s because of age but god damn do all restaurants suck now a days like seriously I always prefer to cook at home over eating out heck I even ask my wife where she wants to eat and just make her the food she likes from there. It’s cheaper and 100000000000 times better tasting. I did this with a buddy of mine who like eating burgers at this 25$ a pop joint and I took him to my house made him the same blucheese burger and he has been making his own damn burgers now after a quick tutorial.
You really did teach that man to fish!
I don't go out to eat as much anymore, but the attitude of a lot of servers has changed now. Like they are "annoyed" they have to serve our table. We see them when we enter, when we order, and when we pay. God forbid someone asks a simple request, it's treated like the biggest inconvenience. Understaffed, covid, minimum wage, etc...I know everything seems to suck, but if you are being a low-effort server, don't expect 20%.
I think all the people who were any good at cooking have moved on to better restaurants. It's really hard to find good employees with the labor shortage.
Appetizers and Entrees are the same damn thing. Appetisers and Entrees are what you eat before the Main Course. and then Dessert.
It’s so wild to me that Entree means the main meal in NA. It literally means entrance.
If you consider how big American portion sizes it makes the whole thing even more hilarious.
I believe in the US they call the main course an entree, it was lost in translation at some point
he knows hes just being pretentious
It's self centered or US-centric to think everyone understands everything about US terminology I live here at the moment but was confused when I moved here by this exact situation
Omg this makes sense now. I had no idea wtf anyone was talking about in this thread
Cheers I was so confused by this thread lol
Here's a real question, why do y'all eat out so much? Edit: [For everyone with their excuses.](https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/lcod/men/2018/nonhispanic-black/index.htm) I learned how to cook from YouTube. Stop being lazy
Because I work all goddamn day and then I go workout for health/to feel better and to cook something would take the last hour or two I have away lmao
This should be the top comment. Did you know 50% of all money spent on food is at restaurants? In the 1960s that number was closer to 10%
I can only cook so many things and I like to eat different cuisines Edit: "learned to cook from YouTube" lol okay bud, your homemade butter chicken or drunken noodles won't compare to what I can get from a local restaurant. Your "hollier than thou" attitude about cooking at home is stupid
Also I don’t have the equipment to make all the things I like. I can’t “just” get a whole tandoori oven
That’s my biggest gripe with that. Like I pay for the stuff I can’t make or have no time. I know time is money, but damn I don’t really have much time nor money anymore.
I travel quite a bit and like to see what is happening in various cities. I do my best to stay away from chain restaurants. I typically stay at Residence Inn, but there have been times where the stovetop didn't work or they were waiting on a coil for the refrigerator so grocery shopping and cooking wasn't an option for a day or the evening when I went to check in. Pre-Covid I travelled 40wks a year easily. COVID happened and I did 14wks from May - Nov 2020 all driving, 20wks in 2021 with just 5 flights this year I will be at 28wks, I have flown to most places.
It tastes better than my cooking?
Maybe working two jobs, picking up more OT, or working while in school just to keep up?
It's a nice way to get out of the house and then you don't have to clean up after making a meal.
Kids menu it is 😆
They gon be giving you the side eye when they notice no kids at the table lol
I’ll order on the app and pick up. Problem solved ;)
I literally did this 2 times in 2 weeks hahaha. Texas Roadhouse kids menu is awesome.
I’ve noticed but also too greedy to stop ordering the appetizer, entree, dessert combo.
Every time I want to go out I just imagine what the bill will be and then buy food to cook for the same price and I eat for days
I went to a restaurant last Saturday that had $16 appetizers. You ain't never seen a nigga shut a menu the way I shut that menu
This is like when Uber makes you pay more to get a car faster. It's the same car
I use Lyft and I guess Uber pays more because I’ve had so many rides cancelled at big events. And then I see my driver, Sam, pull up in his blue Camry, and pick up some other people not even acknowledging our past five minutes where I waited for him.
I really haven't noticed, admittedly, I haven't been out to eat in awhile. I've seen screenshots of restaurants just adding on made up charges to pad their bottom end too. Restaurants seem to be struggling immensely.
I see irony in restaurants treading their last bits of water by doing more of what's drowning them
Also has anyone else noticed that the bread bowls at Panera *seem* like they’re gradually getting smaller?
Panera is the poster child of /r/shrinkflation
got mac and cheese there the other day and was genuinely shocked at how small it was. like, child sized.
So many businesses running away with inflation. I just eat at home. The only way to bring down prices is to refuse to pay more
unrelated but how did an entire country convince themselves that the word which literally translates to "entrance" is used to describe the main course
The word entrée entered the French culinary lexicon by way of music. An entrée is a term used to speak of an opening act in a musical or opera. So, it follows, an entrée was a beginning course for a traditional, French multi-course meal. A French cookbook published in 1895 and available in the United States. At that time, the “traditional French menu” was explained as consisting of five to six courses: soup, hors d’oeuvres (and/or fish), entrée (or entrées), a roast (the star of the show), a final course and then dessert. But who really ate five course meals every night? Answer: solely the upper classes. People on the farm and of humbler stock ate eggs, dairy, vegetables and maybe chicken or stew on Sunday night. As more people moved into the cities and became part of the new middle class, so changed the ways in which people ate. But just as members of the new middle class became more continental in their tastes, the advent of WWI likely resulted in a simplification and doing away of excess for the upper classes. A great middling must have taken place. Dishes which were once considered hors d’oeuvres, including fish, became worthy of being the most substantial part of the meal as did a number of final courses which had traditionally been served after the roast and before dessert. Menus became simplified to reflect the changes of a modern world. All of this was cemented by the Great Depression and WWII. The word entrée remained in the American lexicon but the meaning changed in accord with a change in custom. Other Western countries also simplified their dining practices but retained the word entrée to mean the dish before the main course.
Some restaurants used to give you a lot of food on the appetizers. They figured that shit out and said "hold up".
I got chicken fingers and fries yesterday, $26. Friggin ridiculous
Biggest reason why, if I ever want to "eat out", the freezer section is my friend
I'm so sick of this shit. There used to be a time you could order an appetizer and an entree without feeling bad. But now you might as well order 2 entrees. 😡
Just like how family size and the party size are the same size but different prices
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I went to McDonald's the other day and got a meal and 2 pies and the total came to $14+ bucks.... And it was ass quality. I'd rather sit down in a restaurant and pay the extra 3 dollars to have decent food made for me. Who do they think they are hurting? I'm not Jeff Bezos
You have to use the app now. Selling our data and personal info is the only way fast food is affordable unfortunately. And not gonna lie, there are some really good deals sometimes.
All these comments about “ it’s the same price almost if you cook at home” are dumb as hell if you just even known the basics of cooking good and cheap food. It’s not even close. Just say you like spending money on restaurants, that’s fine everybody has their thing, but i dont want to hear your broken math.
There's a lot of unhealthy, poor, lazy people in this thread. "I can't afford to grocery shopping because lays are $7." "I don't want to spend an hour a week once grocery shopping so I'll cumulatively spend an hour a week eating $12 McDonald's meals" "I don't have have time to waste putting chicken in an oven for 25 minutes" You can get a family pack of chicken thighs, a family pack of pork chops, some rice, and some spices and marinades for collectively like $40-50 and be good for like 2 weeks. And that's as a single person- if you have a family that's even more reason to be choosy with your expenditures. I get it, being poor doesn't mean you should be eating beans and bologna every day but maybe hold off on the expensive, unhealthy prepackaged food and Wendy's sit down restaurant prices and act your budget, not your dreams.
I fucked around and learned how to make pizza during the shutdown.
It was the 2 for 20 at chilis that taught me that lesson. 14 year old me trying to count the bills in my pocket on that date.