Prices where I live. Cooking at come cost like 2 bucks. Delivery cost 20. Eating out cost 50.

I’m cooking at home.

eating out is pretty expensive, if you are doing it everyday, at a restaurant.

Usually delivery and eating out ends up being much more expensive in the long run than cooking at home where you can buy things in bulk when on sale and store Ina fridge or freezer until you need it, but you need the space to store a lot of food which many apartments don’t have.

So you’re saying you’re constantly broke. Getting delivery all the time is hella expensive

Single guy, single family home with two teens just leaving for college

1. Cook at home
2. Takeout (because chipotle exists)
3. Eat out

I essentially never do delivery, it’s too expensive. You’re paying extra for eat out food but don’t even get to eat out.

Chipotle has an excellent group order function in their app! I can send an invite to my kids while they’re out so they can add to the family order and have them grab it on their way home.

Plus I love cooking. I need to find some sort of group for sharing meals. In fact I have a 12 lb pork shoulder ready to go on the smoker tomorrow but it’s just me. Who wants some pulled pork?

Edit for the folks at !fuckcars@lemmy.world , as the last breakfast before my little one left for college, we walked about a mile, half on trail, to an old-style diner for breakfast.

I’m poor. I rarely eat out and I think I ordered delivery once in college.

Cook at home every time, I could happily never have fast food again. The only reason I ever eat it is when in a group and someone else decides that is what we are doing.

3 kid family. Food is expensive. Wife learned to cook very well by her mother when growing up. She cooks most nights. We only go out to eat or have it delivered/takeout for 3 reasons: 1) she’s exhausted, 2) we’re traveling, 3) special occasions. Unfortunately, she’s such a good cook that we rarely eat at a place that made the dish better and it leaves the kids wishing she just made it at home which is awesome for me since it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.

So:

1. Cooking at Home
2. Eating Out
3. Delivery/Takeout

1. Cooking at home
2. Take out (not delivery)
3. Eating out (sit down)

My partner and I are mid-40s, and our meals go like this:

1. Cooking at home
2. Delivery
3. Pick-up/take-away that we pick up from the place ourselves and then eat at home
4. Eat out at restaurant

Reason being for all this:

I enjoy cooking

Partner and I both have no issue eating the same thing for dinner ever day for a week or more, so I make a huge portion and then we eat it for an entire week/until it’s totally gone

Delivery costs are expensive, even before tip

Partner and I both have dietary restrictions that make ordering from somewhere difficult when they’re not clear about what ingredients they’re using

We save a ton of money by cooking at home

Cooking at home
getting cooked food from home
Eating out (usually due to work)

I have always cooked at home more. At this point I can make food as good or better than what we get at restaurants so only go out to have a good time. Once every two weeks or so we do get takeout (or more precisely, husband gets takeout) because I won’t have time to cook, and about once a month we go out to a restaurant.

Work lunches half leftovers and half restaurant, there is a Panera across the street from work and a cafe in the building that has a grill, a fully cooked meal, and a sandwich line, so not like fast food.

ETA: Mid 50s, work full time and then some, husband and still 2 kids at home plus usually the girlfriend of one or the other of them (the kids not husband, lol)

We would go out once in awhile when back when but that sorta transitioned to pickup as we found our home just much more comfortable. We were doing it pretty often but inflation has us almost always cooking now.

Holy moley, the expense of that

Keep track of your spending. Don’t just eyeball it. Dining out and delivery are very expensive.

Like a couple weeks ago I ordered dinner to eat with a friend realized the bill was like a whole week’s food budget all at once.

Rice, beans, vegetables, cheese, wraps? Like $5. Ordering two similar burritos? $30. That savings adds up.

Anyway, to answer your question and stop giving unsolicited advice: I almost always cook at home. I don’t have the income to do otherwise. When I had a high paying job I would order more food delivered.