comment: >
  
  Being a grocer is a talent?
context: who would see that as an unpopular opinion...? learn to cook- just a little, and you can make restaurant quality food for a whole lot less. >
  
  A lot of people go out to eat nearly every day. I didn’t realize it until I moved to a larger city. And not even super large, like ~60,000. >
  
  Going out to eat is less about laziness and more about the experience. Imo >
  
  Right. So wouldn’t going out be more special if you do it less often?
  Edit: Whenever I would go out it felt like a big deal. Like,” Yeah, we’re extravagant today! Dine-in Pizza Hut!” >
  
  Oh sorry. Just reread your title and missed the word constantly. >
  
  Oh. Yeah. Lol. Big factor here. 😂
  I love going out but to me it doesn’t make sense to do it every day or even every few days. >
  
  I’m 73, been cooking and cleaning up for over 50 years. I love eating out. I’m done with cooking and cleaning it up. >
  
  I used to love going out to eat, but over the years, my husband and I have really honed our cooking skills over the last several years. We had to out of necessity because we couldn't afford to eat out. As a result, we ate a lot of leftovers, which I never minded all that much. Now that we're at a place where we can eat out multiple times a week if we wanted to, we don't. Eating out is so expensive now. Sure, we have our special occasion places and a couple of favorites ones we'll go to now and then. But with how expensive it is and the fact that both of us are good cooks makes it hard to justify spending so much when we can make something just as good at home. I also live in a city that's known for brew pub culture, and a lot of those places have the same type of food, which gets old. We don't want to spend $30 for a burger and fries when we can make something healthier and better at home. >
  
  Only if someone else cleans the kitchen!! That's the main reason I eat out or have GrubHub. I don't want to always be the one that both cooks and cleans up the kitchen >
  
  Your entire kitchen shouldn't need tonbe cleaned after cooking a meal >
  
  By that I meant putting all the dishes into the dishwasher, wiping down the stovetop and counters(especially since my husband demanded stainless steel- fingerprints and cat prints) and wiping down the counters+ washing the pots. I don't want to do this every fricking day. >
  
  Hate doing dishes, think leftovers are disappointing at best, a gross shadow of the original meal at worst.
  I cook at home and eat leftovers because I have to, but I would likely never cook a thing again in my life if I was financially able to sustain getting food from somewhere else for every meal. >
  
  Get a dishwasher for the dishes, and then the worst part is cleaning the kitchen. >
  
  I live in Portland and it used to be a toss up cost wise between going to the natural grocery store and splurging on expensive ingredients or going out for dinner and drinks.
  Well...my husband now works at the natural grocery store and we get 30% off our groceries while eating out has become much more expensive for smaller portions and often poorer quality food. I know our restaurants are doing the best they can right now, but for my specific circumstances it's a no brainer to spoil myself at the store instead. >
  
  My biggest issue is just time. 
  I get home from picking up the kids at like 6:30. By the time I start cooking it’s usually 6:45 or so. I get that I can make like giant pots of spaghetti (and we do sometimes), but when you’re tired from working 8 to 6 and wrangling two young kids it’s pretty tempting to just hit the salad place on the way home and grab dinner. 
  I don’t lack money. I lack time. >
  
  I like how you said salad place too though. 
  Like, that’s big. A huge reason I disliked constantly going out was because most of its bad. Glad to see healthy eating out places. >
  
  I mean, sometimes it’s Mendo Farms, sometimes it’s a goddamn pizza because I feel like it. 
  I’m healthy, I eat tons of greens and veggies. Mostly vegetarian at this point, frankly. Lipids are all under 200 total, HDL > 50, LDL is like… 90s? I’m not peak fitness at 40+, but whatever, my doctors don’t have much to tell me other than, “how’s the gallbladder you don’t have anymore?” So yeah, some nights I’mma get that Wingstop and be the worst me. I deserve it. Future me can fuck off, he’s old and probably votes for whoever takes over in Florida once we get President DeSantis. Fuck future me. He’s an asshole. 
  But goddamn if it isn’t a pain in the ass to go to Safeway (which isn’t even cheap!) or even Whole Paycheck and get the ingredients to make a simple dinner. And then you gotta hope the 3 and 7 year olds are aligned with… whatever. Or have fun making them something too (I can’t wait for people to tell me to just let them go hungry. Tried that once and the 3 year old spent an hour before bed literally screaming until she got something to eat. Kids do be like that sometimes.)
  I don’t mind cooking. I can cook amazing stuff from boeuf Bourgingnon to a good Japanese curry. I love cooking. But at 6:45pm when I’m done putting in nearly 10 hours before putting the kids to bed I’m the one who’s already cooked. And my wife, well, she’s not exactly fresh and fair at that point either. 
  I hate that we’re both this tired, but I also… kinda don’t care anymore. Not to say that I disagree with you. I wish we didn’t have to do this, but here we are with the realities of our careers and parenting. >
  
  Sure is frustrating when people go to enjoy the creations of talented people & create a decent economy by supporting others so they can support them in their endeavors in return. >
  
  Or supporting local business by buying local foods.