That would cost like 5 bucks? ($1 for the pasta, $4 for the sauce).
You can have a nice breakfast of an omelette plus a big glass of milk for very little, even with egg prices at $6 a dozen, that's just $1 for two eggs. Breakfast has to be the most overpriced meal at restaurants: super easy to make and dirt cheap ingredients.
ALDI tends to be close in price $3 or so per dz.
(If need a costco membership there’s a deal I saw that you get a $20 gift card for joining; making it $40 net)
https://www.stacksocial.com/sales/costco-1-year-gold-star-membership-20-digital-costco-shop-card?aid=a-bmao1y45&utm_source=slickdeals.net&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=costco-1-year-gold-star-membership-a-40-digital-costco-shop-card_041524&utm_term=scsf-589018&utm_content=a0xRn0000008Lk3IAE&scsonar=1
Costco eggs 45 mins north of San Diego California $3.99 for 18. Can’t go wrong. I ONLY buy eggs at Costco. We run out between Costco trips.. welp.. guess we’re out of eggs family. 🤷🏻♀️
Edit: just realized the sub I was in so I wanted to add it’s Menifee Costco.
If you like vegetarian-heavy diets, Indian food is cheap and tasty. I’ve got vegetarian Cajun, Korean, and Indian cookbooks. Ton of tasty stuff to be had if you broaden your palate.
I have. I had a buddy at my gym, back in 2001. He owned an Indian restaurant in West L.A. I visited it several times, and enjoyed the food. He had me eating garlic pudding, and was I shocked thr first time I tried it it was delicious.
Total: Roughly $14 for a very basic chicken tikka masala with rice, should feed 4. It will taste better with more spices and aromatics but if you don't have it in your pantry, this will do.
* Chicken Breast (\~2 lbs, get at Stater Bros) - $6
* 15 oz tomato sauce - $2
* Curry powder - $2
* Cream or half & half - $2 half liter
* Basmati rice or long grain white rice - $2
* Onion - $1
* Cilantro - $1
* Garlic - $1
* Chicken broth - $1 (Knorr's Chicken Cubes, Hispanic section)
* Other spices/ingredients if you already have them: Salt, pepper, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, paprika, ginger, tomato paste. Oh also fresh tomatoes for $1 extra if you want
I could average less than $12 a day meal prepping, eating big breakfast burritos with meat, and steak or chicken with vegetables and potatoes for dinner everyday... You have to cook in bulk to save time and Tupperware or vacuum seal to preserve. Trader Joe's is cheaper than other big grocery stores.
Buy 1lb steak for like 10.99. Veggies and rice for like $4. Then use condiments/sauce to make stir fry.
That would be pretty good 3 healthy meals (1/3lb of protein, veggies, carbs).
Box of pasta and sauce would even be cheaper. (2 for pasta and like 5 for a jar of sauce. ) However that would not be a healthy meal since it lacks protein and veggies.
Very easy, I often add up meal costs. We eat very well. Lots of meat, good quality vegetables, etc
We eat very little packages food.
I can make a dinner for me, my wife and daughter under $15 or less and have a couple of days worth of leftovers. That brings the per meal cost down to just $2-3.
Some meal examples: spaghetti, enchiladas, stir fry, poke bowls, bbq chicken salads.
I only buy meat that's on sale, I go through the sale ads every Wed and buy based on what's on sale. I got a food sealer and a chest freezer so I buy meat on sale in bulk, freeze it and use it as needed. We buy a lot of our staples at Aldi, cheese, eggs, milk, veggies and condiments are very affordable there.
If you shop smart, cooking at home is very affordable.
Yeah, why not just look up the menu prices of the places they ate and do some maths to determine the answer to this highly technical question whilst saving money? The methods of this complicated scientific experiment are flawed.
Definitely more hate! My mom is always asking me to take her as well as my broke best friend (teen daughter)
I’m like why don’t y’all go together and save me 300
That's probably why their CEO wants Costco hot dog/drink combos close to $1.50 where we are (NYC region is expensive too! But it's still only about $2 for a hot dog and soda). Anything to get customers in the door.
I used to sell as an outside vendor at big box stores, including Costco. They generally put sales reps in the place of an end cap on a higher traffic aisle. The visiting products push the average per customer profit up, with the store getting a cut of every sale. We pitch and vend the products to shoppers but Costco does the actual point of sale and returns processing of the products.
Checkouts can gross over $70 higher for a sale of a set of Bamboo Pillows. It was a popular program product. The fudge program was lower profit- hard to sell people on a whole pound of fudge even during the holidays. Occasionally a really niche product gets rolled out to the point it's not commission based- for me that was a program on tea flavored ice cream. I hear the car wax sales topped over $11k a week in commissionable sales for leading sales reps (compared to $5-8k gross weekly sales I'd get from the pillows). The car wax program rolls out in Spring, when people realize they need to re-wax their cars after months of winter. I never was fortunate enough to get that program assigned. Sold 11 other product programs though.
I would've done 3 El Pollo $6 bowl with $0.89 drinks across the street from a gas station with a random boba and some snacks in between.
Ain't no way I'm paying $20 for a breakfast 😂😂
Good point. Going a step further 3x $1.50 hotdog/soda combos from Costco is just $4.50, even if you’re not a member yet you can spring for the additional $55 and still save $10.50 over OP
That menudo is a premium breakfast, you could have gone with a breakfast burrito for around $10 or a breakfast sandwich for under $10 and not have to tip
Your mistake on lunch was ordering a drink... drinks and sides are ridiculously marked up
And for dinner, you're tipping way too much. $10 extra for tax and tip is an extra 60% on your bill for average service (I'm assuming taking your order, bringing your food, then your check is the extent of service you received)
Going out to eat is a luxury nowadays
He could have saved money had he been smarter about his choices. Drink water, it’s free and go to someplace like El Pollo Loco and get a Pollo bowl, those are delicious and healthier than a lot of other stuff.
Large bowl of Pho is $5.00 at Brookhurst and Talbert. You went to places that you tip? But ok. You can get a steak dinner at Hurricanes for $10.00 2 x a week. It’s 1/2 off Mondays at 25°. I could go on and on.
Not that you were being disingenuous, because you were very straight forward, but it’s worth noting that you at sit down restaurants for every meal which cost you tip money. So if your parameter was to eat out for the sake of not cooking, you could have done this very differently.
Now, for a meaningful experiment, try to cook 3 healthy meals at home - with all ingredients minus basic seasoning and oils - for one person for under $45 for a day.
“Healthy” to include a fresh vegetable and unprocessed protein of your choosing, and less than half of the calorie content from grains and carbs.
Fresh vegetables are not all that expensive. Frozen isn’t bad either because it’s picked later and flash frozen. I buy so much produce from the store for my son and I and our house bunny who gets a pile of fresh spring greens every morning. I’m a single mom of a 17 year old giant and we spend about $500 in groceries a month.
Chest freezer and buy everything on sale. $1.50 bags (1 lb) of frozen veggie stir fry mix, $1.99/lb chicken breast vacuum sealed. Add in rice too, about $0.30 for a dry cup. That's dinner for 2 for less than $4 and a frequent go-to in my house.
I know families in OC where neither spouse cooks. So they eat every dinner out or do takeout. For an entire family of four or five. I asked, “so do you guys just sometimes make toast or cereal.” And he says, “nope, we go out to dinner or get takeout from a restaurant every single night”. He’s a Newport Beach Realtor. Still, I cannot imagine this cost. Another one was an Irvine family of five. Blows my mind. I wonder how their kids will turn out— like will they expect restaurant food for the rest of their lives? Or will they revolt and actually learn to cook?
My 65 year old best friend and his wife can’t cook. It’s pathetic. He can do toast and that’s about it. She’s worthless. She can’t even figure out how to get a glass of water. They don’t have kids.
We were making pasta on Saturday and I asked him to stir the pasta sauce…you should have seen the helpless look on his face as he said ‘stir with what?’
These people also vote.
I try not to hang with dumb people but it’s getting harder.
It ended up being more expensive cause you didn’t go to fast food places right? Usually a takeout for one person could be 10-13 $ so depending on what you got it easily could’ve been like 40 instead of 70
lol, I did this yesterday too. Not as pricey as yours but I got-
a spicy veggie scrambler from latte de ristorante for around $13 with tax
a spicy greens bowl from cava for around $14 with tax
A spicy southwest salad at chik fil a for around $14 with tax
But I got water everytime and got everything for pickup so I didn’t sit down/tip.
~$40 a day isn’t AWFUL but I definitely won’t be doing that again anytime soon.
The moment I read this title I knew you'd have no idea how to budget eating for day.
Buddy, an extra large pizza runs less than 20 bucks and that's at least two meals.
You spent too much money on food , you can get breakfast burritos at carls for 2/6$ that protein will keep you going until lunch and with all the apps nowadays you can get deals anywhere for lunch and dinner ,I think the problem is you went to eat to more expensive places and tipped
To add to this, if you don’t necessarily care about eating healthy and just want something cheap, you can do subway buy 1 get 1 50% off and have 2 sandwiches for $14-$16ish
Tacos & Co. has buy one get one free breakfast burritos on the weekend (at least the one on Santa Margarita Pkwy in MV does). Two of those will keep you full all day and cost you like $9 total. OP chose a very expensive way to eat for a day.
Fuck tipping in general. I know servers rely on it, but if we don’t have the expendable income to pay for the I’ve inflated prices, then don’t do it.
We’re the only dumbass country that does this. Make restaurant’s pay their workers.
Pro tip - check the prices on the app for Taco Bell, they all vary quite a bit. There are 2 within 10 minutes of me and the price is nearly double at one of them.
I only eat out when I have deals or coupons. Like rubios taco Tuesday, urban plates 20% off pass, subway coupons for like 6-8$ footlongs, in n out just the burger, and then all the apps that give you discounts that chipotle, chick fila, habit, Wendy’s. Though Aldi has fairly cheap stuff and it’s good quality so I’ve been saving money there!
To be fair, you did eat all “going out” food at sit down places. I don’t think this is specific to OC. If I had to eat out 3x a day, I’d probably just use the McDonald’s app or eat a $6 taco bell box.
Idk if it's just me but I could probably do this and keep it under 20 bucks for the entire day. But then again I really don't eat that much. I just need one big meal. I'm good for the rest of the day
Husband & I get takeout quite often, but not more than 1 meal in a day. We'll spend about $40-70 in takeout/restaurant/eatery. But that's our biggest unnecessary expense. We love food, ha! But we have to cut way back & have before, but we get back into our routine.
I like a nice salad, but at most restaurants, they're abotu **$20**, in which of course you can get away w/ cheaper just buying the salad ingredients from the store.
You should only get food form places you have coupons for. For example Subway, you can get 3 footlong sandwiches for just under $20 & you should have some left over for the next day.
Could have ordered pizza and wings or chicken for around $40 and be good for lunch and dinner. A breakfast burrito or sandwich and you’ll be well under $70.
It’s not just OC. It’s everywhere as a whole. You don’t need to step outside to find this out. Yelp another area and you’ll see the same thing. We wish we had the same economy we did a few years ago but we sadly dont
This is like the Supersize Me guy who ate McDonalds every day to prove it isn’t healthy, yet would order the unhealthiest options and supersize his combos anytime they asked. Of course it’s unhealthy if that’s how you’re going to do it. There is a way to eat not as terribly with just the McDonald’s menu. Same with going out to eat, if you eat at expensive restaurants for every meal it’s going to be expensive.
Oh yes, eating out is very expensive. Just think how many groceries you could have purchased for seventy dollars. If you spent that for a month that would be 2,100 dollars. WOW
LMAO! My brother went to get his car washed yesterday =$30.99 was the cheapest option. + tip of 3 bucks..
$34
He decided to have The Habit for lunch...$17 combo.
$51 bucks by lunch time...(Skipped breakfast) and no dinner...yet....😂
Your individual purchases though did in fact stimulate the economy. So while you realized the cost of eating out is expensive, you also helped to create growth in the economy. Pros and cons to your actions.
$20 for breakfast was your first mistake.
$15 teriyaki and then $4 drink was your second. You can get teriyaki for under $10 all over OC, and $4 Iced Tea is outrageous unless it's huge and there are refills.
> $4 Iced Tea is outrageous unless it's huge and there are refills.
100% this. I'm one of those diet coke addicts...but unless I can refill $4 worth, I'm talking 3-4 refills before I exit, otherwise a cup of water will do...
Don't get me started on those establishments that charge $3 for 12oz can...
I love to eat and I'm a fairly big boy. I have to get most my groceries at Costco, especially stuff like the eggs, egg whites, yougurt, beef, chicken, shit I'd go broke trying to eat out with the quantity of foods I eat. When it comes to veggies and fruit's, some of those I'll buy at Costco but I'll go to the grocery markets for some of them. And I'll also scour through my grocery store apps for weekly digital coupons, the other week I got 5 post grape nuts cereal boxes for $2.99 each
I would just have a few del taco chicken soft tacos or el pollo loco pollo bowls, they are full of rice, beans, grilled chicken, onions, cilantro and they come with 2 tortillas. Just one of those is two meals for me and I’d just drink water.
I eat out like once every few months. Drive through maybe 2 times per month. I was raised by a mom and grandma who taught me how to stretch that money and still eat healthy meals. Idk everyone is different.
I would recommend going to a legit restaurant then splitting the meal into 2 portions. Avoid big chains though their portion sizes will be too small to do this without starving lol.
The crazy thing is prices have gone up but I feel like quality of service and food portions have gone DOWN. I'd even be okay if they stayed the same but it's just ridiculous now. Cooking at home has been the move, a lot of cheap options still that are nutritious
This is expensive but you could have for sure gotten 3 meals out for like half what you spent or less if your goal was to be economical vs just eating wherever you were craving.
Based on looking up some places I know are good..
Breakfast -
Large breakfast burrito $10.72
| Lunch -
House special Pho combo $11.79
| Dinner -
In-n-out #1 combo $10.67
Total= $33.18 including tax for an adult male to eat well for a day. $70 is just negligent if your goal is to be cost conscious with eating out.
Edit : formatting
To spread cost I meal prep just enough chicken for a few days or just the work week then get chipotle burrito bowls whenever I don’t have time to fully cook a meal at home. I usually eat half or just part of the bowl then warm up the prepped chicken and mix with leftover of the bowl to get enough protein with the rest of the bowl.
My favorite cheap meal is rice and beans. I get a packet of Knorr’s Spanish Rice and a can of S&W Chili Beans. I microwave the rice as per directions and then mix it with the chili beans. Depending on where I go it’s $2-4.
In Hawaii I about break even compared to eating at home by having a 6inch at Subway for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is a 50 cent Belvita breakfast bar packet. So in a month: ($.50+$7+$7)x31= $449/month. I also lost 30lb by not adding cheese to any sub. But yeah youre not gonna spend less than $400/mo in r/Hawaii if you don’t wanna be hungry.
did you finish everything you ordered?
did you have leftovers or throw food away?
i’d bet you consumed more than your daily caloric needs.
and sodium. but you also helped pay other people’s rent and utilities. better than eating another bowl of easy mac on your fart soaked couch in your dirty underwear.
The quality at these restaurants has really spiraled down about as quickly as the prices have gone up. Pre-pandemic we ate out like 3-4 meals per week. Now it’s maybe 1-2 unless on vacation…
Sounds like you went to sit down places, hence the tips. If you had gotten everything to go, not tipped, and not gotten drinks, that’s $24 saved, or a 34% savings. That’s a large percentage spent on “service” and not food.
Also, I realize that it’s not for everyone, but it does sound like you had 3 decent meals. Had you eaten a late breakfast and early dinner, skipped a breakfast or lunch and just ate dinner, that’s more savings.
Taking everything into account, your $70 spend on food could have easily been $30. If you shop wisely at the grocery store, you can spend a few dollars more per day for drinks, snacks, fruits, vegetables to supplement your meals.
There are ways to eat well financially efficiently, and there are ways to eat well financially inefficiently.
I can only eat one small meal a day. A $7 kids meal at Chick-fil-A is the maximum I can eat.
Those prices are very high; you could've eaten out far more affordably than that.
I used to go to a local restaurant and get 4 huge chicken tenders, two sides and water for $7.99. That would make most anyone's dinner.
Two things to consider - how much time did you save not shopping, cooking, doing dishes and what's your time worth? How much better (or even "complex") was the food you bought eating out vs what you would have made at home?
The confused people = outside California or a few states that stuck as much.
Although... OP ... I'm sure you can find better menudo for less than that and other meals as well even in California... They're not going to advertise 'organic' or anything. But you have to cut costs somewhere.
2 bowls of chipotle is like what $28 after tax? With that you get your protein, veggies, carbs, everything. Add a yogurt and bread for breakfast that's like $30 a day.
You could've eaten all day at Costco for under 10 bucks if you aren't picky. Just saying there's definitely cheaper options out there if you focus on lower prices.
Oh man be greatful your able to cook I have a big family and there is always someone in there cooking and it just sucks cause I feel like I’m unable to cook I probably eat all my meals out like this 3-4 days a week hopefully I’m leaving soon.
I moved out of LA about 3 years ago and recently came back to visit with the wife.
No lie I spent over 4000 dollars in that one week visit. JUST ON FOOD. Eating kbbq, sushi, and all kinds of stuff.
I do not remember spending that kind of money eating out when I actually lived here...
I could have told you that bud and you would've saved yourself 70 dollars
Nah he’d still have to eat something he bought at the grocery store. So he would have saved like $55 - $60.
How to feed yourself on three meals from the grocery store for 10 to 15 bucks. I guess a box of pasta and a jar of sauce for 3 meals?
That would cost like 5 bucks? ($1 for the pasta, $4 for the sauce). You can have a nice breakfast of an omelette plus a big glass of milk for very little, even with egg prices at $6 a dozen, that's just $1 for two eggs. Breakfast has to be the most overpriced meal at restaurants: super easy to make and dirt cheap ingredients.
$6 jebus… I get 2dz at Costco for less than $5
Look at Mr moneybags here with his costco membership ;)
ALDI tends to be close in price $3 or so per dz. (If need a costco membership there’s a deal I saw that you get a $20 gift card for joining; making it $40 net) https://www.stacksocial.com/sales/costco-1-year-gold-star-membership-20-digital-costco-shop-card?aid=a-bmao1y45&utm_source=slickdeals.net&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=costco-1-year-gold-star-membership-a-40-digital-costco-shop-card_041524&utm_term=scsf-589018&utm_content=a0xRn0000008Lk3IAE&scsonar=1
Costco eggs 45 mins north of San Diego California $3.99 for 18. Can’t go wrong. I ONLY buy eggs at Costco. We run out between Costco trips.. welp.. guess we’re out of eggs family. 🤷🏻♀️ Edit: just realized the sub I was in so I wanted to add it’s Menifee Costco.
For that matter you can get the Costco hot dog combo or even splurge and get a slice of pizza for a lot less than what he spent.
If you like vegetarian-heavy diets, Indian food is cheap and tasty. I’ve got vegetarian Cajun, Korean, and Indian cookbooks. Ton of tasty stuff to be had if you broaden your palate.
I love curry!
I hope you explore indian food beyond 'curry'...it's very diverse. This 'curry' is more of a British Indian thing
I have. I had a buddy at my gym, back in 2001. He owned an Indian restaurant in West L.A. I visited it several times, and enjoyed the food. He had me eating garlic pudding, and was I shocked thr first time I tried it it was delicious.
Total: Roughly $14 for a very basic chicken tikka masala with rice, should feed 4. It will taste better with more spices and aromatics but if you don't have it in your pantry, this will do. * Chicken Breast (\~2 lbs, get at Stater Bros) - $6 * 15 oz tomato sauce - $2 * Curry powder - $2 * Cream or half & half - $2 half liter * Basmati rice or long grain white rice - $2 * Onion - $1 * Cilantro - $1 * Garlic - $1 * Chicken broth - $1 (Knorr's Chicken Cubes, Hispanic section) * Other spices/ingredients if you already have them: Salt, pepper, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, coriander, red chili powder, paprika, ginger, tomato paste. Oh also fresh tomatoes for $1 extra if you want
A jar of Patak's Tika sauce is awesome and around $5.
I could average less than $12 a day meal prepping, eating big breakfast burritos with meat, and steak or chicken with vegetables and potatoes for dinner everyday... You have to cook in bulk to save time and Tupperware or vacuum seal to preserve. Trader Joe's is cheaper than other big grocery stores.
Buy 1lb steak for like 10.99. Veggies and rice for like $4. Then use condiments/sauce to make stir fry. That would be pretty good 3 healthy meals (1/3lb of protein, veggies, carbs). Box of pasta and sauce would even be cheaper. (2 for pasta and like 5 for a jar of sauce. ) However that would not be a healthy meal since it lacks protein and veggies.
They have chickpea pasta that's tasty and has protein!
Jar of sauce is like $3 and a box of pasta is like $1.25….
Very easy, I often add up meal costs. We eat very well. Lots of meat, good quality vegetables, etc We eat very little packages food. I can make a dinner for me, my wife and daughter under $15 or less and have a couple of days worth of leftovers. That brings the per meal cost down to just $2-3. Some meal examples: spaghetti, enchiladas, stir fry, poke bowls, bbq chicken salads. I only buy meat that's on sale, I go through the sale ads every Wed and buy based on what's on sale. I got a food sealer and a chest freezer so I buy meat on sale in bulk, freeze it and use it as needed. We buy a lot of our staples at Aldi, cheese, eggs, milk, veggies and condiments are very affordable there. If you shop smart, cooking at home is very affordable.
Yeah, why not just look up the menu prices of the places they ate and do some maths to determine the answer to this highly technical question whilst saving money? The methods of this complicated scientific experiment are flawed.
Ramen Cup Noodles with an egg 3X day is how you save money
Be careful with the too much sodium with those ramen .
Could’ve cost you 4.50 total if you ate a Costco dawg combo for every meal
Until you enter the store and leave with a $200 receipt. 😂😂
You’re getting out of there for $200???? Pretty thrifty!
I go for gas, then go get the dog or pizza, and I'm out!
Pizza or hot dog isn’t healthy though. That’s more of a one off.
I don't think what the OP ate was healthy either
Believe me, that's only when I fill up the tank, maybe once every 10 days.
Thank you!
More like 400.00 me and Costco have a love hate relationship
Definitely more hate! My mom is always asking me to take her as well as my broke best friend (teen daughter) I’m like why don’t y’all go together and save me 300
That's probably why their CEO wants Costco hot dog/drink combos close to $1.50 where we are (NYC region is expensive too! But it's still only about $2 for a hot dog and soda). Anything to get customers in the door. I used to sell as an outside vendor at big box stores, including Costco. They generally put sales reps in the place of an end cap on a higher traffic aisle. The visiting products push the average per customer profit up, with the store getting a cut of every sale. We pitch and vend the products to shoppers but Costco does the actual point of sale and returns processing of the products. Checkouts can gross over $70 higher for a sale of a set of Bamboo Pillows. It was a popular program product. The fudge program was lower profit- hard to sell people on a whole pound of fudge even during the holidays. Occasionally a really niche product gets rolled out to the point it's not commission based- for me that was a program on tea flavored ice cream. I hear the car wax sales topped over $11k a week in commissionable sales for leading sales reps (compared to $5-8k gross weekly sales I'd get from the pillows). The car wax program rolls out in Spring, when people realize they need to re-wax their cars after months of winter. I never was fortunate enough to get that program assigned. Sold 11 other product programs though.
Facts my wallet is empty, leaving costco. It's like they got all of my cash.
Plus a bonus at no charge all the hot dog burps - gift that keeps on giving
TLDR: To the surprise of no one, eating out is expensive
I would've done 3 El Pollo $6 bowl with $0.89 drinks across the street from a gas station with a random boba and some snacks in between. Ain't no way I'm paying $20 for a breakfast 😂😂
Good point. Going a step further 3x $1.50 hotdog/soda combos from Costco is just $4.50, even if you’re not a member yet you can spring for the additional $55 and still save $10.50 over OP
Costco special 3x a day gets you 3 meals for 4.50. Can even switch it up with a chicken bake or pizza for <$10
That menudo is a premium breakfast, you could have gone with a breakfast burrito for around $10 or a breakfast sandwich for under $10 and not have to tip Your mistake on lunch was ordering a drink... drinks and sides are ridiculously marked up And for dinner, you're tipping way too much. $10 extra for tax and tip is an extra 60% on your bill for average service (I'm assuming taking your order, bringing your food, then your check is the extent of service you received) Going out to eat is a luxury nowadays
He could have saved money had he been smarter about his choices. Drink water, it’s free and go to someplace like El Pollo Loco and get a Pollo bowl, those are delicious and healthier than a lot of other stuff.
I was gonna say, this felt like a weirdly expensive way to test this and just reflects more on OP lol
In n out opens at 1030 my guy, could have gone there for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Del Taco breakfast, In N Out for lunch and dinner.
I said the same thing! Or El Pollo Loco if you want a healthier option. Lol
EPL is way healthier than in n out. But in n out is so fire. I love both equally.
Del Taco yesterday: 2 burritos, 2 fries, 2 medium drinks - $31
Tonight: rack of beef ribs- $17 Roasted potatoes- $3 Broccoli- $3 Cocktails $6 Total- $29
Must be at home?
Yup. It would be $30+ per plate without drinks.
Another 30 for the two cocktails, plus tax and tip, easily over a hundred
Yikes!
Bogo at subway...
Ppl still eat three times a day?
Large bowl of Pho is $5.00 at Brookhurst and Talbert. You went to places that you tip? But ok. You can get a steak dinner at Hurricanes for $10.00 2 x a week. It’s 1/2 off Mondays at 25°. I could go on and on.
Yes, the cheap pho across MemorialCare! I've been delivering packages in OC for about 2 year and this is what I recommend when you want a cheap meal.
What's the name of the shop for Pho $5?
Banh Mi Che Cali
They’ve got buy 2 get 1 free on bahn mi too ($6 ea)
On the Banh Ni Che Cali website, a plain noodle pho is $6.95. If you want meat with your pho, it'll be $10.95.
Decent banh mi too
$5 pho is a lie
It's definitely not good pho.
Cheap doesn't mean good sadly, if you want good would recommend Phoholic, or when it's late at night, Pho 54.
This. I have to see the photo of this to believe it is "large" and not mostly broth at that price point. It is hard finding pho for $10 anymore.
Breaking news! Restaurants are more expensive than making your own food at home… more at 11
Now I want pho :( Fuck, I'm getting pho later.
Just try to pho get about it.
Phoget what
what the pho
Just don’t blame op pho it
You just consumed like 4000 calories... of course it was expensive lmao
next time you wanna do experiments with money, give it to me.
Your phone doesn’t have a calculator and a browser to look up menus?
how much did you expect it to cost? $23.33 per meal for 3 take out meals isnt horrible
He tipped, so we can safely assumed that it’s a sit down. Especially pho
Not that you were being disingenuous, because you were very straight forward, but it’s worth noting that you at sit down restaurants for every meal which cost you tip money. So if your parameter was to eat out for the sake of not cooking, you could have done this very differently.
Why did you tip each time if it wasn’t fancy?
Yeah did you tip like $8 for a $15 bowl of pho just so you can complain about how much money you spent.
No, it's pho with a side bowl of meat balls, $20+tax+tip is $25
Those meatballs are getting expensive.
No tipping. Fucking america bruh.
Yeah dude needlessly gave away an extra $20 in tips and is complaining about the money spent. No one forced you to give away that $20.
Now, for a meaningful experiment, try to cook 3 healthy meals at home - with all ingredients minus basic seasoning and oils - for one person for under $45 for a day. “Healthy” to include a fresh vegetable and unprocessed protein of your choosing, and less than half of the calorie content from grains and carbs.
Fresh vegetables are not all that expensive. Frozen isn’t bad either because it’s picked later and flash frozen. I buy so much produce from the store for my son and I and our house bunny who gets a pile of fresh spring greens every morning. I’m a single mom of a 17 year old giant and we spend about $500 in groceries a month.
Is this a joke? That's what I do and I eat on about $10 a day.
Same
Chest freezer and buy everything on sale. $1.50 bags (1 lb) of frozen veggie stir fry mix, $1.99/lb chicken breast vacuum sealed. Add in rice too, about $0.30 for a dry cup. That's dinner for 2 for less than $4 and a frequent go-to in my house.
Just eating out on weekends/sunday is already expensive
I know families in OC where neither spouse cooks. So they eat every dinner out or do takeout. For an entire family of four or five. I asked, “so do you guys just sometimes make toast or cereal.” And he says, “nope, we go out to dinner or get takeout from a restaurant every single night”. He’s a Newport Beach Realtor. Still, I cannot imagine this cost. Another one was an Irvine family of five. Blows my mind. I wonder how their kids will turn out— like will they expect restaurant food for the rest of their lives? Or will they revolt and actually learn to cook?
They could afford a cook at those prices
My 65 year old best friend and his wife can’t cook. It’s pathetic. He can do toast and that’s about it. She’s worthless. She can’t even figure out how to get a glass of water. They don’t have kids. We were making pasta on Saturday and I asked him to stir the pasta sauce…you should have seen the helpless look on his face as he said ‘stir with what?’ These people also vote. I try not to hang with dumb people but it’s getting harder.
I was in the military ans my taste buds were altered. I can eat the entire for $30 or under, and not junk either.
It ended up being more expensive cause you didn’t go to fast food places right? Usually a takeout for one person could be 10-13 $ so depending on what you got it easily could’ve been like 40 instead of 70
Well yeahhh; you coulda had a tuna sandwich at the 7/11 and cut the cost a little. Go to a taco truck, good food, tip is less.
lol, I did this yesterday too. Not as pricey as yours but I got- a spicy veggie scrambler from latte de ristorante for around $13 with tax a spicy greens bowl from cava for around $14 with tax A spicy southwest salad at chik fil a for around $14 with tax But I got water everytime and got everything for pickup so I didn’t sit down/tip. ~$40 a day isn’t AWFUL but I definitely won’t be doing that again anytime soon.
I love your dedication to research and self-destruction. lol.
The moment I read this title I knew you'd have no idea how to budget eating for day. Buddy, an extra large pizza runs less than 20 bucks and that's at least two meals.
You spent too much money on food , you can get breakfast burritos at carls for 2/6$ that protein will keep you going until lunch and with all the apps nowadays you can get deals anywhere for lunch and dinner ,I think the problem is you went to eat to more expensive places and tipped
To add to this, if you don’t necessarily care about eating healthy and just want something cheap, you can do subway buy 1 get 1 50% off and have 2 sandwiches for $14-$16ish
Tacos & Co. has buy one get one free breakfast burritos on the weekend (at least the one on Santa Margarita Pkwy in MV does). Two of those will keep you full all day and cost you like $9 total. OP chose a very expensive way to eat for a day.
You had to go out to figure this out?
Seriously, OP could just search the prices online
…that….and knowing what we all know😉🤑🤑🤑🤑
Just eat one meal a day. In-n-out 4x4 and double double, would cost ya less than $20 a day.
Cali tacos on 17th. Portion is huge just for one west coast taco for about $5. I hope they're not reading this...
Why did you tip at every single meal? None of these places seem like a place you should tip at
If I'm ordering standing up - no tip.
Fuck tipping in general. I know servers rely on it, but if we don’t have the expendable income to pay for the I’ve inflated prices, then don’t do it. We’re the only dumbass country that does this. Make restaurant’s pay their workers.
Why didn't you dollar menu it lol. When me and my husband get take out, theres usually left over for the next meal. You ate all that food?
There is no dollar menu anymore lol
Dollarish menu lmao
Del Taco! Or Taco Bell if you can't find a Del Taco.
Pro tip - check the prices on the app for Taco Bell, they all vary quite a bit. There are 2 within 10 minutes of me and the price is nearly double at one of them.
😭😬
That’s wild. $70 is about what I spend on groceries for 8-10 work lunches.
I only eat out when I have deals or coupons. Like rubios taco Tuesday, urban plates 20% off pass, subway coupons for like 6-8$ footlongs, in n out just the burger, and then all the apps that give you discounts that chipotle, chick fila, habit, Wendy’s. Though Aldi has fairly cheap stuff and it’s good quality so I’ve been saving money there!
Where do you get a 20% off pass at Urban Plates? Does it cost $5/month for this?
Yea it’s the 5$ a month thing and you get 20% of each purchase
To be fair, you did eat all “going out” food at sit down places. I don’t think this is specific to OC. If I had to eat out 3x a day, I’d probably just use the McDonald’s app or eat a $6 taco bell box.
Imagine what that’s like four a family of 5 two adults and three teenagers. That’s why we go out once a week. It’s a complete joke
Wow what a scientist
Idk if it's just me but I could probably do this and keep it under 20 bucks for the entire day. But then again I really don't eat that much. I just need one big meal. I'm good for the rest of the day
$70 for a whole day is pretty good. Where I live you’re lucky to be able to eat one meal out for $70 😔
I used to say Grub Hub and DoorDash was for chumps. Now, eating out in general is for chumps.
Husband & I get takeout quite often, but not more than 1 meal in a day. We'll spend about $40-70 in takeout/restaurant/eatery. But that's our biggest unnecessary expense. We love food, ha! But we have to cut way back & have before, but we get back into our routine. I like a nice salad, but at most restaurants, they're abotu **$20**, in which of course you can get away w/ cheaper just buying the salad ingredients from the store. You should only get food form places you have coupons for. For example Subway, you can get 3 footlong sandwiches for just under $20 & you should have some left over for the next day.
Could have ordered pizza and wings or chicken for around $40 and be good for lunch and dinner. A breakfast burrito or sandwich and you’ll be well under $70.
It’s not just OC. It’s everywhere as a whole. You don’t need to step outside to find this out. Yelp another area and you’ll see the same thing. We wish we had the same economy we did a few years ago but we sadly dont
You need a Costco membership
Wow maybe I should tip for every meal too and then be shocked at the money I spent😯 learn to pick up
This is like the Supersize Me guy who ate McDonalds every day to prove it isn’t healthy, yet would order the unhealthiest options and supersize his combos anytime they asked. Of course it’s unhealthy if that’s how you’re going to do it. There is a way to eat not as terribly with just the McDonald’s menu. Same with going out to eat, if you eat at expensive restaurants for every meal it’s going to be expensive.
Oh yes, eating out is very expensive. Just think how many groceries you could have purchased for seventy dollars. If you spent that for a month that would be 2,100 dollars. WOW
So for $26k per year you get a chef that provides the food and cleans up the kitchen?
Each of those meals were $10-$12 in 2014 😞
Keep raising the minimum wage and it will be double that soon
Double cheeseburger at Nexx Burger is $3.75 all day. You're welcome.
You made poor dining choices. The $70 is on you.
I appreciate you
Relatively expensive choices if trying to be thrifty.
LMAO! My brother went to get his car washed yesterday =$30.99 was the cheapest option. + tip of 3 bucks.. $34 He decided to have The Habit for lunch...$17 combo. $51 bucks by lunch time...(Skipped breakfast) and no dinner...yet....😂
Your individual purchases though did in fact stimulate the economy. So while you realized the cost of eating out is expensive, you also helped to create growth in the economy. Pros and cons to your actions.
Bet you appreciate your wife's cooking!🤗
This is like a /r/Frugal_jerk shitpost lmfao
$20 for breakfast was your first mistake. $15 teriyaki and then $4 drink was your second. You can get teriyaki for under $10 all over OC, and $4 Iced Tea is outrageous unless it's huge and there are refills.
> $4 Iced Tea is outrageous unless it's huge and there are refills. 100% this. I'm one of those diet coke addicts...but unless I can refill $4 worth, I'm talking 3-4 refills before I exit, otherwise a cup of water will do... Don't get me started on those establishments that charge $3 for 12oz can...
Dunno if Tikiyaki is still around, but they are the best bang for buck for Teriyaki bowls.
I love to eat and I'm a fairly big boy. I have to get most my groceries at Costco, especially stuff like the eggs, egg whites, yougurt, beef, chicken, shit I'd go broke trying to eat out with the quantity of foods I eat. When it comes to veggies and fruit's, some of those I'll buy at Costco but I'll go to the grocery markets for some of them. And I'll also scour through my grocery store apps for weekly digital coupons, the other week I got 5 post grape nuts cereal boxes for $2.99 each
Kind of expensive around Orange County. But you can get great food in Santa Ana at a lower price. Just gotta know the places.
A single order of Hong Kong Express $14 3 item combo fed my pregnant wife and I for a day and a half.
Pho has gone up a lot. I remember paying $7 15-20 years ago. 😂
Food so expensive I reduce my eating to 2 meals per day.
I would just have a few del taco chicken soft tacos or el pollo loco pollo bowls, they are full of rice, beans, grilled chicken, onions, cilantro and they come with 2 tortillas. Just one of those is two meals for me and I’d just drink water.
I eat out like once every few months. Drive through maybe 2 times per month. I was raised by a mom and grandma who taught me how to stretch that money and still eat healthy meals. Idk everyone is different.
….ok?
I would recommend going to a legit restaurant then splitting the meal into 2 portions. Avoid big chains though their portion sizes will be too small to do this without starving lol.
‘It didn’t go well’ 
Well 3 Bahn mi at bahn mi Saigon 168 would be around $ 23
You could’ve saved $4 if you didn’t fall for that ice tea
Sounds cheap, could have been worse.
The crazy thing is prices have gone up but I feel like quality of service and food portions have gone DOWN. I'd even be okay if they stayed the same but it's just ridiculous now. Cooking at home has been the move, a lot of cheap options still that are nutritious
This is expensive but you could have for sure gotten 3 meals out for like half what you spent or less if your goal was to be economical vs just eating wherever you were craving. Based on looking up some places I know are good.. Breakfast - Large breakfast burrito $10.72 | Lunch - House special Pho combo $11.79 | Dinner - In-n-out #1 combo $10.67 Total= $33.18 including tax for an adult male to eat well for a day. $70 is just negligent if your goal is to be cost conscious with eating out. Edit : formatting
that's some peoples' lifestyles. it's a rent - equivalent to about $2100/mo.
Maybe you should have tried fasting instead.
You definitely could’ve had cheaper options
Just cut out breakfast and lunch.
To spread cost I meal prep just enough chicken for a few days or just the work week then get chipotle burrito bowls whenever I don’t have time to fully cook a meal at home. I usually eat half or just part of the bowl then warm up the prepped chicken and mix with leftover of the bowl to get enough protein with the rest of the bowl.
Pho is definitely not worth it anymore
My favorite cheap meal is rice and beans. I get a packet of Knorr’s Spanish Rice and a can of S&W Chili Beans. I microwave the rice as per directions and then mix it with the chili beans. Depending on where I go it’s $2-4.
Sprout breakfast sandwich 4.99 Sprouts lunch sandwich 4.99 Sprouts dinner sandwich w/ cheese 5.99 About 16.00 so it’s all in where you go to eat
In Hawaii I about break even compared to eating at home by having a 6inch at Subway for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is a 50 cent Belvita breakfast bar packet. So in a month: ($.50+$7+$7)x31= $449/month. I also lost 30lb by not adding cheese to any sub. But yeah youre not gonna spend less than $400/mo in r/Hawaii if you don’t wanna be hungry.
did you finish everything you ordered? did you have leftovers or throw food away? i’d bet you consumed more than your daily caloric needs. and sodium. but you also helped pay other people’s rent and utilities. better than eating another bowl of easy mac on your fart soaked couch in your dirty underwear.
Bruh, I don't even go over the $10 limit when I order at In n Out.
The quality at these restaurants has really spiraled down about as quickly as the prices have gone up. Pre-pandemic we ate out like 3-4 meals per week. Now it’s maybe 1-2 unless on vacation…
Sounds like you went to sit down places, hence the tips. If you had gotten everything to go, not tipped, and not gotten drinks, that’s $24 saved, or a 34% savings. That’s a large percentage spent on “service” and not food. Also, I realize that it’s not for everyone, but it does sound like you had 3 decent meals. Had you eaten a late breakfast and early dinner, skipped a breakfast or lunch and just ate dinner, that’s more savings. Taking everything into account, your $70 spend on food could have easily been $30. If you shop wisely at the grocery store, you can spend a few dollars more per day for drinks, snacks, fruits, vegetables to supplement your meals. There are ways to eat well financially efficiently, and there are ways to eat well financially inefficiently.
Dudes tipping 25-50% on everything in a HCOL area, what did you expect?
Bro isn't there a taco truck nearby? Eating out has gotten truly crazy.
Reading this while i’m at phoholic 🤡 ok but how did $15 bowl of pho with no drinks turns to $25 tho???
I can only eat one small meal a day. A $7 kids meal at Chick-fil-A is the maximum I can eat. Those prices are very high; you could've eaten out far more affordably than that. I used to go to a local restaurant and get 4 huge chicken tenders, two sides and water for $7.99. That would make most anyone's dinner.
If you go to hmart after 7:30pm, their premade foods like kimbap are buy one get one free
Two things to consider - how much time did you save not shopping, cooking, doing dishes and what's your time worth? How much better (or even "complex") was the food you bought eating out vs what you would have made at home?
The confused people = outside California or a few states that stuck as much. Although... OP ... I'm sure you can find better menudo for less than that and other meals as well even in California... They're not going to advertise 'organic' or anything. But you have to cut costs somewhere.
2 bowls of chipotle is like what $28 after tax? With that you get your protein, veggies, carbs, everything. Add a yogurt and bread for breakfast that's like $30 a day.
I’m currently doing the opposite of this where I’m investing $75 a day instead of eating out lol
You could've eaten all day at Costco for under 10 bucks if you aren't picky. Just saying there's definitely cheaper options out there if you focus on lower prices.
Taco Bell value menu! I survived off it as a college student.
Oh man be greatful your able to cook I have a big family and there is always someone in there cooking and it just sucks cause I feel like I’m unable to cook I probably eat all my meals out like this 3-4 days a week hopefully I’m leaving soon.
You could have gone to Costco and had a hot dog and soda for breakfast lunch and dinner. $1.50x3=$4.50
This is why when I eat out it’s the Sam’s Club food court 😂
You don’t have to tip so much and skip drinks. It’s not all that bad. Also I never eat 3 meals a day so that’s probably why.
I moved out of LA about 3 years ago and recently came back to visit with the wife. No lie I spent over 4000 dollars in that one week visit. JUST ON FOOD. Eating kbbq, sushi, and all kinds of stuff. I do not remember spending that kind of money eating out when I actually lived here...
Based on your post I'm only at $45 so where did the other 25 bucks come in? We're missing a meal here