Going out to eat
 

I remember when I was looking into the villages somewhere I read about how often or how much people spend a week eating and drinking outside of the home. I don't know where I found that information.

Would any one want to guess? Guessing what the average village family spends a week doesn't necessarily mean that's what you spend a week.

My guess would would be $150/week.

Methinks $150 could be low. If two people ate out every day for a week, that would be $10 per day per person or $140. Skip one day and feast the next. Once per week and they are into fine dining!
All a function of how many meals per week dining out.

$20 per week=10 lbs
$50 per week= 25 lbs
$85 per week= 35 lbs
$115 per week= 55 lbs
$150 per week= 75 lbs

Weight gained in one year if I followed this plan.

Not if you only eat healthy outside of the home.

Been here almost 16 years. We go out 5 nights a week for dinner & drinks. I don't gain weight. I know many people that go out many times a week and don't gain.
We are around the $150.00 figure.

Wow! I'd stroke out if we spent $600/mo eating out; not that it's wrong, just can't imagine spending that much for the two of us. :22yikes: Good thing I like to cook.

The question is what do you think the average village family spends a week on eating food and drinks outside of the house.

Not what you necessarily do. I didn't say this before but I forgot that many people get take-out pizza, hoagies and Chinese food. I would include that in the going out to eat category too.

I just remembered where I read it.
82 Cool Facts About The Villages

82 Cool Facts

69. Villagers spend over $200 million dollars annually in eating and drinking establishments.

I don't know if they keep this current.

200,000,000/100,000= 2,000/yr or $40 a month. That sounds low to me.

I never was very good at math, but...?

Fix my math. I'm not trying out for the math team. I don't care if I'm wrong.

I didn't get the part about $2000 working out to $40/month. Wasn't meant to be nasty. I am definitely not good at math.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I often read things the wrong way. And I also get math wrong.
The numbers did not feel right.

No worries; thanks.

My calculator (not my head!) says $2K/yr would be $166+ per month. That seems low for today's prices.

The $2000 per year is based on dividing by the population (100,000), not the number of households.

So, based on that data, a couple would average $4K per year, which is $333 per month. :mmmm:

You divided your $200,000,000 among 100,000 homes (assuming you meant average per household/couple). There aren't that many homes, because that would equate to approximately 200,000 people.

I sometimes hear 120,000 people which are about an average of 90,000 year round (120,000 + 60,000 divided by 2 (assuming six months for birds)). If $200,000,000 annual spend is right, divided by 45,000 (90,000 divided by 2) couples divided by 12 months equals $370 per month or $92.59 per week per couple. Of course, all this presumes the assumptions are reasonable.

I would love to know where and what you get to eat and drink for 2 people for $30. 2 meals and 2 +drinks for that price is pretty good plus a tip of course??

Certainly the law of large numbers has application here because of the term average. It would seem one would have to know how many people actually go out to eat on a consistent basis and how many meals they purchase in a given period. some go out 5 days a week and some eat out only 5 times a year.You can't combine these stats and come up with an average. Either way eating out can be expensive and the question of eating healthy also comes into play.

Just did a Quicken review of last year's dining expenses.

$2,200 for 8 months in Fla = $275/mo; $64/wk; approx 20% tips included.

Athens 6.7%
Lopez 5.5%
Panera 5.2%
Glenview 5.1%
Ruby Tues 4.6%
Harbor Hills 3.5%
Riccardos 2.9%
Ricciardis 2.3%

etc 64%

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Do you think that's about twice a week?

$300/week--Arnold Palmer, Hemingway,Cane Garden--

Cheaper than maintenance @ the condo we used to own

But first we'd have to define healthy.

$30.00 for dinner and drinks for two people? Where do you go?

Also, it seems that some people don't gain weight no matter what they do. I'll bet you're one of those.

I think you meant $40 per week. It's not low if you consider that some people eat out once a month or less.

Probably. The average is skewed by a few higher priced meals and offset by a lot more egg mcmuffins and pizza slices at Sam's.

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me too!
Ate out 6 times, 2 people, in last 10 weeks for a total of $522 or $87/meal
One drink only, 20% tip
a couple of times ordered something extra to take home
No place really "fancy"--Cody's, Red Sauce, Francesco's, Joey's
So at 5x/week that's $435, or $22,620/year---ouch, OUCH, OUCH
Even our take out/delivery runs $35-$50/meal
So I'd love to know where you go
On the other hand, grocery prices here are outrageous compared to NY
11 weeks at Publix and Winn-Dixie----$3,000
previous 11 weeks at Wegman's (which tends to be more expensive than Tops or Price Chopper in central NY)---$1600.
Can't figure this out---especially meat and fish, in the #3 cattle producing state which is also surrounded by water these prices are almost double central NY

[QUOTE=golfing eagles;1178520]
On the other hand, grocery prices here are outrageous compared to NY
11 weeks at Publix and Winn-Dixie----$3,000
previous 11 weeks at Wegman's (which tends to be more expensive than Tops or Price Chopper in central NY)---$1600.
Can't figure this out---especially meat and fish, in the #3 cattle producing state which is also surrounded by water these prices are almost double central NY[/QUOTE

Grocery purchases 8 months/2015 in Fla (excludes Alcohol)

Walmart $2,111
Sam's $922
Publix $353
Aldi $286
Etc $609

total $4281 $535/mo

4 months in Cal and in travel trailer to and from

$2,469 $617/mo (includes feeding our 31 YO son while in Cal)

Grocery Prices about the same in Fla and Cal (mostly Safeway).


I agree with you - Publix and Winn Dixie are very high!

We buy staples, dairy and some produce at Walmart; meat, coffee and paper products at Sam's; some sale items and BOGO's at Publix and a few items at Aldi. Produce at Marion Mkts.

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I just said "around" the $150 amount. ;) Sometimes a little more. :D
We don't always eat big meals. A lot of times we'll get a bar burger at Codys or split nachos at City Fire.

[QUOTE=chuckinca;1178562]So how do you spend the other 37 minutes/week that are left over after grocery shopping?:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

I just said around the $150 amount. Sometimes a little more.
We don't always eat big meals. A lot of times we'll get a bar burger at Codys or split nachos at City Fire.

The post that had the choices the highest amount listed was $150 so I went for that one. It sounded good at the moment. LOL We spend more than that.

Interesting stats. Thanks for sharing.

Skip

Welcome!

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[QUOTE=golfing eagles;1178566]
Northeastside takes about 45 minutes/day to Wally World; hr and a half/mo to Sam's.

U pays ur money, u takes ur choice.

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I have my numbers on Quicken. Playing golf 3x /week the lunch or dinner after adds up to an obscene number...I wish it was only 2200 in 8 months...

Yesterday, after playing, at Cane Garden my wife and I had dinner. Happy hour prices, so I had a beer then wine, she had one glass of wine. We both had an entree (priced about $12 each); one side salad; with 20% tip the tab was $49.

Not complaining, just stating that if you do that 3-4x per week, then add on another nite or two (Saturday, of course, and maybe pizza/Beef's on Friday), plus lunch once in a while, the numbers add up very quickly.

No moral of the story here...just enjoying the lifestyle while we can....afford it...

We don't have a budget,never had one--we go out often-our biggest problem is we both drink top shelf items--last night we had to be in Spanish Springs for a 6pm meeting @ the Sharon.

Cut to the chase ate @ Gators dockside 5 drinks @ $9.95 each+ 2 sandwiches-brought the tab with tip to $95.00

For the same money we get quality food and better drinks @ Hemingways.

IMHO- there is no decent dining in Spanish Springs

Florida and fish?
 

Don't even think of florida as a fish producing state. Most is brought in frozen from the northeast or overseas.

Very true....not easy to find fresh fish in Florida..:22yikes:

I’m single and spend at least $200/wk eating out. I will have to cut back once retired. I hope TV has some cooking classes :)

It's not very hard to cook well for very little money. You don't need very much cooking equipment. I can help. I've been cooking since I got working papers. I did the family cooking and many parties.

Feel free to PM me and I'll tell you how I do it.