How Often Did You Eat Out As A Kid?

angmarie28

as a kid we ate out maybe once a week, sometimes twice. then I had kids and even though my mom cooked most of the time, I never was taught how to cook, I became a mom 2 months after graduating high school so bad habits started and we ate out or ate frozen meals 75% of the time, but that was 6 years ago, now I am vegetarian, so my kids also eat a good amount of vegetarian meals, and they are all packed with healthy goodness now we eat out 2-6 times a month max.

ETA: and We are always busy, we have soccer 3 nights a week and my oldest is in scouts and im the den leader, I just adjust dinner time to our scheduals

jacalennejax

I hardly ever ate brakfast at home. Unless it was a weekend. I grew up in a two parent household with a two parent income. A teacher and social worker although we were not swimming in money with 4 kids.

We ate often enough though. Every Thursday night as it was Dads pay day and one of the diners close by srved Beef Barley soup and had a soup bar. We would pick up sandwiches from a specialty shop. We might grab a burger on the way home. HOWEVER, for however much we ate out- my mother cooked. Sitting us all down was a standard practice until I was further in HS and everyone usually had something going. Weekends were big o0n homemade breakfasts with pancakes or french toast and eggs and ham or bacon or sausage. Flavored syrups, muffin setc etc. Sundays were reserved for big homemade dinners or big out to eat dinners.

As a teen I ate out often.

As I grew older even though I cooked at home a lot. ( I started out in the food business running a nd cooking full time in a restaurant)-- I would eat out as a reward for hard work.

My other didnt cook at all then so we ate out when i was short on time.

Now- I cook quite a bit but i can get into a slump were i might not cook for a week. That doesnt mean we eat out the whole week- we just find leftovers or other ready heat or minimal prep food inthe pantry or fridge.

SarahDavs

My mom owned a health food store before I was born. I was raised an ovo-lacto vegetarian in a religion full of vegetarians. So birthday parties or eating lunches at my religious school were all vegetarian friendly foods. We ate out very rarely, about once every few months at taco time, where I always had a bean burrito, or a local buffet where I'd have a giant salad full of peas and beans and cheese. I was rarely ever allowed sweets. Which I think was a mistake because I remember sneaking pepto-bismol because I thought it tasted like candy, and sometimes just whole raw spoonfuls of sugar. I remember friends having leftover candy from Halloween months later and couldn't fathom not eating all the candy all at once. I was denied sweets so often that when I got a chance to eat them I didn't have an off switch. I wish my mom would have gone by the "everything in moderation" rule and allowed us a little more freedom with food. But at the same time I am thankful that I had a healthy childhood.

coolraul07

Reading this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/youll-gladly-die-children-why-wont-cook-them-155639748.html
got me to thinking. I was just wondering what your experiences were.
...

Short answer: when at home with Mom, rarely... single-digit/year due to cost; even then, it was usually only when someone else treated us. When staying with Dad for weekend or during Summer... maybe 1-3 times a week. Once I turned 16 and had a car and part-time job, 1-2 times a day most days a week.

Background:
I grew up far enough below the poverty line to easily qualify for free school lunch all the way through 10th and 'reduced price' lunch thereafter; however, we were never so poor as to ever have empty cabinets or fridge. A few times we could've qualified for welfare and/or food stamps but my Mom vehemently REFUSED to sign up for those benefits. She did however, on rare occassion, make use of sporadic government food giveaways... so I'm well-versed in "gub'ment cheese", etc.!
My parents separated when I was 4 and it was just my Mom and me from that point forward. She often couldn't work due to chronic illness, but she worked whenever she was healthy enough to do so. I was a latch-key kid from kindergarten on up, so I was taught to cook at an earlier age; supervised at age 4, allowed to cook solo by age 6. We didn't always have the healthiest stuff in the fridge, but many meals were "homemade" nevertheless.
I was a child of the 70s-80s, and during most of that time the only nutrition info mandated by law was ingredients and calories. Even serving size details were sporadic at best. In retrospect, I think of how many calories I must've consumed a day as a kid (think big @$$ bowl of cereal or entire row of cookies, etc.) and am surprised I survived! In elementary school, I estimate that my typical school day was probably 2k calories and 3x RDA of sodium! As a senior in high school (e.g. bought myself a 12" meatball sub on most days), I estimate a typical school day was 5-6k cals and 5x RDA sodium! However, I worked a strenuous weekend job and stayed the same weight the entire year and had normal BP! Go figure!

*ETA: When I was young, even going to the amusement park or travelling out-of-state meant "tailgating with a big @$$ cooler", not eat concession/restaurant food! We'd get Kings Dominion season passes every year, but would have an 'intermission' to leave the park and eat out of the cooler in the car trunk. Cold fried chicken, potato salad, and orange soda never tasted SOOO good! Travelling meals meant "pull over to side of road, fix a plate (aka thick foil and a spork) from the cooler, get back in car and drive". Hotel? Yeah right! Every trip was based off of staying with relatives or friends who owe you a favor! Take your cooler into their house and put your stuff in their fridge... BAM! Man... those were the days...

cdwilson2003

Reading this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/youll-gladly-die-children-why-wont-cook-them-155639748.html

got me to thinking. I was just wondering what your experiences were. Not judging tghem good or bad, just what were they? Is the writer of the article correct with the trends she says?

My experience as a child, age infant to 14 years. As a family we ate out once a week for Sunday lunch. It was always a kid friendly place, sometimes fast food, sometimes Friendlys or similar where we could have ice cream sundaes, or sometimes a pancake house.

Other than that all meals were at home. Breakfast was sometimes cereal, sometimes scrambled or poached eggs and toast, and on Saturday morning my Dad made pancakes. Lunch was a sandwich with pretzels or fruit or leftovers if it was a weekend. You had to bring your lunch to school and we ate in the gymnasium. We generally had sit down dinners, but not everyone was present all the time due to afternoon or evening activities, so food was kept warm on the stove until after everyone had eaten.

Birthday parties were held in people's houses or backyards or both and usually were just cake as far as food, but occasionally they involved hamburgers and/or hotdogs on the grill during warmer months and pizza during the winter ones.

What were your experiences?

The minute I read your post I knew you were my age (:huh: ) LOL. We lived in a little one red light town about 15 miles from the "big city". My mother would go to town once a week for groceries. If you wanted to ride with her you'd better have your butt in the car ready to go "because she did not wait for you". If she had money left over from groceries we might get lucky enough to have a cheese burger from Carols or Red Barn? Any of these sound familiar? LOL Well think of them as the "first fast food joint - "pre McDonald's" LOL.

Dinners at home were "the real thing" - no ordering a pizza or subs. If we wanted those we made them from scratch. Sunday dinner was a roast or baked chicken with mashed potatoes. If my mother bought pop it was the 2 lt. bottle but that was a treat - usually it was Kool-Aid. If we didn't buy our lunch at school and we "brown bagged it" (yes an actual brown paper lunch bag) most of the time it was PB & J with a piece of fruit and maybe a baggie of chips or pretzels and we bought white milk at school. On the weekends if we had popcorn it was made from kernels in the cast iron pan on the stove...shake, shake, shake. LOL And you'd better be shaking that pan - if you burned it then everyone sitting in the living room waiting for it would start yelling "Your burning it." Okay, now I'm really going to "date" myself. The first time I ever heard of chicken wings my thought was "who would pay for such a thing?". Of course once I had them that answered that question.

So after going down memory lane I remember reading something about the number of overweight people today compared to when I was a kid. Back then it was something like 1 in 10 or 1 in 25 and now it's what? 2 out of 3? There were about 80 people in my graduating class from high school and I can count on one hand the number of people in my grade that were overweight.....and still have fingers left over. :noway:

^^^This is my family to a tee. I tried the shake shake shake popcorn with my kids, but they didn't like it ( Things are so different nowadays. But my family (hubby and two kids) still have home-cooked meals everyday, except Fridays (which is what it was like for me as a kid too). Luckily I cook and so does my husband and my kids are only 4 and 7 so not any evening activities (YET!)

Colombianchick29

not too often...that was a luxury!

spaghetti93

we would go to fast food restaurants a lot. Only when there was something going on that interfered with our normal dinner time or something- it wasnt like a family outing. I feel like with all the bad press fast food started to get we stopped going to mcdonalds to get some fries after school. it was something we did just because we could, but after realizing we had no need for fast food, we havent been in years. As for eating at nice restaurants, hardly ever, because i was the pickiest eater as a child. ever. i was that kid that sent back the spaghetti because there was 'green stuff' on it.

ruqayyahsmum

as a family only on birthdays. fast food places a couple times a month with my mum and sisters

my mum was an awful cook everything came out of a packet and was served with chips

breakfast was what ever sugary cereal my mum had bought, lunch was generally cheese and jam sandwiches served with crisps and cake and dinner was generally disgusting but you were expected to eat everything and you would have to sit at the table until you had eaten it unless bedtime came up and then it would be reheated and served for breakfast

school we had hot dinners and dessert served by the school and again were expected to clear your plate before you could leave, most days i missed out on playtime because i hadnt finished

i taught myself to cook when i left home at 18, i have several bookshelves of cookery books as i was determined my child would have healthy home made meals, i had plenty time to perfect my technique as i didnt have my daughter till i was 25 and then she spent years being tube fed and now has very high calorie requirements so have to add lots of high calorie foods to her diet, goes against what i had imagined for her

tinak33

Maybe once a month or on special occasions.
It was usually McDonald's.

When we were in grade school, Pizza Hut would give a free personal pan pizza to kids if they had 3 or more "A"s on their report cards. So every few months, if we had As, we would go to Pizza Hut.

Keep in mind, I am the oldest of 7 kids. McDonalds back in the late 80s, early 90s consisted of orders of 12 cheeseburgers, 2 hamburgers, 5 large fries, 3 large sodas, 2 milks, 1 juice, and like 10 extra cups. hahaha

So it was definitely rare.....

My mom cooked dinner every night, and for a while we didn't have cereals in the house either. My mom had a bread maker and made our bread, she also made granola and would cook breakfast.

On our birthdays we could choose the food for the day. We always chose cereal for breakfast because we never had it. 1-2 boxes of cereal were gone in one morning. :laugh:

CM9178

We rarely ate out when I was growing up. I can't even remember my parents bringing me to McDonald's at all. We'd order take out (like pizza or chinese) maybe once a month. Otherwise, my mom cooked all meals. BUT, my family never put any emphasis at all on eating healthy. Growing up in an Italian family - my Italian grandmother living with us- foods was constantly pushed on you - and readily available - and I'm talking unhealthy stuff - pasta, homemade pizza, fried chicken cutlets, chicken parm, you name it. For lunch, we always had a large selection of fresh coldcuts, plenty of bread. And there were always a ton of unhealthy snacks in the house - cookies, chips, etc. That is why I grew up overweight.
When I moved out, I knew how to cook - but found it difficult to cook only for myself - so slowly but surely I started eating takeout almost every single day - sometimes for both lunch and dinner.
In the last year, my husband and I have completely changed our eating habits. I make my own breakfast and lunch (healthy options). And I cook a healthy dinner every night, except Fridays. Friday is our date night - we go out to eat - never a chain restaurant though and very very rarely ever fast food.
I went from eating food from Wendy's at least 2 to 3 times a week, to having it ONE time in the last year. And I don't miss it one bit!

JennetteMac

Almost never. I grew up in the 60s and 70s. When we were 'old enough' ( about 10/12) we were allowed to come to my parents' anniversary meal at a 'proper' restaurant.
If we travelled we took picnics, my mum cooked every meal from scratch, on holidays we self-catered, and I don't think my dad has ever had a take-away, to this day!

McDonalds opened their first restaurant near enough to where I lived in the mid to late 70s, and my parents forbade me from going there!

How times have changed!

iysys

when i was 18 years old i went to dinner at my boyfriends house. we were sitting around the table having dinner as a family. i must have had a strange look on my face because he asked what was up. i was in complete shock. i had no recollection of ever sitting at a table with the whole family at an appropriate time and eating a home cooked meal. i had no idea people really did that. i thought it was just a thing from tv.

XFitMojoMom

We went out to a fancy restaurant on special occasions, but from age 7-11 my Mom owned a greasy spoon, so steamed hot dogs were always at hand. For the most part however, my mom was a great cook and I was a finicky eater... so most of my bone marrow is made up of spaghetti & hot dogs! I was a national level gymnast from age 10-18, so I worked off all those carbs.

I hated Mc Donalds. Every time I ate there I'd gag on the nuggets... and I rarely ate beef back in the day, because it tasted like wet cow.

Today, with my own kids, we go out at least once a week to a restaurant. Both my husband and I decided on this because we wanted our young daughters (at the time) to be socialized - meaning we wanted them to learn it was not okay to run amok in restaurants. Quarterly, we all dress up and go to our favourite "fancy" restaurant. We always get compliments on how well behaved and mannered they are.

katy_trail

rarely, most of the time when we were traveling several states away a few times a year.
when I was in junior high we had fast food maybe once a month, and now as a grown up
it's pretty rare. i'm really cheap, it's much cheaper to make my own and it tastes much better
, and get it to be the way I want it. usually just for birthday parties now, we'll order some pizzas

brighteyes124

We ate dinner in all week long growing up, and typically ordered out on a Friday night and maybe went out to Sunday lunch. My dad was a good cook and would like to experiment sometimes with thai or indian food. Mainly during the week though my mom cooked dinner.

Once my parents divorced around 10-11, my mom still tried to make dinner for me and my brother. It was almost always chicken, canned veggies and potatoes or rice, with a salad. Even still, I'm grateful that my mom did this and looking back she worked a lot so I really appreciate it. Going out to eat was non-existent at this point, since we didn't have any money.

In high school I got a job, a boy friend and a car so we went out to eat constantly. Usually places like subway or d'angelos, but sometimes a mexican or chinese restaurant.

I try to cook at least 4-5 night a week now, with leftovers for one night and then we go out on the weekends.

purpleipod

Very very rarely. It was considered a treat so we did maybe once or twice a month, if that.

honey_bee_keysha

We ate out every single weekend when I was a kid.

meeper123

it was very often

LorinaLynn

Pretty much the only time we ate out when I was a kid was when we were on vacation. Even if we got fast food, we Dad would go to get it, and Mom would make some kind of sides to have at home, like french fries to go with burgers, or a salad or chili to go with pizza.

In retrospect, my parents made way better food than any fast food, so I don't know why we even wanted it as kids. I'd kick a puppy for a chance to have one of my Dad's burgers again.

cng31183

We usually ate at home every meal unless something really good happened (like celebrating a straight A report card) or something really bad happened (death of family member or dad having emergency surgery). It wasn't until I started working that I started eating out more.