We’ve had house guests for a week - they only visit once a year. They have their favorite places to go for food on Cape Cod and want to go to restaurants that we might have lunch at sometimes. My eyes are glazing over. They left after lunch today. We have no idea what we will have for supper. What is “normal” food?
Is it an “every meal out” kind of visit? And you “must” go with them? That would be a lot.
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It was a lot. It was “every meal out”. I don’t think I can eat for several days. I’m just bellied out.
I had a bunch of Q’s but that explained it. Every meal huh? I could understand some out of towners wanting fried whole bellied clams and lobster rolls during the visit. But it sounds to me like you’re glad they’re gone.
“An old adage attributed to Benjamin Franklin — “guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days”
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That would be a challenge for us too. Worth a conversation with guests going forward if appropriate. We do better at lunch out, dinner at home. YMMV.
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Well how many meals out depends. Normally I technically eat out lunch 5 days a week during the work week as I go to the office every day now and either pick up food and bring it back to the office or go and sit and eat. Will have dinner out at least once a week during the week and then likely eat at least one lunch and dinner out on a weekend and sometimes all lunches and dinners on a weekend. We dine out a lot as we enjoy it. I am getting ready for a two week vacation and we will eat all meals out. Portion control is important. The wife and I will split apps or skip them entirely. Rarely have dessert. Otherwise it’s too much food.
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Next time, I’d set expectations and ask to do only every other day, one meal a day, alternating lunch and dinner. Monday-lunch, Tuesday-dinner, Wednesday-lunch, etc.
Having every meal out? No way. Id be bloated and ready to burst. Plus, I enjoy cooking too much. I’d want to stay home and enjoy the time grilling out, chatting, not worrying about the time spent at a table that a restaurant would expect to turn at least once if not twice in an evening.
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Indefinitely.
I have no problems eating out.
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I can do it while travelling for 4 weeks, but I don’t do 3 meals a day. Usually a brunch and dinner, or a morning pastry, some coffees and dinner.
For a while, I was eating all my weekend meals out, from Friday night to Sunday night.
I had a week of takeout lunches and dinners the week I moved apartments.
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We spend 2-3 months in Berlin every summer. Since I cook 5/6 nights a week back home and rarely go out, this is a time period where a LOT of our meals are out - mostly dinners, but the occasional lunch as well. I do tire of it when it’s been a few days in a row… that’s when we pick up great bread, meats & cheeses and do a low-key meal at home.
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We’ve had some longish holidays over the years. Trips to America have always been three weeks and involve eating out every meal. We also visit Spain most years for a three week trip in winter. That one is usually eating out for dinner every night, plus some lunches. We love going to restaurants. Love the researching where to go, love the anticipation, love the eating, love the review writing afterwards. It’s a sort of hobby for us - so those holidays mean we get to do our hobby every day.
Three weeks may be my limit though. Certainly at the end of those holidays, I’m ready for my own kitchen again.
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I eat out out a lot. Used to be every weekday lunch (work) and probably 4-5 dinners too. In recent years, as I have had more time (and interest) in cooking, maybe half lunches and dinners out, which may vary if I want more meals at home vs meeting people out.
You didn’t say who the visitors are. Depending on past patterns, these kinds of visits (and interactions) get charged for other reasons. We have long family visits in various places (sometimes I’m the guest, sometimes I’m hosting) and eating out is always a major part of it. But when there is enough intimacy, it’s ok to skip meals, or have takeout / pickup for the people who want food from out when everyone doesn’t, and so on. My mom regularly says “I’m too full from X, I’ll be eating toast for dinner, but everyone else feel free to order in or we can make something at home.”
This is a nice way to put it when there isn’t enough intimacy / familiarity in the relationship.
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Are they eating out all the time only when with you to impress you or is this their normal behaviour when they are back in their own home?
Here in the UK we are giving the impression that 99% of the US eats out for every meal despite them having the most modern kitchens with all the latest cooking gadgets. Undoubtedly a travesty but that’s the impression we are given.
That said I enjoy the fika/hygge and lunch-time comaraderie when visiting my Swedish colleagues. They used these occasions to bond as a company but then returned home to make evening meals for themselves.
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By whom? Where do you get this impression?
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Probably the same place where people hear that Brits only eat fish and chips, boil all their vegetables (all four of them) and drink nothing but tea and bitters.
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This couple is family - husband’s sister and her spouse who is British. They filled themselves with seafood and the restaurants we went to with them were mostly seafood menus. They always stop at a bakery they like in Mystic, CT and bring boxes of breakfast pastries which I never eat so it was lunches and dinners. I’m feeling ill. We have a lot of takeout containers in the refrigerator - I have no plans to eat any of that food. It’s hot and muggy here, but chicken soup sounds pretty good to my belly right now.
When we travel, we always rent apartments so we have a kitchen to cook in .for ourselves. One of our favorite things to do when we go to Europe or other parts of the US is visit fresh markets and grocery stores, buy and fix food we find along the way. We typically eat lunch out and cook our evening meal in our rental. Some places don’t even serve dinner until 9:00 in the evening (Spain - I’m talking about you).
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If they’re family, then yes - perhaps next time, they borrow the car and eat out themselves occasionally, OR you stagger the lunch/dinner out to once a day. You don’t get ill; you don’t have tons of leftover food in the fridge that you’re not going to eat after they leave.
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This is exactly how we travel in the Maritimes and when we visit Massachusetts or the Outer Banks on our own. I don’t eat any meat or chicken when I’m lucky enough to be near a coast, and I’m sure it baffles relatives who live out east.
Interestingly, my Halifax cousin’s daughter won’t eat seafood. LOL.
It’s kind of nice you let them choose the restaurants. When I visit California where the bulk of my American relatives live, they usually insist on choosing the restaurants and don’t take my menu preferences of Mexican and seafood to heart.
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It’s a national stereotype. Probably based on the frequency that eating out is mentioned in literature, TV, movies and, yes, forums like this. Most Brits of my acquaintance do not eat out regularly - not even the once a week that Mrs H & I usually manage. Here restaurant meals are very much date night or celebration. The sense is that Americans are much more likely to eat out simply getting dinner, as an alternative to cooking or take-away.
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Well, judging from the drive-thru lines at the local FF places, I suppose there might be a kernel of truth there.
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