How often do you get prepared food?

justforfun87

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:17 pm

I was reading another post regarding preparing lunch and saw many responses about picking up a salad. How often do you "pick" up prepared food whether it be pizza for the family, a sandwich or sushi for yourself or your husband? My coworkers (non-Jewish) come to work and get take out food every shift. In the working world is this considered a special treat or sort of a work expense?

amother

Salmon

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:18 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

These are the same people who order in takeout for dinner often.

icebreaker

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:30 pm

Not that often. The cafeteria at my job doesn’t have kosher food. I mean, they do have a salad bar but I don’t want salads every day lol. I may pick up something on my way home from work though. Maybe once or twice a week.

amother

Firebrick

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:33 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

Non kosher take out food is a LOT cheaper.

amother

Navy

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:34 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

IME it's considered a normal work expense for most non-frum workers. Don't forget, they have very cheap fast food options as well as more expensive choices. I work in a frum school now, and a small percentage of the staff orders out food at least a few times a week.

As for me, I typically buy myself sushi for lunch once or twice a week during my busy season. Otherwise I brown bag it to save money. My family picks up pizza once a week for dinner, since the pizza store has a sale that day.

amother

Burlywood

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:39 pm

amother wrote:

These are the same people who order in takeout for dinner often.

I’d do the same if I had lots of money and lots of healthy options to order from. I HATE to cook.

simba

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 9:07 pm

Far more often then I can afford. I am happy to cook for shabbos and host parties but it's the daily grind in the kitchen that grates on me. I can easily pick up a coffee and eggs on the way to work.. a salad/sandwich for lunch and then order pizza for supper.
Thank G-D I have a sensible dh who reminds me gently that we aren't really in that earning bracket!
As a working mom I do cut myself some slack.

When I'm pregnant it's a lost case!

amother

Seafoam

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 9:57 pm

3x / year for melave malka for family
2-4x / year supper for family
another 4-6x/ year lunch for dh and me or melava malka just for us two

So basically about once a month.

amother

Honeydew

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 10:04 pm

In my job, a lot of non jews(even those that make 1/4 of what I earn) buy takeout everyday for lunch. I know nonkosher food is cheaper but earning a very low salary would mean it doesn't make sense to spend on takeout.

I specifically don't buy lunch so that I can save money. I was also surprised how many ppl said in that other thread that their dhs buy food for lunch. I guess they could afford it. I'd rather put that money in savings for emergencies like dental work, car work etc ...

justforfun87

Wed, Jul 11 2018, 10:05 pm

simba wrote:

You get me to a T! I find making food tedious and takes up too much time and a mess in the kitchen. I don't mind spending the time for shabbos but I find just making the kids lunches to take a really long time! I on the other hand do not want to be wasteful of our money and our grocery bills are pretty high.

Ruchel

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 4:16 am

Take out? Restaurant? Ready-made dish for microwave?
The last one pretty often.

Most working FT non Jews go at the restaurant or café daily. Jews may bring a tupperware, or do the same. When my mom wasn't retired, her lunch money only covered half of the month in kosher.

justforfun87

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 4:42 am

When I say takeout I mean a prepared food/meal. I didn't even think about coffee. I buy coffee every day! To think that a daily salad (avg 8.00) costs 160 dollars a month is CRAZY. Better not to think about it.

amother

Lawngreen

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 7:12 am

I usually make my own lunch and so does dh. I probbaky buy out lunch about once a month or less.dh a. It more often. Every once in a while I buy pizza for kids we go out for supper like every couple months.

thunderstorm

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 7:46 am

I buy dinner for the entire family about once a month .
DH buys sushi at least once a month for the two of us
Also DH and I go out for breakfast sometimes together as a treat before work.
But we always pack lunch for work.

Raisin

Thu, Jul 12 2018, 8:14 am

never really in day to life. There are no kosher restaurants/takeaways where I live although our local kosher store sells a (dis-proportionally large) amount of ready made things like pizza, frozen meals, schnitzle, fries) I guess I occasionally buy a few prepared items like pie crusts or ready made pastry and frozen french fries and spiralised courgette.

When I am away from home I do take advantage and eat out a lot.

I think a lot of non Jewish people actually lack basic cooking skills. Very poor people may not even have adequate cooking facilities, and some live in "food deserts" where they can't buy basic things like fresh fruit and veggies at reasonable prices. So they end up eating a lot of ready made food, either from the junk food or freezer section or cheap takeaways. Most of this food is high fat and low in nutrition, hence the current obesity epidemic. Whenever I go to a fast food restaurant I am astounded at how unhealthy everything is. Even salads are filled with things like cheese, croutons, high sugar and fat dressings...anything remotely healthy like fish is usually very expensive.