In a slow economy, diners pick fast food

[rsgoldjw]

very good, it's very useful to me, thank you very much!

very good, it's very useful to me, thank you very much!

[GoingDown]

I think it really depends upon which restaurant you go to.

For example, there is a Souper Salad all you can eat soup, salad, fruit, bread, etc., buffet within walking distance to where I live. I get free coupons for them in the mail that allow me to really fill up on rather healthy food for about $6. I can't beat that price at the grocery store.

So, I make that my one big meal of the day, and I just have some healthy snacks at home. In essence, I eat well for less than $10 per day.

I won't go to non-buffet restaurant anymore. They're a ripoff. And unfortunately, most buffets are not great either. Souper Salad is good. Sweet Tomatoes is better, but also more expensive and they rarely mail out coupons. There are few Chinese buffets around here that are pretty good. There used to be a Mexican buffet that was excellent, but it went out of business. And there are a few American-style buffets around like Home Town Buffet and Golden Corral and Old Country Buffet, but they sometimes have awful food, and can be a bit pricey for what you get.

I like to make a big salad with lots of stuff in it, and when I think about how much it would cost for me to go to the store and buy all those veggies, etc., I know it would cost more than $6.

But yes, if you are very careful with your money and live on beans and rice bought in bulk at certain stores, you can probably eat for less than $6 a day. I do that sometimes, but I find it so much easier to just walk down the street to the buffet and have a lot of soup and salad and fill up, and then go back home. Especially when it's hot. I don't feel like cooking much at all.

[keepsmiling]

I can get three meals for two of us out of a $5 Costco chicken. Plus free lunch from their samples.
Yea, it's a little greasy. But I can't cook it for that price. And their organic mesclun is under $5 a pound. That makes up for some of the grease.
I really hate to cook....mostly it's the prep and the cleanup that I hate.

[Sammie]

I absolutely love to cook, & cook I do every day. Both my husband and I are of Italian decent and I make mostly all of our food from scratch. Friends of ours are coming in the middle of this week for an over night visit. For lunch I am making pulled pork sandwiches with h/m cole slaw, potato salad & h/m baked beans. Dinner we will start off with h/m Manicotti & meatballs, (I have the gravy (red sauce) simmering on the stove right now with the meatballs. Then chicken Marsala & chicken parm, green salad & crispy bread. Lunch & dinner for 4 at home with plenty of leftovers $10.00 pp.

I won't go to Buffets because I always wonder how long the food has been left out & have heard horror stories here. Someone just told me yeterday about the Japanese Buffet she went to and left last week when the owners daughter walked up and started taking food out of the buffet, putting it in her mouth & then put it back into it. My friend complained to the owner & she told her not to pick on her daughter that she was little. My friend and party of 6 walked out. sammie

[pamkev]

Oh Sammie how do I remember visiting my Italians relatives and all that food it was a all day feast

[frogger]

I won't go to Buffets because I always wonder how long the food has been left out

And how many of those buffets don't keep their temperatures hot enough or cold enough? Many buffets are a case of food poison waiting to happen.

[GoingDown]

It definitely depends on the individual buffet.

From my experience, and let me tell you, I have eaten at a lot of buffet restaurants over the years because I am so cheap, the soup and salad buffets are the best. They do tend to keep the soups very hot, and the salads very chilly. I have never gotten sick from eating at one of them.

And like I said, try to making a huge salad with tons of veggies, and 5 different soups, all sorts of breads, sometimes pizza, all for about $6. Just buying the ingredients at the grocery store would cost more than that for an individual. I get their coupons in the mail and I also signed up on their website for them to email me coupons for free. I have yet to find anything as nourishing (fresh raw veggies!) and cheap as soup and salad buffets.

It also helps that I don't have to get in my truck to go there. I just walk down the street, and there it is. Easy and cheap for me.

[tobee43]

i have seen some good buffets, but for me they don't work. i just can't eat much at one sitting. it usually take me all day to get one meal down no less attempt to stuff myself within a hour with as much as i can.

it use to crack me up, we had friends that loved to cruise because of the buffets. they would sent their alarm clocks for the midnight buffets. i would be so sick to eat at midnight! all though i think it's great they have such wonderful appetites, i guess.

the only way they work for me is when i bring a great big bag and keep stuffing it under the table so i can at least get a full meal LOL!