I'm tired of eating out. I'm nearly forced to do so when I travel for work. But at home, I do have options, yet I eat out a lot more than I should. Most of the time, when I eat out, it's because I'm in a hurry, or because I'm meeting people for dinner.
So, my goal is to stop eating out. I can't say never, of course. So instead, I'll say no more than once a week which I will, hopefully, upgrade to no more than once every two weeks once I get going.
Instead of eating out, I'll be eating at home: my home, your home, a strangers home, a mutual friends home. It doesn't really matter where, as long as it's at someone's home.
You have an open invitation for dinner at my house every single night. Depending on the day, dinner will be served sometime between 6pm and 9pm. You need not bring anything. All food and drink will be provided. The only stipulation is that you must make reservations at least 24 hours in advance so that I can be sure I have enough food and so that I can tell you that we already have other plans.
What other plans could I possibly have, you might ask, since I'm not eating out any more. Good question. If I'm not eating at my home, then I may have been invited to eat in the home of someone else. Oh yes! I'm that rude guy who's actually asking you to invite me over for dinner. The same basic set of guidelines as above should apply. You'll need to have food on the table and ready for consumption at some point between 6pm and 9pm. Otherwise, making it to work the next day is impossible. Additionally, if you're going to ask, you should do so at least 24 hours in advance. Otherwise, I may already have plans.
In case you needed more motivation other than free food and/or my presense at your meals, here are some reasons why eating out makes no sense for me (and maybe not for you either):
- Time is precious. Wasting 15-60 minutes getting to a restaurant, 5-45 minutes waiting to be seated, and then another 15-60 minutes to get back home isn't doing me much good.
- And if I'm in a hurry to eat, in most cases, I could have preplanned a snack or quickly picked up a snack from a store. This is healthier, cheaper, and, in many cases, faster. And, if I pick up the right food, I can eat it on the way to whatever I'm rushing to do.
- Meeting people at a restaurant rarely leads to good conversation. Popular places are often crowded, seating can be tight, and long tables are only conducive to conversations at at each end. Further more, despite the fact that restaurants want you to drive to them, and then wait for them to be ready to seat you, once you're done eating, unless you're buying round after round of expensive drink, they'd usually prefer you to leave, and often do things to indicate this, like not keeping drinks full, or taking the snacky food off the table.
- Restaurants serve too much food. Having my portion decided for me is usually a bad idea. I'm reluctant to let any food go to waste so I feel obliged to eat everything in front of me.
- It's usually not healthy food. Restaurants that serve healthy food are generally farther away, harder to get to, more crowded, and much more expensive.
- Finally, it's expensive. Sure, some meals at some places are cheaper than you could make them at home for. But this is often because they are using sub-par ingredients and you are cooking for too small of a group to make it worth while.
So, if you'd like to come over for dinner, let me know. And, if you'd like to make a similar open invitation (in private, or in public like this one) please do so.
Bon Appetit!
