Six Great Reasons to Dine In !

Allow me a quick upfront confession.
The title is mere click bait.

Now to the premise.

'Dining in' offers higher satisfaction, better value and more benefits than the alternative of 'dining out.'

For clarity, by dining in I mean eating at your own place, or someone else's residence - a residence with a kitchen and dining table, however modest or extravagant. As compared to the alternative be it your favourite pub & grill, that suburban Italian restaurant or the one price Chinese buffet place.

I offer as Exhibit 'A' for the proponent, a short recital of my experience this eve, complete with warts.

Best perhaps to start with the menu.

1. Grilled (BBQ) top sirloin steak - 9 ounce (about 250 grams) portion
2. Boiled potato - with salt, fresh ground pepper and salsa
3. Garden Salad - lettuce, yellow pepper, red onion, seasoned croutons, Paul Newman's Italian  dressing, and cherry tomatoes
4. Libations:
1. gin martini (traditional) (50mil)
2. Steamwhistle tall boy  (Canada's Premium Pilsner 500 mil)
3. Cinzano on the rocks with a twist (200 mil)
4. Tea - Himalayan green

 5. dark Chocolate pieces for dessert.

I'm sure there are more delightful meal cards out there to be had, but realistically not without a really big fuss. On my scorecard this is a deluxe meal

Ignoring for a moment the fixed (or almost fixed) cost components ( BBQ, fuel, microwave & electricity, running water, plate, glass, cutlery, and a place to accommodate all this...) the variable cost of this feast was less than the remarkably low $10. mark. Booze represents almost half of this amount.

In a restaurant you'd be hard pressed to get this for 50 bucks, plus tip, plus taxes for a real currency grab of over $60.

Geez there has to be a lot of special benefits to the restaurant to tip the scales in the restaurant direction.
And yes let me admit to certain circumstances where the scales might just get tipped.
Say for a 21st birthday, or 65th, or maybe even a 100th.
or perhaps to celebrate the birth of your first child.
but not because it is Wednesday.

Next consider the dramatic difference between the two (dine-in and dine-out)  on the spectrum of bizarre chemicals that humans put in the restaurant foods, generally speaking. Preservatives and flavour enhancer type stuff.

True enough dining-out keeps you on your arse longer - in a lineofleastresistance path.
And there is no having to mind the stove, or wash the veggies. And happily (for many) no dishes to wash. That's gotta be worth something.

Yeah, maybe - but surely not the 600 percent increase in financial outlay. Absent special circumstances of course.

Anyways that's the view from 277 at this hour,

bonsoir
M