Dave Smith wrote:
>
> I don't know about that. I could afford to go to cheap restaurants a lot
> more often than I do, but I don't. I don't see much point in paying
> someone more than it costs me to do a meal if I can do it as well or
> better. We go out for special occasions. I avoid the really expensive
> places because some of their prices are outrageously high and the food
> does not justify their price. For instance, my wife and I went to a
> winery restaurant about 10 years ago where they charged $14.95 for
> vegetable soup. What the hell can make vegetable soup worth $14.95?

I probably would save considerable money by eating
at restaurants, because it would leave more time
for the work that makes money around here. I probably
spend at least two hours a day buying and preparing food.
But I'm not the least bit tempted to go to a restaurant
because a) I want to know everything about how the food
is prepared, and b) I have many restrictions on what
I will eat (no tofu, no U.S. beef, no cured meats, etc.)
and requirements for what I must eat (lots of vegetables
and whole grains).

I've thought about approaching a restaurant to negotiate
getting them to make my food my way, and in return I'd
eat there every day. That might be a good idea, but I've
never gone further than the thinking stage with it. The
only advantage would be saving some of my time, and maybe
I'd ask for foods I don't normally make because it's too
much work, like deep-fried squid.