Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/dining/food-delivery-apps-doordash-uber.html
This is horrifying in every possible direction.
If you’re not disabled and use these delivery apps extensively, I judge the shit out of you. I don’t even get pizza delivered, I’ll pick that shit up. Some lazy ass people these days I swear
“he and his husband” … “Chick-fil-A”.
Yeah, fuck this clown.
That paying extra to get faster service thing is a complete scam too, at least with DoorDash. But they probably didn’t bother researching anything about how these junk services work either.
wtf, for 2800$/month you can pay someone to shop for groceries and cook for you. Groceries included.
I’ve never worked in an office, what does a marketing job entail that is so physically draining?
Why are you assuming it’s physically draining and not mentally or emotionally draining?
700$ goes a long way in terms of frozen foods. I get making a full meal is difficult but it isn’t hard to put chicken nuggets in the oven. For 700$ a week, you can even get the fancy “healthy” frozen meals. This is just pure stupidity.
That poor kid is going to struggle with food for the rest of his life
I totally feel that guy. Cooking sucks. If you have the money, that time can be spent on something better instead.
The world is a funny place with lots of varying opinions.
Your opinion is valid.
Do you enjoy the taste of food? Because my co-worker takes it to the extreme. Food is just a necessary part of life to him. He eats the same meal for lunch every single day, a Tim Hortons sandwich of some sort. It never changes. When we walk into the gas station where they Tim Hortons is? The staff greet him, and tell him his total so he can pay, because they know without a doubt, that’s what he’s ordering. The guy doesn’t like salt or pepper or ketchup or any type of sauce. His words “too flavorful”.
My opinion, is that I love the taste of delicious food, and generally dislike cooking. Now, I know how to cook, I help my wife cook often, and sometimes I make the whole meal myself. We make delicious things, a wide variety, lots of flavor and spice and zest.
But when she’s out of town? I make bachelor-chow. Carb heavy and easy. Ramen, Mac n cheese, freezer pizza, hotdogs, you get the idea. Tastes good enough to me, quick and easy, cheap. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked a proper meal while she’s away.
BUT, I usually start to feel like crap after a few days of this. And one of the many reasons I miss her when she’s gone, is that she’ll force us to make good food again when she’s back.
I really do love good food. I’m just supremely cheap and lazy, and won’t do it myself. Maybe if she’s ever gone forever, I would eventually start eating right? Hard to say.
But everyone’s relationship with food is different. My wife will eat “girl dinner” on occasion. But would much rather spend the time and make a proper meal from scratch. Tastes better.
I would say I do enjoy food, but I probably don’t have the broadest palate there is. I very much prefer cooked food over frozen or other read-to-eat stuff … hence the regular ordering of food.
It is only when I’m actually cooking that I’ll eat the same food for several days. Usually I just cook something easy like a bunch of pasta and my dad’s custom sauce. Takes like 40 minutes and I’ll have food for 3 days, that kind of justifies it. But more fancy meals only very rarely make it over my effort/taste ratio.
To be fair, when my wife and I cook, it’s ALWAYS a huge meal. We take whatever recipe we find and double it at a minimum, and then eat it for lunch and dinner for the next few days. But we still prefer it to be a delicious meal.
One thing to note, a lot of fast food, and restaurants of the faster variety, aren’t cooking food either. It’s the same precooked frozen stuff we’re decrying, just the commercial variety.
I’m definitely in the camp of “eating out is expensive and unhealthy”. I still do it, socially. And I’ll agree that if you go to a fancy enough restaurant, it probably tips back towards wholesome and healthy, albeit way too expensive.
It’s funny, I’m not bragging, but, friends of mine will try to reference where things are in my town like “oh it’s across the street from the Wendy’s”, and I’m like, where? And in one case, I think it was a burger king? I didn’t even realize we had one.
I’ll eat fast food, sure, I do it often enough to know what I like at certain places. But in my own town? 10-15 minutes from home? Nope, pretty much never do it. If I’m that close to home, I’m not wasting my money, I’ll go home and either eat leftovers, make bachelor-chow, or if the timing is right and the wife is home, make a whole meal of something proper.
It’s funny, we never had a Chick-fil-A by us, closest one was how away. And I LOVE Chick-fil-A. They put one in down the street one year.
I hit it up several times in that first year, delicious. But now? It’s too close to home. It never crosses my mind, and if it does? I usually wave it away unless the circumstances are just right. But they haven’t been just right in… IDK, years? Probably 3 or 4 years?
Life is wild.
Cooking rules. It can be an excellent anti-stress ritual as well.
I’m sure it is if you enjoy it in the first place.
The quality if the food you eat is such a big determiner for quality of life though… I would rather spent a few hours every weekend mealprepping and living an extra ten years of healthy active life. Plus, if you can save 600 dollars on food you might be able to just work less.
It really depends on the restaurant. Eating Chick-fil-A every day certainly isn’t healthy. But there are plenty of proper restaurants that are.
It doesn’t have to be unhealthy. They do have salads and grilled chicken, and even grilled chicken salads. Of course, the healthy items are quite a bit more expensive than the unhealthy items ($3 for large fries vs $4.20 for kale salad).
The problem is that in almost every case, restaurants’ only objectives are to make food that tastes good and make customers think they’re getting a good value. Hence, tons of high-caloric additives and huge portions.
When you cook at home, even if you use oils and other high-caloric ingredients, you still use way less than restaurants do. I promise you, take a “healthy” meal from a restaurant and compare its nutritional content to the same thing you would make at home; the difference will be drastic.
A couple examples:
- Broccoli side dish. Cooked at home in a pan; some oil and salt and pepper. In a restaurant? Drowning in butter and tons of salt.
- baked potato. At home, some cheese and sour cream. In a restaurant? Bigger potato with tons of butter, sour cream, gobs of cheese, bacon.
In these examples, both taste good. But the restaurant versions are tons of empty calories that contribute to a very unhealthy lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, I like that shit too. But it’s rare for me, I’d rather make it myself and control what goes in.
Considering that I am struggling not to loose weight, I don’t mind a lot of calories.
When I make baked potatoes at home I usually use 2 of the biggest potatoes I can find. Per person that is. Then I use Quark with 40% fat, mix in some cream, at least a teaspoon of salt, green onion and some frozen herbs.
I don’t think restaurants make it any less healthily.
Your point about using oil instead of butter is valid enough. Rapeseed oil has a lot of alpha-linolenic acid. Butter a lot of saturated fatty acids. But oil is the cheaper ingredient. Butter is important to archive the traditional tase. If restaurants use butter I won’t hold it against them.
For dishes where you can choose your own carb-rich sides I would appreciate some whole-grain options though. For example cooked spelt. It pairs wonderfully with many traditional German dishes. Far-eastern and Indian restaurants could offer whole grain rice.
White grain is the worst offender when in comes to empty calories. Saturated fats at least still fill you up as much as unsaturated fats. You need twice as much white grain to feel as full as you would with whole grain. And you’ll be hungry an hour later.
When I make baked potatoes at home I usually use 2 of the biggest potatoes I can find. Per person that is. Then I use Quark with 40% fat, mix in some cream, at least a teaspoon of salt, green onion and some frozen herbs.
I will always remember a conversation I had with a chef friend… he said something along the lines of “Of course restaurant food tastes better… take the butter you’d add, then double it. Then double it. Then double it again. Then add some heavy cream.”
You are vastly underestimating how unhealthy restaurant food is for you - even the “healthy” places are ridiculous.
When you cook at home, even if you use oils and other high-caloric ingredients, you still use way less than restaurants do.
How much do you want to bet?
One example:
I’m concerned that I didn’t get butter when I went to the store on Friday because after I came home my wife told me she moved the last four pounds of butter out of the freezer.
I also have heavy cream in the fridge to make ice cream. If there’s not a layer of lard on your spoon after you’re done eating your ice cream, you aren’t really trying.
Ok, but… using butter is ok. I’m willing to bet restaurants use even more for each meal. Also, I cream is… ice cream. How much do you have in a serving when you make it at home? Is it two baseball-sized scoops full of Reese’s peanut butter cups?
Well, I don’t like having Reece’s peanut butter cups in my ice cream, so I wouldn’t get that.
I think what you may not be considering is the ongoing shrinkflation happening at restaurants.
I used to get the “Super Sundae” at Friendly’s. It’s served in a fishbowl style dish. They used to fill it with ice cream past the top of the bowl, with toppings including whipped cream above that. The last time I was there, the top of the whipped cream didn’t reach the top of the bowl.
(it doesn’t look like this anymore)
In answer to your question, having home made ice cream at home, I’m having 4-5 large scoops.
I’m not going to reach the end of my life wishing I had eaten more ice cream.
Wasn’t that called a Jim Dandy?
Well then I guess your one self-reported anecdotal datum proves me wrong. Carry on.
You don’t live in Germany, obvs. It’s schnitzel and Maultaschen all the way down.
I do, actually. Our local restaurant of local cuisine makes an awesome salad with game meat. It’s big enough to really fill you up.
Also, Maultaschen are hardly unhealthy
They’re incredibly salty.
The only healthy food restaurants serve here is salad, so you just proved my point, really.
Oh, and forget vegetarian options.
I’d rather work an hour than spend an hour cooking, which also makes more financial sense.
Also if you’re spending $700 it’s probably not just fast food, put proper restaurant food.
I’d rather work an hour than spend an hour cooking, which also makes more financial sense.
This sounds penny-wise and pound foolish.
Food can be classified into different categories, from unprocessed food (UF) to ultraprocessed food (UPF).
Basically, this is unprocessed vs ultra-processed:
You are basically saying eating ultra-processed food is a good idea to save money.
It’s not:
https://now.tufts.edu/2022/08/31/new-study-links-ultra-processed-foods-and-colorectal-cancer-men
https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/ultra-processed-foods-may-increase-risk-of-depression/
You don’t have to spend 1 hour cooking. You can cook pasta in 20 minutes and add some olive oil.
If you are lazy, you can just eat fruits, veggies and nuts.
There’s a bit more nuance to it than home cooked meals being healthy and eating out being unhealthy.
There’s a bit more nuance to it than home cooked meals being healthy and eating out being unhealthy.
There is a reason why restaurant chains are cheap. Their food comes from industrial factories.
McDonalds isn’t going to have professional cooks make bread, fries, sauce… in each restaurant. That would be too expensive. They bring the frozen food in trucks. The employees do the last part. That’s how all corporate chains operate. Anything that comes from a factory is ultra-processed.
Really rich people employ real cooks and butlers. Or they go to expensive restaurants.
Just because it’s frozen and made in a factory doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s unhealthy.
Vitamin C is pretty much the only nutrient that gets degraded by freezing and storage. Usually the problem is that the nutrients weren’t in there to begin with.
Having a look at the ingredients is really worth it. Of course that is a lot more difficult in a restaurant compared to a grocery store. Thanks to regulations.
Sure, but going to a proper restaurant tends to cost a bit more than doing it yourself.
Like, making some roasted pork with steamed veggies, sauce, and potatoes takes some 10+40 minutes of preparation and about 10 minutes of cleanup, and it costs me about 25$ (and is, of course, not including any deals). That’s for 4 grownups, plus some leftovers for lunch next day.
Obviously food and restaurant prices differ wildly depending on where you live, but I’m not sure I could get a decent and healthy takeout/restaurant meal for less than 60$ for 4 people in my area (assuming that 4 kebabs can be considered “decent and healthy”).
That’d leave me with a hourly “food-wage” of roughly 35$ (or 75$ if we’d assume 100$ for takeout), which I think is acceptable. I’d not make more than that after taxes either way.
You don’t have to spend one hour cooking. You can’t cook in 20 minutes.
I’d rather not cook at all. And what ever money I’m saving I could get more by just working the same time.
So don’t eat ultra processed food then. Order proper food from a proper restaurant.
Do you if that it what you feel. But personally your mindset seems extremely exhausting to me, especially your work addiction.
But again, you are free to do whatever suits you best.
I have no work addiction. It’s just that I don’t hate my professional work. So I’d rather work my job than work in the kitchen. I don’t think that’s that strange.
I don’t think that’s that strange.
I mean it’s fairly strange in that I’m not young and I’ve never met a person IRL who does that.
Not putting you down at all. You do you. I’m just pointing out that it is very unusual.
Order proper food from a proper restaurant.
Sound expensive.
Well, yeah.
Ordering fast food to be delivered for 3 people 7 days a week can easily total up to $700.
$100 a day, $33 per person per day?
Seems a little high, even delivered. Maybe if you’re doing it for multiple meals
Cooking is great if you have the time. It’s a good way to relieve stress, and it’s cheaper and better in every way than bought in food.
The modern economy is designed to keep everyone working long hours and exhausted, so not many ordinary people have the time.
I have the time, I just choose not to spend it on a cooking. There are much better things to relieve stress.
It depends on the type of person you are. There are better things to relieve stress for you. For others cooking can be very effective at that.
We are all different, try to imagine that. No really, you should be aware of that.
Yeah, tell that to the people that keep telling me how “good of a stress relief” cooking is after I already said I don’t enjoy it. Seems they need the awareness more than I do.
Why does cooking suck for you?
I don’t like grocery shopping, cooking, eating or doing the dishes. I’d even hire someone to eat for me if I could.
How does it not? It’s just a boring activity. What’s so great about cutting stuff into pieces, stirring and watching stuff get warm?
How does it not? It’s just a boring activity.
I sincerely asked, and I assume you are similarly sincere in asking.
For me, it’s an absolutely quotidian task, every aspect of which I approach mindfully and joyfully. Using a good knife, decent pans, a halfway decent grill/range/oven… the joy of using good tools skillfully cannot be overstated. I mean… where else in our days do we get to play with knives around people and they love the results? :D Woodworking, I guess, but you can’t eat those results.
I love everything about cooking:
- sourcing good local and seasonal ingredients
- prepping the ingredients properly and with the least waste
- layering flavor profiles
- creating a full sensory experience for myself and my circle
- understanding the underlying physics and chemistry at every step
- creating even a simple dish that appeals to all senses
- did I mention playing with knives?
- then getting to feed, nourish, and sate people with my craft… The experience of cooking takes the necessary and workaday task of sustaining ourselves and elevates it to an alchemical and spiritual level.
From a holistic, connected-to-the-land, tree-hugging hippie context, cooking takes the alchemy from Shit Wizards (AKA farmers) and transmutates those inputs into magical energy. Food nourishes the body; good cooking nourishes the soul. Gathering tribe around a meal that I made is even more fulfilling than the literal billions of people who, directly or indirectly, use the software I built.
From a biological context, knowing the provenance of my food is the culinary equivalent of using open source software. From an ethical living context, knowing that my food providers are using fair labor practices, compassionate animal welfare, and good land stewardship enables me to make food that I eat and share in good conscience. Also, garbage in, garbage out on every level. This is stuff you’re putting in your body. The body that carries around your brain, both of which ya kinda need to do other things you enjoy. Food is medicine, and so many ills I see, physical and otherwise, stem from poor food sourcing and prep.
From an efficiency, conservation, and creativity context:
- turning “waste” material into an amazing stock
- turning leftovers into an entirely new dish that utterly slaps
- that on-the-knife-edge, tuned-up feeling of bringing a meal together… it rivals playing live to a sold-out crowd
- doing more with the least amount of everything… give me a good knife, good cutting board, good produce stand, a saute pan, and a shitty butane burner, and I will crank out a meal for you that will get YOU laid :D
- the mind-body connection of skillfully wielding my tools in pursuit of an explicit and relatively immediate goal; it might take me years to build software, but it takes just an evening to make something that feeds my tribe
In the grand scheme of human experience, there are few things that everyone can do that fire on all sensory cylinders while delivering the spiritual high of creativity manifested. Cooking is something everyone can do.
I sincerely asked, and I assume you are similarly sincere in asking.
Right, but I don’t really know how to explain why you don’t like something. It doesn’t doesn’t appeal to me. It’s not fun. I don’t care about playing with knives (I hated woodworking in school, btw).
understanding the underlying physics and chemistry at every step
Yeah, that aspect is somewhat interesting, I would definitely consider reading a book about it. Trying to learn by own practical experience in this day and age seems like a bit late to the party, though.
In the end, cooking is just an ends to a means of eating.
Also, garbage in, garbage out on every level. This is stuff you’re putting in your body.
So tired of hearing this dumb fuck argument. Ordering food =/= fastfood. The amount of people that seem to think their little bit of homecooking can compete with professional chef’s is laughable.
Totally fair and thank you for the elaboration.
Trying to learn by own practical experience in this day and age seems like a bit late to the party, though.
I’ll counter this point with: I think we’re in a golden age of home cooking. YouTube alone is a gold mine for technique development and refinement. That won’t do anything for your lack of interest though.
So tired of hearing this dumb fuck argument. Ordering food =/= fastfood.
Well that’s good, because I’m not talking about fast food; I don’t eat fast food. Ever. My point was about knowing what you’re putting into your body, knowing how it was sourced and prepped. Dining out is at least three layers of abstraction from that knowledge. I’ve spent a lot of time working in restaurants, including high end ones. Apart from zero-compromise, prix-fixe, tasting menu establishments, recipes are always built to a price point. More restaurants than not use Sysco, First Street, or other nasty industrial sourcing. Most restaurants source their meats directly or indirectly from IBP/Tyson because they cornered the market on meat at scale*. And that’s before factoring in time-saving shortcuts, like not washing produce and using Sysco bases. For just one example on the sourcing risks, at high end restaurant where I worked the pantry cooks had to wear gloves to receive and sort the produce because the pesticides and container treatment gave them rashes.
*IBP used to be a reliable, quality source despite being CAFO meats, and what I used in my own charcuterie business. After the acquisition by Tyson, shit went downhill almost overnight. I closed up operations because sourcing at that scale was no longer possible for me.
The amount of people that seem to think their little bit of homecooking can compete with professional chef’s is laughable.
A chef is a cost engineer and inventory manager. But I get your point: Sturgeon’s Law absolutely applies to most people’s kitchen results.
My point was about knowing what you’re putting into your body, knowing how it was sourced and prepped. Dining out is at least three layers of abstraction from that knowledge.
I see what you mean. I’m in Europe where restaurants and food are generally better regulated. Switzerland specifically has very strict laws for labelling the origin of meat, for example. A lot of the non-chain restaurant will source their ingredients locally. I don’t think the quality is much different than buying the expensive ingredients from the super market.
I guess the best option (health-wise) is only buying fresh produce from the farmers market and such, but that requires a whole other level of effort in the shopping department (and I don’t enjoy shopping either).
I’m in Europe where restaurants and food are generally better regulated.
Ah, gotcha! That right there is an enormous game-changer, and I’m agree with everything you say here. The US food chain is straight-up toxic. You may know this already: the US allows food treatments that are outright banned in most other countries. My travels in Europe were a revelation; I can eat things over there that invariably sicken me here, most notably bread and raw eggs. I would probably dine out more too if I lived in Europe. :D
The amount of people that seem to think their little bit of homecooking can compete with professional chef’s is laughable.
It definitely can, and you are showing your inexperience with cooking by making this argument. Cooks are people who are professionally trained in cooking, but you know what, most processes involved in cooking are the same whether you are a professional or not, so amateurs are perfectly capable of achieving the same level of perfection as cooks for a whole range of basic elements of cooking.
You seem to be unable to imagine that people can have opinions that differ from your own. You seem to have the need to have even the most basic concepts explained to you. even though lots of people have already done so numerous times in this thread alone.
So tired of hearing this dumb fuck argument. Ordering food =/= fastfood. The amount of people that seem to think their little bit of homecooking can compete with professional chef’s is laughable.
Oh, honey. That “healthy” restaurant you order from isn’t actually healthy. They are poisoning you with fat, salt, and sugar, and that’s what you think food is supposed to taste like. All you’re eating is dopamine, nothing actually good for your body.
Thanks for distilling how I feel about cooking. It’s an ancient art made better by good science and engineering.
What makes you happy on an average day?
A bit of a broad question. But I can assure that almost any activity makes me happier than cooking. It’s one of my least favourite chores.
I think you need to address why cooking sucks for you. Do you know how to cook properly? My wife isn’t a big fan and that’s mainly as she doesn’t know what goes well together and doesn’t know how to use herbs and spices so needs recipes to tell her how to make most foods, especially initially.
It’s quite easy to throw something healthy together. Eg. Had a chicken breast, stir fry veg and rice meal tonight. Rubbed a spice mix on the chicken and threw it in the air fryer for 20 mins, cup of washed rice in some water (to just over top of finger nail) cooked covered on low for 12 mins and left to steam for 5-10mins with cooktop off and then fry up some pre-cut stir fry veg - convenient, quick and not much more expensive. Throw a sauce like chutney or honey-soy (or bbq) on it and happy days. Doesn’t have to be hard, doesn’t have to cost a lot, doesn’t have to take long and doesn’t have to be bad for you. But this is something I would do, my wife probably wouldn’t.
Sitting down with the family and eating a meal is also good bonding time and helps mental health.
I think you need to address why cooking sucks for you. Do you know how to cook properly? My wife isn’t a big fan and that’s mainly as she doesn’t know what goes well together and doesn’t know how to use herbs and spices so needs recipes to tell her how to make most foods, especially initially.
I know you mean well but this is so condescending, wtf? It is bizarre how many people on this thread are acting like it is an actual impossibility for someone else to not enjoy something simply because others like it. I don’t even hate cooking but it’s so weird how everyone is INSISTING that no, this person must be confused when they state they don’t like a task that is broadly considered a chore by many. ??? What is happening? I’m sure there are many things that they enjoy that you might not because we all enjoy different things.
I think you need to address why cooking sucks for you.
Do I? I just don’t like it, it’s boring. You tell me what’s so great about it instead.
Do you know how to cook properly?
I could cook some food that I very much enjoy if I want to. That’s not the problem. It’s just not worth the effort.
I’m assuming you see food as sustenance and little more. Question, do you smoke or have you ever noticed/been told you don’t have much of a sense of smell?
I’m not saying I don’t get food out - we do once a week usually. And sometimes I just can’t be arsed to cook so we have cheat meals (bowl of ramen, sanga, something on toast etc.) but it’s always a good feeling, both physically and mentally, to prepare a meal and eat it. Honestly, it’s the mental side that is most important in this. You can eat healthy out (assuming those making the food are using quality produce) but it’s a) going to cost a lot which is another mental drain b) doesn’t give you the dopamine hit of making something great yourself so it’s another mental drain.
I mean yes. But I also absolutely love good food. Eating it though, not making it. My sense of taste/smell is not the issue.
cooking is a basic survival skill. and what that can you spend an hour a day to make up those 700$?
get your shit together and learn to cook. just because whoever raised you failed as a parent doesn’t mean you don’t get to have responsibility over your own life and learn to cook.
cooking is a basic survival skill.
So was hunting and gathering for food … but than we had a civilisation with division of labour an all.
Do you need a delivery app to get someone to help you whipe your ass?
Some people are broke and spend as much on rent as on delivery. those idiots don’t get to complain.
delivery is a once in a while luxury. not a living necessity.
even if you live in a food desert, there are much cheaper ways to eat than ordering incredibly overpriced food because you rather spend your time doomscrolling
And now we have those who’d rather work for recreation, and those who’d rather work as recreation. I can find better things to spend my money on than food.
That’s fair enough. I have better things to spend my time on than cooking. To each their own.
but how do you eat??
i have better things to do than to go to the toilet to shit, that doesn’t mean I shit my pants.
I have your mum regurgitate it in my mouth.
does she also change your diapers?
I’m gonna go out on a limb and day probably not. I get the jam they are in though and it sucks.
He is terrified of putting a PIN to protect his phone?
He’s terrified at the state of his child’s development. How’s that unclear? I swear the reading comprehension on this site rivals Tumblr sometimes.
How can his child order fast food? With a smartphone and you know it.
Who’s she?
I’ll get that phone is the child real mother, they probably gives that child the phone instead of giving the child attention. let alone cook and love them.
parents giving the phone/tablet to the child instead of affection is child abuse
Oh the humanity!
