Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/dining/food-delivery-apps-doordash-uber.html
This is horrifying in every possible direction.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/dining/food-delivery-apps-doordash-uber.html
This is horrifying in every possible direction.
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:
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.
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.
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?
The Jim Dandy is a banana split made in the super sundae bowl. The one pictured is a Reese’s Pieces super sundae.
Reese’s pieces, vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, hot fudge, and marshmallow sauce, whipped cream and a cherry.
If I’m remembering correctly, the super sundae was originally supposed to be five scoops of ice cream.
I suppose it still could be, but maybe their scoops are shrinking.
Edit: trying to get the ingredients right. Might still be wrong. It’s been a long time.
Well then I guess your one self-reported anecdotal datum proves me wrong. Carry on.
Well then I guess thank you for conceding the point that I know more about the food I make than you do.
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.
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://keck.usc.edu/news/usc-study-links-ultra-processed-food-intake-to-prediabetes-in-young-adults/
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 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.
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 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.
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