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.
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.
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
I’d rather work an hour than spend an hour cooking, which also makes more financial sense.
Also if you’re spending $700 it’s probably not just fast food, put proper restaurant food.
This sounds penny-wise and pound foolish.
Food can be classified into different categories, from unprocessed food (UF) to ultraprocessed food (UPF).
Basically, this is unprocessed vs ultra-processed:
You are basically saying eating ultra-processed food is a good idea to save money.
It’s not:
https://keck.usc.edu/news/usc-study-links-ultra-processed-food-intake-to-prediabetes-in-young-adults/
https://now.tufts.edu/2022/08/31/new-study-links-ultra-processed-foods-and-colorectal-cancer-men
https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/ultra-processed-foods-may-increase-risk-of-depression/
You don’t have to spend 1 hour cooking. You can cook pasta in 20 minutes and add some olive oil.
If you are lazy, you can just eat fruits, veggies and nuts.
There’s a bit more nuance to it than home cooked meals being healthy and eating out being unhealthy.
Sure, but going to a proper restaurant tends to cost a bit more than doing it yourself.
Like, making some roasted pork with steamed veggies, sauce, and potatoes takes some 10+40 minutes of preparation and about 10 minutes of cleanup, and it costs me about 25$ (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.
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.
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.
Sound expensive.
Well, yeah.
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 work professional work. So I’d rather work my job than work in the kitchen. I don’t think that’s that strange.
Ordering fast food to be delivered for 3 people 7 days a week can easily total up to $700.