My ex and I had a rule to never order anything from a restaurant we could make at home. Quite conveniently, she was an incredible cook that could make damn near anything and I’m not too bad myself. The only time we’d ever eat out was for birthdays/anniversaries or sushi once every few months or so. Spending $50-$100 for us both at “fancy” places felt like an exorbitant luxury but I realize now that’s not far off from what many people spend regularly on meals.

The combination of very rarely eating out and then living outside the US when I did eat out slightly more resulted in me being absolutely shocked at prices recently. I went with a friend to a greasy small town diner and was in utter disbelief at $14 for an omelette. He assured me that it was pretty normal and it like short circuited my brain. I just couldn’t comprehend paying that much for a few eggs prepared so simply, easily 10x the cost of the ingredients. Paying that kind of premium regularly, especially scaled up on more expensive dishes, is so far outside of what I consider reasonable or even somewhat financially responsible that I’m shocked anyone does it. But the fact that the diner was PACKED with a line out the door made me feel like I was the one that’s out of touch with reality