About once a week. We're more concerned about the impact on our waist lines than our finances.

One thing we try to do to save money is to order meals for leftovers. As an example, a $14 burger will almost always be one meal, while a $14 Thai curry typically lasts for 3 meals or more. Even within specific restaurants, bowls or plates offer more bang for your buck than sandwich entrees.

We also often roast vegetables or other side dishes in the oven while waiting for delivery, mainly for health but it's also typically cheaper.

I used to eat out almost every night and it cost me nearly as much as my rent.

Since then, I learned some cooking, some 10-min stuff, and did a lot of personal work on emotional eating. I really tried to treat it like an addiction, learning alternatives but also, recently I moved to a less urban area where I'd have to walk 10-15mins to get decent food, when I used to have an all you can eat sushi place on my street. That helped more than anything else!

Finally, I gave myself a couple of special things: given how much I was spending on restaurants I never hesitate to spend a lot on cookware or ingredients, and when my partner comes over we often choose a cool recipe to try out, in order to prove to myself that food can be really great even if it's not made by someone else.

Now I go out for dinner only if I'm with someone, and I make sure it's always a special occasion (including a date with my partner, it doesn't have to be super special, just not "I don't feel like cooking"). It's still very hard not to go out when I'm having a tough day but I've never done so well :)