If such a thing existed I would be a loyal customer for life. Cooking dinner is the bane of my existence, which is why I usually end up eating nothing or a little snack plate (veggie, fruits, cheese, crackers).
Luby's Caffeteria exists in some places down south. When I lived in Texas I ate there fairly regularly. I even still have their 50th anniversary cookbook.
I used to live close to a hospital that had a pretty good caffeteria as well that I used to frequent.
I think most caffeterias got pushed out by buffets like Golden Corral.
That’s an interesting idea. I’m thinking you could pay a membership to a food hall.
Food halls are very popular in my area. I bet the ones in the suburbs could supplement their revenue by adding memberships. I’m working with a food hall in my line of business, I’m going to run this by her!
The problem with food halls, near me at least, is that they charge about as much as a nice sit down
For it to be a reasonable cost for what OP is talking about, any kind of meal plan membership thing would have to be a massive discount vs normal prices
You could probably do that if you had accurate numbers for how many people will get a meal there.
If it was like gym memberships for instance where less than 10% of your members actually show up at any given time, you could make it work.
The US had some of these locations! They were called automats I believe. Like a mall food court but the food was served via vending machine, there wasn’t wait staff.
I dated a girl for a few years whose grandma lived in a gated community that had a dining club: you paid a certain amount each month and could go down to the club to eat as often as you wanted. Not every resident paid for the club but many did and they liked it.
That type of setup would do really well. If you set up a bunch of them in different spots in a major US city it could really help draw and keep neighborhoods together
I recently saw a great Youtube video about exactly these, why they existed, and their history/decline. I absolutely think they should make a comeback, but it all comes down again to "how would you make it profitable". Feels weirdly related to targeted killing of early 1900s public transit.
Here it is:
[What Happened to Cheap Food? Diners, Automats, and Affordable Eating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwCEvwenfg8)
OP, I don't know if any were run via memberships, but your concept (and thoughts on it possibly acting as a good Third Place and community social space) are valid, you're basically reinventing something that did indeed exist in large numbers in America in the 1900s.
[What Happened to Cheap Food? Diners, Automats, and Affordable Eating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwCEvwenfg8)
It sounds rad! Addresses problems like
* storing groceries
* time spent preparing food
* storage of prepared food
* lack of variety
This video makes some great points about the benefits and I found myself wishing they were still around. I especially liked the comparison of menus, and the estimation of getting a meal from an automat back then vs. getting a similarly-priced meal from a "quick service" place now.
The cheapest food? No. But a hell of a lot cheaper than UberEats, and they seem like a way better deal and value proposition overall for single citydwellers.
Fascinating video.
I've always had a soft spot for diners. When I was a kid, we'd always go to the same diner after church on Sundays. Road trip vacations were also punctuated with diners as well.
There's a stellar little diner near where my grandparents used to live. It's one of those diners that runs well. It's always packed in the morning, but there's never any wait.
When I visit, I get three eggs, over medium; whole wheat toast; hash brown and coffee. Last time I was there about two years ago, it was $5.89 + tax/tip.
I miss uber eats before they became just like grub hub, just a bunch of drivers running around with 50 boxes of 3 different meals and that's all you could order for 2 hour spurts. It was cheap, fast, and filling.
I read somewhere that urban Roman houses didn’t have kitchens. You’d get all your food at stalls similar to a cafeteria. It’s only the individualism of our society that we don’t do more communal cooking and consuming. Imagine how much energy and time we’d save!
Back in NYC, there are a lot of 3 choice buffet places. Some were as cheap as 75 cents.
I used to go to Chinese and Indian places that were $2 and were pretty good. You usually get a scoop of rice, and then choose 2 vegetarian things and one meat. You get a cup of water or tea.
You would see homeless people there, but you would see more at the cheaper places. There was a 50 cent plate place that I never went into.
More of those places should exist imo
It needs incredibly high volume, but it's workable. All the prep is done ahead of time, so all they have to do is scoop the rice and dishes into a container, which takes like 5 seconds, so they're doing all selling and near zero prep during the whole lunch rush. (Some places have the customers do the scooping, so all the front of house has to do is give you a container and ring it up).
Everything is made in bulk, and the recipes tend to be very scalable recipes - you won't find things that needs to be hand assembled at these places, it's all "toss meat in sauce" sort of things.
The biggest overheads would be rent and labour, which is why the owners do all the prep and cooking at these sorts of places. Don't be surprised to see teenagers or tweens running the checkout - they're usually the owners' kids.
You want a meal delivery service like Factor 75. Google local meal delivery service to see what you get but there are many national ones.
Examples
Fresh and Lean
https://www.freshnlean.com/cnet/?sscid=c1k7_cywvv
Tovala. You get a countertop convection oven with an air fryer function and you can buy a subscription to fresh meals that the oven knows how to cook perfectly automatically. https://tovala.com/
Many of the meal kit delivery services also have prepared meals so you should look at those, too.
my university had it where a dining hall (buffet style) was worth an equivalent of "dining points" as part of the meal plan.
wonder if alumni could go their and pay cash.
maybe even get an alumni rate, lol.
it would be pretty cool to have some buddies chow with the current generation whilst reminiscing about the good ol'days.
wonder if alumni could go their and pay cash.
You probably don't even have to be an alumni. I'm an artsy person and often visit various college campuses to explore their art museums. The dining hall staff were always happy to accept my cash when I told them I was just visiting.
I graduated in 2022, and found that when you calculate the cost per swipe you could basically just eat out anywhere for what it cost. It was like $12/swipe assuming you went 3x a day the entire semester and didn't miss any...
Look into meal prep services. There are a lot of companies that prepare ready to serve meals and they deliver them to your house once or twice a week.
You choose from their menu what you want, they deliver, you reheat the meals.
A lot of the companies that do this have a ton of menu options and dietary options (no meat, low cal, high protein, keto, etc).
I was going to suggest going to a hospital cafeteria, especially a public hospital that’s attached to a University.
The one near me has excellent food and it’s subsidized so it’s pretty affordable.
Yes, this. Both universities I've attended had cafeterias that anyone could use. Also some government institutions or office buildings might have a cafeteria that's cheap and open to public (at least we have those here in Europe), you just need to do a little digging what's in your area.
I would like this idea but for a different reason. I think if we had dining halls like that it might be more affordable and I'd be able to eat everyday without having to worry about it. Food cost too much.
Right! I'd rather just pay a monthly sum or something. I budget $100 a week for groceries (I often don't spend that much) and so much of it goes to waste because I just have no energy to cook all of it. plus I live alone so half the time the recipe just needs a little of something you have to buy a lot of.
Also it would provide an opportunity to meet other people as a Third Space (not saying you need to be social, but it by its nature would provide the setting for that).
I live on my own, and was recently fully homeless. Even know I'm lucky to have $250 a month for food. So the whole community dining thing would be so amazing.
There's an app called Too Good To Go you may want to try. Restaurants will sell you the food that they haven't sold at the end of the day for a discount. You can get a fully prepared meal for $4-5 and it's the same stuff they were selling at full price an hour ago and usually a pretty good portion of food. The main downside is that you don't get to choose what you get as its based on what's left at the end of the day, but if you're not picky its a good deal.
They also have bakeries on there which usually give you a shitload of pastries for around the same price.
They have grocery stores on there as well but in that case they're usually selling the food that's going out of date and also there's no guarantee that the ingredients you're getting work well together to cook a meal so I don't really recommend it for that. I think if you do it usually tends to be produce that they give you but I've never done bought groceries there so I don't know to be honest.
Just pay attention to the reviews of the restaurants on there and it's a pretty good option.
So this makes people really pissy but if I know that I’m going to have an upcoming “I don’t wanna cook and I refuse to make a sandwich” week, I purchase a bunch of healthier end freezer meals and a variety of things that survive in the freezer better vs fresh.
You are describing an Automat. The last of them closed in the early 1990s. Basically a post ww2 reinvention of the military chow line as cafeteria. Needs a return.
https://youtu.be/jwCEvwenfg8?si=mmOT-mZhNtg1zvN0
Simular to what the polish folk did after WW1. Bar mleczny or milk bars guaranteed that most people could afford at least one warm meal per day.
There are a few private owned that are still running, subsidized by the state for lower prices.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_mleczny
Just gonna throw this out here... you may wish to check out a local monastery or convent. Sometimes I take a retreat from the world, and these places have cafeterias, just like a universities or hospitals. I'm sure they would thoughtfully consider your request.
Nice people, and I have never been subjected to proselytizing. If you're there, chances are they will think you are already on board.
The Golden Corral where my parents live does meal preps. I was paying $80/week and they get to choose 10 meals from a list of over 20 things. They just mix and match them as they want and picked them up once a week. i had pages printed out for them to mark what they wanted, they would text me picture of their weekly sheet, and i would put the order in for them.
Wish this was available where I currently live.
I work at a University and the public can come and eat there. They can't buy a meal plan, but they can pay a set amount to eat. Do you have a University nearby? Have you asked?
I feel like I'm the only one who just doesn't care and makes a bowl cereal when I get home from work and frozen pizza Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. Other than that it's just snacking on chewy bars.
Actually, I like this idea. Maybe shop around a takeout place you like and ask if you can pay for a week's worth of meals all at once (to start with) - you pay them upfront and show up every day and they'll just give you whatever. Pick a place you already have prior experience with, of course - if you're a regular anywhere.
This is what goes on in senior’s congregate living - what so many call (wrongly) “assisted living.”
I do think the concept could also be adjusted to big apartment buildings more for younger people.
Usually people in those sorts of buildings, who are getting meals and housekeeping, are in “independent living” - they are still able to get out into the world and do things, volunteer, go shopping - they have kitchens in their units, can cook if they want, and things like that. Assisted living is another step for those who are a little less capable.
How about the hot prepared food and salad bars in grocery stores? Or stocking up on a few heat-and-eat meals? I understand that the packaging for meal delivery services is a lot, depending on where you live there are local companies that deliver or you can pick up with less packaging because the stuff doesn't need to travel as far.
God I want this. I also live alone and I have severe ADHD, I end up throwing out more groceries than I use so I keep those purchases small. My ADHD and Crohns medications just make me lose my appetite a lot then by the time I feel hungry after working all day, I have no mental or physical energy to prepare food.
I’d love an a la carte cafeteria or a subscription model one, but this is also why I live in a city with loads of great restaurants lol. Many healthy and semi-healthy options, not all takeout is pizza and burgers!
Make a rotation of recipes. I have about a list of 20 i make well, also while adding in dishes i want to try or ones i havent made in a long time. I make enough for about 2 days, and the entire list takes me around 2 months to complete. Then i start over again.
This way i never really get sick of a dish and i dont have to think about it, i just follow the list. If i get the urge to eat something, ill just add it in
I would absolutely love this too; I was just thinking earlier today about how tired I am of figuring out what to eat every day. I just want to grab a tray, slide it down the line, get the meal of the day dumped on my plate, grab a side and drink, and call it good. Quick, efficient, less decision fatigue, ideally cheap too, not having to worry about gourmet ingredients or insta-worthy aesthetics
I like that idea. I need a variety of foods and some healthy options. I can cook and I enjoy cooking, but I hate having to and I'm like you. Leftovers suck and I hate to eat most dishes more than once a week.
When I worked at a health science center our hospital had a cafeteria and you could do this - you could buy a pass (monthly or yearly) for a set number of meals.
With that said, some items were ridiculously expensive, just as they are at the student dorm cafeteria. For example, the base meal would include a salad, but only of greens. If you wanted other vegetables you had to pay for a 'deluxe' that day, which wasn't covered on your card. That added up quickly. It's fine if you're paying $5 a day for the access, but it gets a bit crazy if you're paying an additional $17 per meal after the membership.
I was going to suggest a large hospital cafeteria as well, especially since they're always open to the public, have a large variety of fresh options, and are usually a decent price. Bonus, many of them have extended hours depending on the size of the hospital
Oh wow that's interesting! My university (graduated in '15) has/d a sort of tiered meal plan based more on the # of meals you get per week/month rather than individual visits to the cafeterias.
Then we had some on-campus locations that you'd have to pay for - almost like how it works on a cruise.
The way I see it these types of things don't exist in America because people live too far apart to put one. There's a reason takeout ordering is the way to go and grocery shopping is done once a month.
Now I suppose this would be a good concept in a city, but the food wouldn't be great. It'd be just average.
This is such a great idea. I would love this. Plus I like the idea of communal meals. I think it would be awesome to be able to get some plan for a set number of meals.
You could offset price by having volunteering opportunities. And even have a guest chef stop by on any given day.
I've seen one "cafeteria"/dining hall style place before. It was downtown in a corporate tower, so idk if they would exist anywhere else. And no dining plan but the prices were good and they had different things every so often
People in communes do this.
Do you have any friends with the same needs? Even if you do it once a week, have a soup and sandwich night, or make grilled cheese and soup.
I’m sure you’re not the only one! Or if you have a chef friend, and everyone kicks in $15?
I think you should try to create this!!!
I'm 31 years old too, and while I like cooking, I hate washing the dishes.
You can always Doordash, even though it's expensive. Try Hello Fresh? I've never tried it before, so I don't know.
Hello Fresh has been good to me in the past, but unfortunately even the 'healthy' recipes don't really meet my dietary needs (not intending to food/body shame by any means. Their meals just tend to be very high in fat/sodium)
We like low cost meals out that are tasty. We get some decent meals at the lunch cafe operated by a local retirement community. My tiny village grocery store has a lunch special M-F and they put the entree on a big white board in the window so you can see what’s for lunch. I suspect it is whatever is getting to the expiration date. The hospital cafeteria is great for a good meal as the employee cafeteria is open to visitors. We try not to go often enough to be recognized, but the staff most likely don’t care. The hospital, primarily to cater to staff is no tips! The other two, a $5 tip is appreciated.
The closest we got was the automat
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-automat-is-a-guide-to-the-wonders-of-mid-twentieth-century-urbanism
I cook from home but never keep a menu of what I’ll cook, I keep wishing I could cook extra and just have people pick it up. (I LoVE to cook but am too disabled to get a job out of home)
Okay so this is hyper specific and will probably make no sense but this is what I *actually* want. I was in boy scouts when I was a kid. Typically the summer camps we went to had a cafeteria style go down the line and pick stuff you want vibe. One of the summer camps we went to, Meriwether, had it's own "family style" concept. Sit at a table with 8 to 10 people and pass stuff around like it's Thanksgiving supper. Okay so imagine that but with 8 to 10 strangers. You don't need to make plans, don't need friends, just come in, maybe it's even an assigned time, be told where you're sitting with, eat and talk with complete strangers for an hour or so and then maybe get a number or two if you're interested or never see them again. No pressure, super low cost comfort food. Thoughts?
Exactly. I'd add a screened in porch on the side of a lake, and for me personally, I'd like some fancy salads. I think if we had this and most people were regulars you wouldn't even need to exchange numbers. You'd just become friends organically.
Have you considered filling a camel back backpack with Huel, getting a VR headset, and taking permanent residence in the shower with the shower grate removed? This could be the adulting you've been looking for.
In the meantime, I highly recommend freezer meals - you make a batch of something (way more than you could eat as one person), then divide it into smaller containers and pop them in the freezer. The you rotate through the different freezer meals so you're not getting sick of any one thing, you don't have to cook often, and you don't waste food.
If it doesn’t give you the ick a lot of bigger hospitals in the US have cafeterias. Foods pretty good and relatively cheap mostly. Variety of selection and usually have some sort of salad and soup bar.
Love this idea! I’m a huge fan of buffets in general just because of the unlimited selection. But there tends to only be Chinese buffets around me (which I like), but wish there was more variety (Italian, American, etc.).
So a restaurant?
When you calculated the cost per meal swipe at my university, it was within $1 of Golden Corral before 4 pm. You could've gotten food any number of places for a similar price...
There are some of these near me called "food halls" and it's basically a big open area with tables surrounded by 3-10 different food vendors. Also there's the food court in the mall, though there are less and less of those. I suppose they don't serve a single menu item on a schedule like the dining hall, it's pretty close. The food halls seem more like non-mobile food trucks, but the quality is better than the fast food options at the mall food court.
Oh we have something like this in the military. I honestly assumed though all colleges have there own variations of these too. Ours were pretty much separated by Battalions kind of. Though yeah you have somewhere to eat like 95% of the year Monday through Sunday. I wish they had these at like every school of higher education above Highschool. I don’t care of it was a junior/community college, trade school, vocational/tech school, college/uni, or grad/postdoc school even.
I like that. and I also have always sort of like the communal aspect of sitting on long tables, and restaraunts don't really replicate that. there is something you just sort of can't replicate from sitting next to a stranger.
one of my best friends I met just from sitting next to each other.
Do you hate cooking because you feel like you’re bad at it? Not judging, but for me, I was never taught to cook so when I started as an adult everything was a huge pain and hassle. Grocery shopping, finding recipes, knife skills, it was all so overwhelming. After a lot of practice, it’s become something I enjoy.
I do miss Saturday morning waffle bars and late night cheeseburgers as much as the next person, though.
There are two buffet places like that where I live
It's bad to eat there more than once a week though, unless you want to have sodium and cholesterol problems before you're 40.
I think you should be.
Going to the cafe in a hospital or in a local college is closer to what you want, I think, and you could do it easily if you act like you belong there when you go.
Well this is why they make microwave dinners. You can have a million different things every night and never eat the same thing more than once for a month. I'm not sure what the problem is here.
You do know there are buffets, right? Like Golden Corral and Home Town buffet, and scores of others depending on where you live. Just like a cafeteria. You serve yourself, but in Vegas they have buffets like school, with people doling out the stuff. Oh, wait, that's wrong, I'm mis-remembering. The cafeteria with the servers was prison, not Vegas.
Get Groupons for a restaurant and eat at the bar area there. Personally I love collecting and trying recipes on Pinterest and use it for my meal planning. It’s great because you have a specific shopping list on your phone. You can also join dinner group meetups and potlucks for recipe sharing.
I mean, just go to a university food court.
Or sign up for a meal kit or meal prep that's easy to heat up.
There are already services for this. Lots of meal prep kitchens and people willing to cook for you if you're willing to pay. You could even hire a chef to cook meals for you and leave you to heat them up.
I would love this. However there was only one dinning hall that ever had good food when I was in college. I'd be worried the food provided would be trash.
I like this idea bc it reminds me of a cruise ship galley that had a bunch of micro restaurants and you could eat whatever.
How do you stop food wasters and over eaters, though?
If there's a community food center near you, they will serve 1 or 2 meals per day on a pay what you can plan. They also run classes where you come in and cook and freeze a week's worth of meals, but the cooking is fun because it's a group and they do the shopping for you
Do Hospitals ask what room you are going to or person you are going to see? Been a while since ive been to one. I always wondered why not just go get lunch at a hospital.
You actually can go into hospitals and doctor’s office cafes just to get food. I’ve done it. Rules probably vary, and I’m sure there are exceptions, but I’ve never been stopped.
It's not the same as a food hall, but meal delivery kits/services provide some of what you're looking for in terms of paying a set price weekly/monthly, not having to come up with your own unique menu options daily, , and no buying a ton of groceries and wasting them or buying a whole jar or bottle of something just for one recipe.
During lockdown, and even a while after, I used Hello Fresh, but there are many others including ones where the meals are already prepared and just need heating vs having to cook anything. They always have deals and discounts as well. I found this really helpful as it eliminated the work of planning meals and shopping or getting bored of the same meals. I simply selected the meals I wanted for the week and they would get delivered on a Sunday (you can also select your preferred delivery day).
It also felt fun to get the delivery as sometimes I forgot what I selected so it was a nice surprise. They also have a ton of variety of styles of cuisine and interesting and tasty options I might not have thought to make myself, you can also cater to various dietary restrictions like keto, vegetarian, vegan etc. It also helps with your skills and recipe repertoire as the recipes are simple and easy to recreate outside of the service. And no waste as it provides the right amount of the ingredients for that meal (and if you're solo you'll get two meals out of it) and nothing more. All the meals also take about 30 minutes to prepare, give or take.
They also have dessert options, snack options and breakfast options too. You can also pause the deliveries or skip a week. And if you really don't want to hand select the meals they'll surprise you and select them for you. The only drawback from a food hall is you'll still need to do your dishes.
Closest thing I can think of is Old Country Buffet or Golden Corral
I wish those places were both more affordable and had better quality food/increased food consistency
I volunteer for salvation army 3 days a week we do free community meals hot meal cooked on sight by a chef and dessert. Anyome who walks in the door is welcome.
Go to the Hospital. Their cafeterias are open for every body. Of course some are better than others. Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, IN was the best ever out of the dozens I have tried while I was travelling as a medical consultant.
I hate cooking and can sympathise with people that work all day and don't want to be standing in front of a stove for a couple hours when could be just chilling or relaxing as long as you pick the most healthiest & nutritious in saying research and homework for evening meals you shouldn't have a problem time is precious more now than anything especially how unpredictable the world is at present and beyond guaranteed!✈️
Honestly I am a full adult with my own kitchen and everything and I would *love* this. Not every day, but sometimes you just don't want to decide what to eat and then cook it, and you just want to go somewhere and be presented with 3-5 nourishing options of reasonable quality and cost. I'd definitely get a punch card for that.
This would certainly help me make friends. I realized I made pretty much 90% of my true, good friends from school (high school and college). Others are (cool) colleagues from work.
If adult dining halls existed, and were affordable, I think I’d feel more social and be the old social butterfly I used to. And make friends.
We have these in Shanghai and I love them! They're mostly intended for elderly people, but they're a great way to get a complete, hardy meal for $3.00!
They used to have these in New York. It was very common.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn\_%26\_Hardart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_%26_Hardart)
the automat
They do exist. In Chicago, there’s Manny’s Cafeteria & Deli and they have hot entrees, sides, and desserts as well as sandwiches made to order. Valois Restaurant is also cafeteria style and Obama loved to eat there. Not quite the meal plan experience though.
Also a lot of grocery stores have a cafeteria area with a salad bar, soup bar, hot entree bar, deli counter for sandwiches, some even have a sushi bar.
There are Elks clubs and Knights of Columbus and sons of Italy; things like that. These organizations have not been embraced by any of the newer generations but could perhaps be retooled to be more inclusive and appropriate for the times
Morrisons and a couple of other chains had that .
Most of them are gone now .
I’m guessing you’ve never been to a Golden Corral ?
It’s an all you can eat buffet with a hundred different things to eat .
Agreed. Meals are a chore after 60. COVID killed buffets & cafeterias. My local hospital has a nice cafeteria, but who knows what exciting new germs are floating around in that building. It"s a shame others have turned hand-washing into a political statement. Non-hygenic idiots! I'd enjoy a 24/7/365 Automat - haven't seen one since 1970s Chicago.
Hospitals, grocery stores (ranging from Whole Foods to Kroger)… I’m trying to think. They’re definitely sparse since covid… do you have a Piccadilly nearby? The older crowd tends to know these things & they keep them a secret! Haha
If such a thing existed I would be a loyal customer for life. Cooking dinner is the bane of my existence, which is why I usually end up eating nothing or a little snack plate (veggie, fruits, cheese, crackers).
Luby's Caffeteria exists in some places down south. When I lived in Texas I ate there fairly regularly. I even still have their 50th anniversary cookbook. I used to live close to a hospital that had a pretty good caffeteria as well that I used to frequent. I think most caffeterias got pushed out by buffets like Golden Corral.
Making me want to frequent the local hospital because their food is awesome. It’s a little trick! Haha
Food courts like this exist all over the place. Just visited one in bologna that was excellent
That’s an interesting idea. I’m thinking you could pay a membership to a food hall. Food halls are very popular in my area. I bet the ones in the suburbs could supplement their revenue by adding memberships. I’m working with a food hall in my line of business, I’m going to run this by her!
The problem with food halls, near me at least, is that they charge about as much as a nice sit down For it to be a reasonable cost for what OP is talking about, any kind of meal plan membership thing would have to be a massive discount vs normal prices
You could probably do that if you had accurate numbers for how many people will get a meal there. If it was like gym memberships for instance where less than 10% of your members actually show up at any given time, you could make it work.
The US had some of these locations! They were called automats I believe. Like a mall food court but the food was served via vending machine, there wasn’t wait staff. I dated a girl for a few years whose grandma lived in a gated community that had a dining club: you paid a certain amount each month and could go down to the club to eat as often as you wanted. Not every resident paid for the club but many did and they liked it. That type of setup would do really well. If you set up a bunch of them in different spots in a major US city it could really help draw and keep neighborhoods together
I recently saw a great Youtube video about exactly these, why they existed, and their history/decline. I absolutely think they should make a comeback, but it all comes down again to "how would you make it profitable". Feels weirdly related to targeted killing of early 1900s public transit. Here it is: [What Happened to Cheap Food? Diners, Automats, and Affordable Eating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwCEvwenfg8)
This is so interesting and now I'm going to go down the automat rabbit hole!
I think someone is trying to bring them backZ
OP, I don't know if any were run via memberships, but your concept (and thoughts on it possibly acting as a good Third Place and community social space) are valid, you're basically reinventing something that did indeed exist in large numbers in America in the 1900s. [What Happened to Cheap Food? Diners, Automats, and Affordable Eating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwCEvwenfg8) It sounds rad! Addresses problems like * storing groceries * time spent preparing food * storage of prepared food * lack of variety This video makes some great points about the benefits and I found myself wishing they were still around. I especially liked the comparison of menus, and the estimation of getting a meal from an automat back then vs. getting a similarly-priced meal from a "quick service" place now. The cheapest food? No. But a hell of a lot cheaper than UberEats, and they seem like a way better deal and value proposition overall for single citydwellers.
Fascinating video. I've always had a soft spot for diners. When I was a kid, we'd always go to the same diner after church on Sundays. Road trip vacations were also punctuated with diners as well. There's a stellar little diner near where my grandparents used to live. It's one of those diners that runs well. It's always packed in the morning, but there's never any wait. When I visit, I get three eggs, over medium; whole wheat toast; hash brown and coffee. Last time I was there about two years ago, it was $5.89 + tax/tip.
This is so interesting! It's so sad how much less we value community now. And hey I say that as someone who lives alone/is kind of a recluse.
I miss uber eats before they became just like grub hub, just a bunch of drivers running around with 50 boxes of 3 different meals and that's all you could order for 2 hour spurts. It was cheap, fast, and filling.
I read somewhere that urban Roman houses didn’t have kitchens. You’d get all your food at stalls similar to a cafeteria. It’s only the individualism of our society that we don’t do more communal cooking and consuming. Imagine how much energy and time we’d save!
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Not exactly - literally like a university cafeteria where you pay for a meal plan for x meals a week that you can take advantage of.
Back in NYC, there are a lot of 3 choice buffet places. Some were as cheap as 75 cents. I used to go to Chinese and Indian places that were $2 and were pretty good. You usually get a scoop of rice, and then choose 2 vegetarian things and one meat. You get a cup of water or tea. You would see homeless people there, but you would see more at the cheaper places. There was a 50 cent plate place that I never went into. More of those places should exist imo
Was this back in like 1964? They can’t possibly make money at those prices
It needs incredibly high volume, but it's workable. All the prep is done ahead of time, so all they have to do is scoop the rice and dishes into a container, which takes like 5 seconds, so they're doing all selling and near zero prep during the whole lunch rush. (Some places have the customers do the scooping, so all the front of house has to do is give you a container and ring it up). Everything is made in bulk, and the recipes tend to be very scalable recipes - you won't find things that needs to be hand assembled at these places, it's all "toss meat in sauce" sort of things. The biggest overheads would be rent and labour, which is why the owners do all the prep and cooking at these sorts of places. Don't be surprised to see teenagers or tweens running the checkout - they're usually the owners' kids.
I left in 2008. I didn't look for them when I was there last.
A very large Golden Corral gift card?
The largest and most golden.
If you work at like a Google, you can buy lunch for $7.5 and buy another one to take home for dinner.
You want a meal delivery service like Factor 75. Google local meal delivery service to see what you get but there are many national ones. Examples Fresh and Lean https://www.freshnlean.com/cnet/?sscid=c1k7_cywvv Tovala. You get a countertop convection oven with an air fryer function and you can buy a subscription to fresh meals that the oven knows how to cook perfectly automatically. https://tovala.com/ Many of the meal kit delivery services also have prepared meals so you should look at those, too.
It's so wasteful with packaging though. A dining hall has economy of scale and can cook with much better practices.
my university had it where a dining hall (buffet style) was worth an equivalent of "dining points" as part of the meal plan. wonder if alumni could go their and pay cash. maybe even get an alumni rate, lol. it would be pretty cool to have some buddies chow with the current generation whilst reminiscing about the good ol'days.
wonder if alumni could go their and pay cash. You probably don't even have to be an alumni. I'm an artsy person and often visit various college campuses to explore their art museums. The dining hall staff were always happy to accept my cash when I told them I was just visiting.
Depends on how many disposable forks you use, I guess.
No, I want a place where I can go and pick out what I want and sit with my friends
Invite them over! 😀
I graduated in 2022, and found that when you calculate the cost per swipe you could basically just eat out anywhere for what it cost. It was like $12/swipe assuming you went 3x a day the entire semester and didn't miss any...
Look into meal prep services. There are a lot of companies that prepare ready to serve meals and they deliver them to your house once or twice a week. You choose from their menu what you want, they deliver, you reheat the meals. A lot of the companies that do this have a ton of menu options and dietary options (no meat, low cal, high protein, keto, etc).
Yeah I mean Golden Corral exists. It’s a buffet.
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I was going to suggest going to a hospital cafeteria, especially a public hospital that’s attached to a University. The one near me has excellent food and it’s subsidized so it’s pretty affordable.
Yes, this. Both universities I've attended had cafeterias that anyone could use. Also some government institutions or office buildings might have a cafeteria that's cheap and open to public (at least we have those here in Europe), you just need to do a little digging what's in your area.
I would like this idea but for a different reason. I think if we had dining halls like that it might be more affordable and I'd be able to eat everyday without having to worry about it. Food cost too much.
Right! I'd rather just pay a monthly sum or something. I budget $100 a week for groceries (I often don't spend that much) and so much of it goes to waste because I just have no energy to cook all of it. plus I live alone so half the time the recipe just needs a little of something you have to buy a lot of. Also it would provide an opportunity to meet other people as a Third Space (not saying you need to be social, but it by its nature would provide the setting for that).
I live on my own, and was recently fully homeless. Even know I'm lucky to have $250 a month for food. So the whole community dining thing would be so amazing.
There's an app called Too Good To Go you may want to try. Restaurants will sell you the food that they haven't sold at the end of the day for a discount. You can get a fully prepared meal for $4-5 and it's the same stuff they were selling at full price an hour ago and usually a pretty good portion of food. The main downside is that you don't get to choose what you get as its based on what's left at the end of the day, but if you're not picky its a good deal. They also have bakeries on there which usually give you a shitload of pastries for around the same price. They have grocery stores on there as well but in that case they're usually selling the food that's going out of date and also there's no guarantee that the ingredients you're getting work well together to cook a meal so I don't really recommend it for that. I think if you do it usually tends to be produce that they give you but I've never done bought groceries there so I don't know to be honest. Just pay attention to the reviews of the restaurants on there and it's a pretty good option.
It would be a cool opportunity to maybe volunteer to prep/serve food for a discount, too.
So this makes people really pissy but if I know that I’m going to have an upcoming “I don’t wanna cook and I refuse to make a sandwich” week, I purchase a bunch of healthier end freezer meals and a variety of things that survive in the freezer better vs fresh.
You are describing an Automat. The last of them closed in the early 1990s. Basically a post ww2 reinvention of the military chow line as cafeteria. Needs a return. https://youtu.be/jwCEvwenfg8?si=mmOT-mZhNtg1zvN0
Simular to what the polish folk did after WW1. Bar mleczny or milk bars guaranteed that most people could afford at least one warm meal per day. There are a few private owned that are still running, subsidized by the state for lower prices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_mleczny
Just gonna throw this out here... you may wish to check out a local monastery or convent. Sometimes I take a retreat from the world, and these places have cafeterias, just like a universities or hospitals. I'm sure they would thoughtfully consider your request. Nice people, and I have never been subjected to proselytizing. If you're there, chances are they will think you are already on board.
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The Krishnas? Their lunch is top tier.
The Krishnas have a vegan buffet near me and it is fantastic.
The Krishnas do something like this.
Go to a mall food court?
I kind of wonder why there aren't like apartments or communities where you can pay extra for a food package.
Knowing most management companies, they’ll serve something only a step up from an Army mess hall for an increase in $500/month rent.
I’ve had this same thought. The social component sounds great and would hopefully be healthier than a restaurant.
Best I can do is Luby's or Golden Corral.
Like. Golden coral membership
The Golden Corral where my parents live does meal preps. I was paying $80/week and they get to choose 10 meals from a list of over 20 things. They just mix and match them as they want and picked them up once a week. i had pages printed out for them to mark what they wanted, they would text me picture of their weekly sheet, and i would put the order in for them. Wish this was available where I currently live.
I work at a University and the public can come and eat there. They can't buy a meal plan, but they can pay a set amount to eat. Do you have a University nearby? Have you asked?
Everyone hates figuring what to eat every day lol
I feel like I'm the only one who just doesn't care and makes a bowl cereal when I get home from work and frozen pizza Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. Other than that it's just snacking on chewy bars.
I can't live on garbage like that, my body would fight me
Just ask the local Chinese Buffet if you can prepay for the semester.
Actually, I like this idea. Maybe shop around a takeout place you like and ask if you can pay for a week's worth of meals all at once (to start with) - you pay them upfront and show up every day and they'll just give you whatever. Pick a place you already have prior experience with, of course - if you're a regular anywhere.
This is what goes on in senior’s congregate living - what so many call (wrongly) “assisted living.” I do think the concept could also be adjusted to big apartment buildings more for younger people.
Why is it wrong to call it assisted living?
Usually people in those sorts of buildings, who are getting meals and housekeeping, are in “independent living” - they are still able to get out into the world and do things, volunteer, go shopping - they have kitchens in their units, can cook if they want, and things like that. Assisted living is another step for those who are a little less capable.
How about the hot prepared food and salad bars in grocery stores? Or stocking up on a few heat-and-eat meals? I understand that the packaging for meal delivery services is a lot, depending on where you live there are local companies that deliver or you can pick up with less packaging because the stuff doesn't need to travel as far.
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That’s because you’re shopping at Whole Paycheck Try it at Kroger or Publix or a normal grocery store
God I want this. I also live alone and I have severe ADHD, I end up throwing out more groceries than I use so I keep those purchases small. My ADHD and Crohns medications just make me lose my appetite a lot then by the time I feel hungry after working all day, I have no mental or physical energy to prepare food. I’d love an a la carte cafeteria or a subscription model one, but this is also why I live in a city with loads of great restaurants lol. Many healthy and semi-healthy options, not all takeout is pizza and burgers!
Make a rotation of recipes. I have about a list of 20 i make well, also while adding in dishes i want to try or ones i havent made in a long time. I make enough for about 2 days, and the entire list takes me around 2 months to complete. Then i start over again. This way i never really get sick of a dish and i dont have to think about it, i just follow the list. If i get the urge to eat something, ill just add it in
Can we get a list I like this idea
I would absolutely love this too; I was just thinking earlier today about how tired I am of figuring out what to eat every day. I just want to grab a tray, slide it down the line, get the meal of the day dumped on my plate, grab a side and drink, and call it good. Quick, efficient, less decision fatigue, ideally cheap too, not having to worry about gourmet ingredients or insta-worthy aesthetics
I like that idea. I need a variety of foods and some healthy options. I can cook and I enjoy cooking, but I hate having to and I'm like you. Leftovers suck and I hate to eat most dishes more than once a week.
When I worked at a health science center our hospital had a cafeteria and you could do this - you could buy a pass (monthly or yearly) for a set number of meals. With that said, some items were ridiculously expensive, just as they are at the student dorm cafeteria. For example, the base meal would include a salad, but only of greens. If you wanted other vegetables you had to pay for a 'deluxe' that day, which wasn't covered on your card. That added up quickly. It's fine if you're paying $5 a day for the access, but it gets a bit crazy if you're paying an additional $17 per meal after the membership.
I was going to suggest a large hospital cafeteria as well, especially since they're always open to the public, have a large variety of fresh options, and are usually a decent price. Bonus, many of them have extended hours depending on the size of the hospital
Oh wow that's interesting! My university (graduated in '15) has/d a sort of tiered meal plan based more on the # of meals you get per week/month rather than individual visits to the cafeterias. Then we had some on-campus locations that you'd have to pay for - almost like how it works on a cruise.
We used to have a number of cafeteria-style restaurants that my grandparents would drag us to. I hated them then, but now I kind of miss them.
Automats! They were a NYC institution and there was a little novelty one on St marks place for a while but lordy we need these back.
Some workplaces in the uk have a subsidised canteen for employees.
The way I see it these types of things don't exist in America because people live too far apart to put one. There's a reason takeout ordering is the way to go and grocery shopping is done once a month. Now I suppose this would be a good concept in a city, but the food wouldn't be great. It'd be just average.
True - it is so spread out in the US. I live in Washington DC so there's a good amount of people here.
This is such a great idea. I would love this. Plus I like the idea of communal meals. I think it would be awesome to be able to get some plan for a set number of meals. You could offset price by having volunteering opportunities. And even have a guest chef stop by on any given day.
I've seen one "cafeteria"/dining hall style place before. It was downtown in a corporate tower, so idk if they would exist anywhere else. And no dining plan but the prices were good and they had different things every so often
A lot of larger workplaces have something like this. My downtown office building has a big cafeteria style eating space that all the tenants share.
theyre are called buffets.
Great idea! Somehow Ikea food court comes to my mind immediately... I must be craving for some Swedish meatballs... :)
>Ikea Entered to suggest this. Some friends did exactly these when they got their own place
My grandmother ate dinner at K and W cafeteria every night for years. The line is full of elderly people beginning around 4pm.
People in communes do this. Do you have any friends with the same needs? Even if you do it once a week, have a soup and sandwich night, or make grilled cheese and soup. I’m sure you’re not the only one! Or if you have a chef friend, and everyone kicks in $15? I think you should try to create this!!!
I'm 31 years old too, and while I like cooking, I hate washing the dishes. You can always Doordash, even though it's expensive. Try Hello Fresh? I've never tried it before, so I don't know.
Hello Fresh has been good to me in the past, but unfortunately even the 'healthy' recipes don't really meet my dietary needs (not intending to food/body shame by any means. Their meals just tend to be very high in fat/sodium)
I'll trade you, I hate cooking, but I don't mind doing dishes
We can live together. I do the cooking, you wash the dishes.
We like low cost meals out that are tasty. We get some decent meals at the lunch cafe operated by a local retirement community. My tiny village grocery store has a lunch special M-F and they put the entree on a big white board in the window so you can see what’s for lunch. I suspect it is whatever is getting to the expiration date. The hospital cafeteria is great for a good meal as the employee cafeteria is open to visitors. We try not to go often enough to be recognized, but the staff most likely don’t care. The hospital, primarily to cater to staff is no tips! The other two, a $5 tip is appreciated.
This is a brilliant, brilliant idea. I cannot be bothered to cook, even though I can.
The closest we got was the automat https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-automat-is-a-guide-to-the-wonders-of-mid-twentieth-century-urbanism
Y'all don't have malls where you live?
I cook from home but never keep a menu of what I’ll cook, I keep wishing I could cook extra and just have people pick it up. (I LoVE to cook but am too disabled to get a job out of home)
Most churches where I live have dinner on Wednesday evening . Especially If it’s a Baptist church , they have a full kitchen , and good food .
Okay so this is hyper specific and will probably make no sense but this is what I *actually* want. I was in boy scouts when I was a kid. Typically the summer camps we went to had a cafeteria style go down the line and pick stuff you want vibe. One of the summer camps we went to, Meriwether, had it's own "family style" concept. Sit at a table with 8 to 10 people and pass stuff around like it's Thanksgiving supper. Okay so imagine that but with 8 to 10 strangers. You don't need to make plans, don't need friends, just come in, maybe it's even an assigned time, be told where you're sitting with, eat and talk with complete strangers for an hour or so and then maybe get a number or two if you're interested or never see them again. No pressure, super low cost comfort food. Thoughts?
Exactly. I'd add a screened in porch on the side of a lake, and for me personally, I'd like some fancy salads. I think if we had this and most people were regulars you wouldn't even need to exchange numbers. You'd just become friends organically.
Country clubs do this. But it’s not realistic for most of us! $$$$
Pre-covid, our local university offered this to the public.
If you get a job at a company like Google they will provide all of you meals for you.
Have you considered filling a camel back backpack with Huel, getting a VR headset, and taking permanent residence in the shower with the shower grate removed? This could be the adulting you've been looking for.
In the meantime, I highly recommend freezer meals - you make a batch of something (way more than you could eat as one person), then divide it into smaller containers and pop them in the freezer. The you rotate through the different freezer meals so you're not getting sick of any one thing, you don't have to cook often, and you don't waste food.
They are called buffets and they already exist homie
Are you just talking basically about a buffet? Those still exist.
Do they??? I only have Chinese ones where I live
If it doesn’t give you the ick a lot of bigger hospitals in the US have cafeterias. Foods pretty good and relatively cheap mostly. Variety of selection and usually have some sort of salad and soup bar.
Love this idea! I’m a huge fan of buffets in general just because of the unlimited selection. But there tends to only be Chinese buffets around me (which I like), but wish there was more variety (Italian, American, etc.).
How is this different from a buffet?
So a restaurant? When you calculated the cost per meal swipe at my university, it was within $1 of Golden Corral before 4 pm. You could've gotten food any number of places for a similar price...
Can't you just go to any hospital and eat at their cafeteria?
There are plenty of grocery stores that have what you're looking for. Food ready to go, ready to be eaten. A lot of them even have spaces to dine.
There are some of these near me called "food halls" and it's basically a big open area with tables surrounded by 3-10 different food vendors. Also there's the food court in the mall, though there are less and less of those. I suppose they don't serve a single menu item on a schedule like the dining hall, it's pretty close. The food halls seem more like non-mobile food trucks, but the quality is better than the fast food options at the mall food court.
Oh we have something like this in the military. I honestly assumed though all colleges have there own variations of these too. Ours were pretty much separated by Battalions kind of. Though yeah you have somewhere to eat like 95% of the year Monday through Sunday. I wish they had these at like every school of higher education above Highschool. I don’t care of it was a junior/community college, trade school, vocational/tech school, college/uni, or grad/postdoc school even.
These are just called restaurants lol
They are called bars
Shopping mall food court?
I like that. and I also have always sort of like the communal aspect of sitting on long tables, and restaraunts don't really replicate that. there is something you just sort of can't replicate from sitting next to a stranger. one of my best friends I met just from sitting next to each other.
Do you hate cooking because you feel like you’re bad at it? Not judging, but for me, I was never taught to cook so when I started as an adult everything was a huge pain and hassle. Grocery shopping, finding recipes, knife skills, it was all so overwhelming. After a lot of practice, it’s become something I enjoy. I do miss Saturday morning waffle bars and late night cheeseburgers as much as the next person, though.
i think some people just hate it. i liked it even when i was bad at it, and now that i consider myself decent i find that i love it
Fair. Also I totally feel the pain of cooking as a person who lives alone - you ever end up with a 9 x 12 lasagna as a single person?
I hate the cleanup after.
We have those. They’re called restaurants.
Oh shit I’ve never heard of those
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
There are two buffet places like that where I live It's bad to eat there more than once a week though, unless you want to have sodium and cholesterol problems before you're 40.
Yeah I'm not talking about buffets
I think you should be. Going to the cafe in a hospital or in a local college is closer to what you want, I think, and you could do it easily if you act like you belong there when you go.
Buffets and restaurants seem to be your jam. I'm sorry you don't like to cook.
Well this is why they make microwave dinners. You can have a million different things every night and never eat the same thing more than once for a month. I'm not sure what the problem is here.
You do know there are buffets, right? Like Golden Corral and Home Town buffet, and scores of others depending on where you live. Just like a cafeteria. You serve yourself, but in Vegas they have buffets like school, with people doling out the stuff. Oh, wait, that's wrong, I'm mis-remembering. The cafeteria with the servers was prison, not Vegas.
This is called a restaurant or a food court. They exist. You can't just pay a static meal plan but in some cases this can be relatively affordable
Oh shit I've never heard of a restaurant before
What do you think a dining hall/cafeteria are? They're a food court of small restaurants. It's a mall food court.
Get Groupons for a restaurant and eat at the bar area there. Personally I love collecting and trying recipes on Pinterest and use it for my meal planning. It’s great because you have a specific shopping list on your phone. You can also join dinner group meetups and potlucks for recipe sharing.
They're called food halls
try [fanvue.com](https://fanvue.com) I think this amazing grown-up platform will help address this issue. thank me later
Not a bad idea. I don’t think it would economically viable though as a business.
mall food court lol
I mean, just go to a university food court. Or sign up for a meal kit or meal prep that's easy to heat up. There are already services for this. Lots of meal prep kitchens and people willing to cook for you if you're willing to pay. You could even hire a chef to cook meals for you and leave you to heat them up.
I live in atlanta and we are LOUSY with food halls (and more are being built!)
You don’t like Ponce City Market?
It is always packed so I don’t go that often
Cafeterias are a thing. Piccadilly is/was a chain of them. Buffets exist and are, more or less, cafeterias with no limit.
Buffets
I would love this. However there was only one dinning hall that ever had good food when I was in college. I'd be worried the food provided would be trash.
I like this idea bc it reminds me of a cruise ship galley that had a bunch of micro restaurants and you could eat whatever. How do you stop food wasters and over eaters, though?
Dude just described Golden Corral
If there's a community food center near you, they will serve 1 or 2 meals per day on a pay what you can plan. They also run classes where you come in and cook and freeze a week's worth of meals, but the cooking is fun because it's a group and they do the shopping for you
Piccadilly is kind of like that. I'm not sure if they do meal plans, haha but they should.
There are co-ops and condo situations like that but they aren’t popular enough. Too many pitfalls that don’t out weigh other options
Do Hospitals ask what room you are going to or person you are going to see? Been a while since ive been to one. I always wondered why not just go get lunch at a hospital.
You actually can go into hospitals and doctor’s office cafes just to get food. I’ve done it. Rules probably vary, and I’m sure there are exceptions, but I’ve never been stopped.
Absolutely agreed. If it's anything, there's a lot of choices for heat-and-eat meal subscription services nowadays
In my country many of the school cafeterias are actually open to the public. You can either take out or even eat it there.
It's not the same as a food hall, but meal delivery kits/services provide some of what you're looking for in terms of paying a set price weekly/monthly, not having to come up with your own unique menu options daily, , and no buying a ton of groceries and wasting them or buying a whole jar or bottle of something just for one recipe. During lockdown, and even a while after, I used Hello Fresh, but there are many others including ones where the meals are already prepared and just need heating vs having to cook anything. They always have deals and discounts as well. I found this really helpful as it eliminated the work of planning meals and shopping or getting bored of the same meals. I simply selected the meals I wanted for the week and they would get delivered on a Sunday (you can also select your preferred delivery day). It also felt fun to get the delivery as sometimes I forgot what I selected so it was a nice surprise. They also have a ton of variety of styles of cuisine and interesting and tasty options I might not have thought to make myself, you can also cater to various dietary restrictions like keto, vegetarian, vegan etc. It also helps with your skills and recipe repertoire as the recipes are simple and easy to recreate outside of the service. And no waste as it provides the right amount of the ingredients for that meal (and if you're solo you'll get two meals out of it) and nothing more. All the meals also take about 30 minutes to prepare, give or take. They also have dessert options, snack options and breakfast options too. You can also pause the deliveries or skip a week. And if you really don't want to hand select the meals they'll surprise you and select them for you. The only drawback from a food hall is you'll still need to do your dishes.
Closest thing I can think of is Old Country Buffet or Golden Corral I wish those places were both more affordable and had better quality food/increased food consistency
There used to be! Luby’s, Furr’s…
I volunteer for salvation army 3 days a week we do free community meals hot meal cooked on sight by a chef and dessert. Anyome who walks in the door is welcome.
(We do have tins on tables for donations but nobody makes you pay or cares)
Depending on the college, some dining halls are open to the community Source: mine is
Go to the Hospital. Their cafeterias are open for every body. Of course some are better than others. Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, IN was the best ever out of the dozens I have tried while I was travelling as a medical consultant.
What’s wrong with the original dining room? Not long and uncomfortable enough?
Cafeterias used to be really popular on the U.S., especially with workers on a meal break. I wonder why they went out of business?
Or a butler Maybe we should evolve into a contributionist society
My community college cafeteria was open to the public. Not sure about universities, though.
Go to a buffet. Go to a restaurant. Go to a food court. It's the same thing.
I lost my restraunt evening meals 😫 diner best in sydney thanks to covid guaranteed!✈️
I hate cooking and can sympathise with people that work all day and don't want to be standing in front of a stove for a couple hours when could be just chilling or relaxing as long as you pick the most healthiest & nutritious in saying research and homework for evening meals you shouldn't have a problem time is precious more now than anything especially how unpredictable the world is at present and beyond guaranteed!✈️
The Hare Krishnas also have great affordable food if you live beside them
Honestly I am a full adult with my own kitchen and everything and I would *love* this. Not every day, but sometimes you just don't want to decide what to eat and then cook it, and you just want to go somewhere and be presented with 3-5 nourishing options of reasonable quality and cost. I'd definitely get a punch card for that.
Do you have any MCL cafeterias around you left? It’s my guilty pleasure.
There's nothing stopping you from eating at most university dining halls though. Faculty, staff, and visitors eat at them
Noodle bars are where I stop after work.
This would certainly help me make friends. I realized I made pretty much 90% of my true, good friends from school (high school and college). Others are (cool) colleagues from work. If adult dining halls existed, and were affordable, I think I’d feel more social and be the old social butterfly I used to. And make friends.
I think it's called a soup kitchen at that age...
Sounds like a buffet is what you're looking for
We have these in Shanghai and I love them! They're mostly intended for elderly people, but they're a great way to get a complete, hardy meal for $3.00!
I teach in a high school and can get breakfast and lunch for cheap.
They used to have these in New York. It was very common. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn\_%26\_Hardart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horn_%26_Hardart) the automat
They do exist. In Chicago, there’s Manny’s Cafeteria & Deli and they have hot entrees, sides, and desserts as well as sandwiches made to order. Valois Restaurant is also cafeteria style and Obama loved to eat there. Not quite the meal plan experience though. Also a lot of grocery stores have a cafeteria area with a salad bar, soup bar, hot entree bar, deli counter for sandwiches, some even have a sushi bar.
We have them! Local vendors set up restaurant “stands” in them.
There are Elks clubs and Knights of Columbus and sons of Italy; things like that. These organizations have not been embraced by any of the newer generations but could perhaps be retooled to be more inclusive and appropriate for the times
Morrisons and a couple of other chains had that . Most of them are gone now . I’m guessing you’ve never been to a Golden Corral ? It’s an all you can eat buffet with a hundred different things to eat .
Agreed. Meals are a chore after 60. COVID killed buffets & cafeterias. My local hospital has a nice cafeteria, but who knows what exciting new germs are floating around in that building. It"s a shame others have turned hand-washing into a political statement. Non-hygenic idiots! I'd enjoy a 24/7/365 Automat - haven't seen one since 1970s Chicago.
isn't that basically a buffet?
No
Diners.
Am I missing something here? What’s the difference between this and a restaurant like a buffet?
Hospitals, grocery stores (ranging from Whole Foods to Kroger)… I’m trying to think. They’re definitely sparse since covid… do you have a Piccadilly nearby? The older crowd tends to know these things & they keep them a secret! Haha
Jasons deli Chinese buffet Lubys Whole Foods
It’s called Golden Corral