CNN iReport

As food prices have risen, the costs of eating out have followed suit a great deal.  As a single adult male, I became accustomed to eating out most of my meals due to the convenience of time-saving and lack of a mess in the kitchen.  Nowadays, as the costs of  "value meals" or "combos" at fast-food chains rise, the amount of food included has had the reciprocal effect.  For instance, many restaurants including Wendy's and Hardee's have not only downsized their drinks and side-orders such as french fries and hash-browns, but they have started only including SMALL-sized drinks and side-orders in their combos as opposed to MEDIUM-sized accompaniments offered in the past.  In addition to raising their prices, eat-in restaurants such as Outback Steakhouse have made more subtle changes to their dining-out experience.  Namely, they've scaled back on toppings for certain appetizers such as their cheese fries, and they've seemingly started to provide complimentary bread to customers on an "available upon request" basis, whereas it was one of the first items brought to the table in the past.  Finally, let's not forget delivery charges tacked on by restaurants that deliver.  From talking with management representatives from many delivery chains, I've come to understand that delivery drivers do not receive any percentage of the delivery charge whatsoever.  This means that customers are expected to include gratuity on top of whatever the delivery charge comes out to be.  All of these changes combined has necessitated my food budget to involve more frequent trips to the grocery store as opposed to eating out.  Granted, it's more of an inconvenience to cook at home, but eating out in just about all forms has become a luxury for this bachelor :(