Yes, exactly. Like catering, but also with the intention that maybe you're not going to eat it all at once, so something that stores well for a day or two in the fridge would be ideal.

In frugal times, going to a sit-down restaurant is insanely expensive compared to a good at-home meal. A typical sit-down restaurant is like $60 per person including tip/tax with an appetizer and drink. For that, I can eat all 20 meals for a week if I shop sales.

The first link I found on Google [https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/05/16/survey-shows-how-o...] says that almost half of Americans basically never dine out or do take out. Only 10% eat out in any form 4-6 times a week. So there's definitely space for something in between for the home consumer.

>A typical sit-down restaurant is like $60 per person including tip/tax with an appetizer and drink.

Where do you live? We typically pay $30-$40 for a particularly nice night out at our favorite restaurant. Cheaper stuff runs more in the $10-$25 range. And we're in Boston!

Seems a bit low. Isn't a drink already $7 a beer, or $12 a cocktail there? That's $10 and $15 with tax+tip respectively, leaving very little for the entree plus appetizer...

If you're going to expensive gastropubs, sure, but not if you're in a proper neighborhood hole in the wall.