I don't even want to go out to eat anymore....

My mother in law never (well maybe once a year) goes out to a restaurant, she says exactly the same thing, she can make a better meal at home for half the price.

I think it comes down to the same thing as is being said in the "lazy" thread, people are getting more and more lazy and look for the convenient way out. It's far easier and quicker (well, sometimes the quicker can be debatable) to go to a restaurant and pay exorbitant prices for sub-par food, than it is to go to the grocery store, stock up on what you need, and spend an hour in the kitchen cooking, eat and spend another hour cleaning up.  And with the economy where it's at, restaurants are looking to cut every corner they can to try to keep up their profit margin, and the quality of the food sinks lower and lower. This is especially true for the national or regional "chain" restaurants.

There are still some good ones out there, for instance my local italian restaurant, serves good quality food, though not the best I've ever had, but still better than I can do, and huge portions. A half portion is easily enough for two meals for me. I haven't even tried a full plate yet. And the staff is always friendly and helpful. Anyway, I digress, there are still good places out there, but they're getting fewer and harder to find.

I think what it all boils down to is that for a lot of people they just don't know what good quality cooking is, and they settle for whatever is put on a plate in front of them. And as more and more people settle, the bar for "quality food" keeps sinking lower and lower.