As for the LDR case: I still use zephyr, and have a group of friends who can be cat-herded into dinner trips most nights. We tend to take turns playing alpha (proposing places, beating the uncertain into a consensus, pairing up bodies and car seats) and sometimes it can take hours to converge, but we manage :-)

The rest of the time, frozen dinners or takeout suffice, dinner *should* be social, but *mustn't* be skipped...