How Much Does It Actually Cost to Eat Out?
A study from Public Health Nutrition in 2013 found that half of Americans are regularly eating out instead of eating home cooked meals. Another study from the Nutrition Journal found that American diets have been shifting to eating out more since 1965. Today, there are so many options for where to get food, if you’re not practicing conscious spending, it’s easy to forget that you can get the same meals at home for less.
When you eat out at a restaurant, you’re not only paying for the food, you’re paying for all the service associated with preparing the food for you. This includes the staff, rent for the establishment, and profit for the business. All this gets wrapped up into the price that you see on the menu.
Most of the things on the menu can be made at home for much cheaper. In fact, my wife Kelsey loves Cracker Barrel’s cheesy hash brown casserole. After trying a few different recipes online, we found one that we now make regularly and tastes just like the restaurant version (just add more salt than it calls for). The internet makes it easy to find nearly any recipe you want with step by step instructions.
I regularly eat three meals a day. So in the context of personal finance, I associate a per-serving cost to each meal that I buy or make. If a homemade meal costs $15 in ingredients and gives my wife and I both dinner and enough leftovers to take to lunch the next day, that $15 bought us 4 servings total. In this case, each serving cost $3.75. Thinking about your food costs in terms of dollars per serving helps compare costs across different options.
Let’s take a look at how some hard numbers. Every morning, I have the same breakfast of Cheerios, frozen blueberries, and milk. This is a simple breakfast that I can put together in less than a minute that’s nutritious and filling. My box of Cheerios costs me $3.52 and lasts about 2 weeks. I buy 3 lb bags of frozen blueberries that cost $7.28 which last me about 3 weeks. Finally, I use about about 1 1/2 cups of milk, which is $2.08 per gallon. If you do all the math, that comes out to just $0.79 per bowl. For $0.79, I get a nutritious meal that sustains me for 4–5 hours of the day. If I were to go anywhere else, I wouldn’t be able to find anything as healthy for less than $8. If I were to go to my local McDonald’s, I’d still need three things off their dollar menu to fill up!
But let’s be real. Nobody wants to eat Cheerios for every meal (Kelsey calls them cardboard-o’s). Take a look at the dish up top. That’s penne and broccoli in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce. A meal like that could easily go for $15 after tip at an Italian restaurant. But you probably already guessed that this was a home made meal. We used a pound of pasta ($0.77), 2 cups of frozen broccoli ($0.84), 8 oz of heavy cream ($1.78), half a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil ($1.74), and some miscellaneous seasonings ($0.50 for good measure). All in all it cost us $5.63 and gave us both lunch and dinner. That’s $1.41/serving! If you wanted to add some protein like chicken, just add another $1 per serving. Even with the chicken, compare $2.41 to $15 at a restaurant and that’s a 622% up charge!
Even with our most extravagant meals at home, it rarely costs us more than $5/serving. But who am I but a lowly blogger? Why should you believe me? I could be making these numbers up for all you know. If only someone more reputable figured out how much one should be spending on food…
Well, it turns out the USDA did just that. In 2007, they performed a comprehensive study to determine how much it should cost to feed individuals when cooking at home. They broke their estimates down by sex and age group and proposed 4 different types of plans: thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal. The costs have been updated since then to keep up with inflation. Depending on the plan you subscribe to, feeding a couple in their their mid-twenties should cost $88.90 to $176.80 per week as of February 2018. In a normal week with 3 meals a day for 2 people, that averages out to between $2.12 and $4.21 per serving. I can tell you from personal experience that this is definitely right around where our costs are in general. We’re often well below the $2.12/serving average for the thrifty plan even though we eat well.
On top of the cost savings, there are a ton of other benefits to cooking at home. Studies have found that cooking at home generally leads to higher quality diets. Home cooked meals allow you to control the portions so you’re less tempted to overeat. There’s also usually less salt and sugar than you otherwise would have eating out.
In addition to the health benefits, it can sometimes even save you time. One of the big arguments for eating out is that people don’t have time to cook at home. When you’re eating out, you’re spending time driving to the restaurant, waiting to be seated, getting your order in, getting served, and then driving home. This whole process could take over 2 hours. But when I’m home, the time it takes to prep, cook, eat, and clean up is usually less than an hour and a half. You’re paying a premium to eat out and not even saving any time.
Eating out less often is one of the best ways to save money and now you can see exactly how much extra it can cost to have someone else cook for you. But sometimes, you end up eating out with friends and family or you’re going to celebrate a special occasion. You can still cut your costs by following a couple simple rules. To start, skip the drinks. An alcoholic drink could cost up to $10. That’s as much as a whole meal at some places. If you opt for water instead, your wallet and your health will thank you. Second, don’t buy appetizers or desserts. Most restaurant servings are huge to begin with so a single entree is usually enough to fill you up. If you’re still hungry after dinner, have a snack at home using food you’ve already purchased to avoid paying for the up-charge of eating at the restaurant. Finally, take any leftovers home. If you can turn a restaurant meal into 2, you just cut your per serving costs in half.
It can be tempting to eat out on a regular basis but doing so is a habit that will cost you a significant amount of money in the long run. If you’re not comfortable in the kitchen, I recommend buying The Science of Good Cooking. This is a cookbook that not only gives you some fabulous recipes but also explains how the recipes work so you can learn how to cook without recipes.
Eating out is a regular activity in our society today but it’s something that’s eating into our wallets. Eat at home instead of shelling out your hard earned dough at a restaurant (see what I did there?!). You’ll be astonished at how much you save.
