Cost of Eating Out vs. Cooking at Home

Cary Silverman

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Oct 27, 2018

5 min read

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Is it better to go out to eat or cook your meals at home?

Food is a major expense and one that can vary wildly from month to month. You might be very mindful about your spending one month, always going to the grocery store and picking up generic items or only items what’s on sale and you end up spending around $400 that month. Then the next, you go out to eat for every meal, have food delivered, and pick up to go orders on your way home and you end up spending upwards of a grand or more. (And that might not be counting your morning coffee from Starbucks either!)

There’s a never ending debate about whether going out to eat at restaurants is better than cooking your meals at home. Some swear by cooking everything themselves while others wouldn’t be caught dead in the kitchen. For the answer to this age old question, let’s break it down.

The Numbers

The Bureau of Labor reported that a family of four can spend between $550 to $1,300 a month. That breaks down to between $138 and $325 a week on groceries. As someone with a family of three, I can tell you that those numbers are very short of the actual figures. $550 to $1,300 is basically what we spend right now a month. Add another mouth and that’ll go up, a lot. And that’s not even taking into account living in a more affluent area where the cost of living is higher.

Regardless, the average meal at a restaurant costs roughly $15 and if you extrapolate that over the course of a 30 day month, you’ll pay $1,350 to feed a single person and $5,400 to feed a family of four. That’s a lot of dough.

Eating Out

Going out to eat doesn’t only count sitting down at a restaurant. It also includes picking up an order to go on your way home, having Doordash or Uber Eats deliver food, and swing through a drive-thru at a fast food joint. All of these options are technically “eating out”. While they’re different, what they share is convenience. Someone else is making your food and they may be doing it at a level that you might not be capable of.

Not everyone can be a classically trained chef, or good at cooking for that matter. I know a few people that struggle to use a microwave and can’t make a single meal without burning something. However, when you go out to eat, you’re able to experience food and flavors that you would have otherwise never tasted. You can also have carefree conversation with your friends, family, or colleagues without having to worry about juggling cooking as well.

The biggest drawback to eating out is the price. You can spend on one meal what other people spend for an entire week or month’s worth of groceries. And if you extrapolate that over the course of a month, you’ll end up spending thousands of dollars on food when it could have been hundreds.

Cooking at Home

Studies have shown that people who eat at home do consume fewer calories, carbs, fats, and sugars that those who eat out which makes cooking your meals healthier, on average, than eating out. This makes a great deal of sense because you’re in control of the ingredients when you cook at home. You choose whether to cook your meal with butter or coconut oil. You can choose to go with a leaner cut of meat that healthier for you. You’re able to choose a sugar free option for desert rather than rolling the dice.

The main drawback to eating at home is how time consuming it is. The more you cook the faster you’ll be able to do it, but it still takes up a lot of time. You have to go grocery shopping to get all of the ingredients, prep the ingredients, and then cook the meal. If you’re just cooking for yourself, you can probably get away with cooking a meal in 30–45 minutes. If you’re cooking for your family, you’re not doing it in under an hour.

Eating out vs cooking at home: the comparison

The bottom line is that cooking your meals at home is less expensive than going out to eat. You can cook the same dish at home that you’d get at a restaurant for a fraction of the price and still have leftovers for later on in the week. If you’re looking to cut down on your expenses, maybe put a little extra into your savings account each month, you’re better off cooking your meals at home.

However, if you aren’t strapped for cash, you’re pressed for time, or you have a demanding job, going out to eat or getting food delivered from your favorite restaurants is probably a better fit for your lifestyle.

Ultimately, one is not completely better than the other. Yes, eating at home is cheaper, but ordering take out is incredibly convenient and fast. Hell, you can’t make the argument that eating at home is healthier than going out to eat anymore. Especially if you cook with butter, certain oils, or certain ingredients. And there are a ton of restaurants that have carefully crafted their menu to have healthy (and delicious) options for the health conscious and meal portions at traditional restaurants are starting to return to sane sizes again.

If we look at it from a cost and health perspective, eating at home is better. If we look at it from a convenience and variety perspective, going out to eat is better. What it boils down to is what works best for you and your lifestyle.