Eating out vs cooking at home prices.

[ATex7239]

I prefer to eat at home. It’s cheaper (mostly) and healthier for our food preferences and lifestyle.

Somethings are cheaper to buy rather than make. Like pizza and baked goods. My wife likes to bake. Making cakes, pastries, and such from scratch at home ain’t cheaper.

 

[AZjeff]

Rumor has it AZ....

You are the best waffle cooker in the southwestern US...

Unconfirmed report but it's what I have heard...

Wow, I didn't know my rep went all the way to Virginia! Actually we do enjoy wild blueberry waffles, ham & cheese waffles, apple & cinnamon waffles, and the granddaughters do like chocolate chip waffles!

 

[53' Stude]

I can get quite a lot of vegetables, greens at my farmers market for reasonable cost. Eating out costs way more. Dad was whining bout this other night. I said “we told you so!”

 

[1uz_4me]

We do a mix. Cooking at home usually has leftovers which can be 1 meal the following day. My gf works at a Mexican food restaurant & they're short handed. I trade my time helping out for food. She sometimes brings home order mistakes or orders that were called in & never picked up. Their costs have gone up so their prices have unfortunately as well. Lots of loyal regular customers so there isn't much complaining.

 

[Wolf359]

Wow, I didn't know my rep went all the way to Virginia! Actually we do enjoy wild blueberry waffles, ham & cheese waffles, apple & cinnamon waffles, and the granddaughters do like chocolate chip waffles!

Wow, I've never tried any of those just had the occasional Belgium waffle here and there.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Only if you cook simple meals with a limited amount of ingredients.

I have found this too. When you try to make something good you need to buy so many different things it would have been cheaper to just order it. Sometimes I have to prepare to eat the leftovers/make sure I’ll be around.

 

[PandaBear]

A restaurant would shut down if the ingredient cost more than 25% of the bill. Typically if you can cook and can get good ingredient you will be better off cooking to save money. Most people who complains about cooking cost about the same usually didn't buy the right ingredient, didn't know how to process the ingredient to get the maximum flavors out, or didn't know where to buy them at a good price or didn't buy enough for the volume to make the discount.

Say in our area beef cost about the same between different stores, but you notice Mitsuwa (Japanese grocery) has a line of kitchen helpers (not the chef) going to this grocery store to buy about 20lb of sliced shabu shabu beef wearing ramen shop T shirt, you will likely know this is the real deal. However if you go to Safeway and try to buy 1lb of "premium" beef from the deli section, then you will probably think it is cheaper to just get the beef ramen already cooked, instead of buying them and put them on top of some ramen you boil at home.

 

[Tdog02]

Most lunch items are around 10-18 dollars if eating out. I can bring my lunch and snacks and water for under 5 bucks. It adds up. And it was said earlier, portion control keeps my calories in check. I use the crock pot and insta pot at home and don't mind leftovers.

Don't get me wrong, eating out is a treat that I enjoy but we don't do it very often.

 

[benjy]

there is NO comparison!!! cookin at home is CHEEPER as well as HEALTHIER, BUT it takes time + as noted many just dont want to or like cooking. breakfast if you eat it is prolly a toss up BUT since most if not all eating establishments work on profits cheeper unhealthy ingredients are used. SEED-vegetable oils that are usually hydrogenated are some of the worst ingredients + like many processed foods cheepest high fructose corn sweetners are common! usually eat out once a week, last night i ordered a type of steak hoagie + broccoli aside, told waitress no barbecue sauce but it was on it + i tried it but sickening sweet, it went back + i dont eat the bun save my grains for the 16 oz of beer i consumed. i bend a little BUT i like to eat lower carb + healthy saturated fats!!

 

[PimTac]

You can save money by cooking at home especially with certain products.

Do you like split pea soup? Dried split peas are still cheap plus instead of ham buy bacon ends and pieces. Add some onion. One package of dried split peas will give you multiple meals. You can go with beans too if split peas are not your favorite. You can make chili on your own. Keep it simple. Right now ground pork is cheaper than hamburger so use that.

Spaghetti is cheap as is other types of pasta. Mac and cheese is another example. Make your own.

Just a couple of ideas.

 

[xBa380]

I save insane amounts of money by cooking practically everything we eat.

Pizza for example... I make two large pizzas from scratch for maybeeee $10 tops. Compare to takeout with delivery fees, tip, etc... Large pizzas are what, 15 each if your not buying complete junk. So 30+tax/fees/delivery.

BBQ... I can smoke 2 slabs of ribs, make sides and be way under what a restaurant would would charge for a single (hell, even a half) slab with sides. Slab is usually around $10/ea. Brisket, pulled chicken, whatever... Always cheaper.

In no real universe is a restaurant cheaper, or your doing it way wrong. But I love cooking and basically make everything I can and enjoy the time spent doing so...

 

[4WD]

Wut ? Taco Tuesday for $3 … Enchiladas for $8
If I stay away from steaks and seafood some places are cheap …
But I yellow tag hunt meats to grill about 3X a week … she cooks stews, roasts, cabbage, etc …
Personally - could eat beans and cornbread often - but would die from excess butter

 

[Duffyjr]

But I yellow tag hunt meats to grill about 3X a week …

That is the only way I buy meat. Wally always has the 'eat or freeze by date' stuff in huge packages.

We also get all our ground beef from a locker. Earlier this year we ordered 20lbs for a little over $3 a lb.

 

[sk_pete]

I save insane amounts of money by cooking practically everything we eat.

Pizza for example... I make two large pizzas from scratch for maybeeee $10 tops. Compare to takeout with delivery fees, tip, etc... Large pizzas are what, 15 each if your not buying complete junk. So 30+tax/fees/delivery.

BBQ... I can smoke 2 slabs of ribs, make sides and be way under what a restaurant would would charge for a single (hell, even a half) slab with sides. Slab is usually around $10/ea. Brisket, pulled chicken, whatever... Always cheaper.

In no real universe is a restaurant cheaper, or your doing it way wrong. But I love cooking and basically make everything I can and enjoy the time spent doing so...

exactly this. include the restaurant wages too.
question is, if restaurant is cheap, what kind of ingredients they will use?
cheapest they can get, and fried on old fat. not healthy at all.

 

[IndyIan]

Some grocery stores do mark certain things up quite a bit, or have a nicer "look" charge 20-50% more for the same things than the No Frills grocery store. If your buying fresh pasta and fancy sauce and a few overpriced veggies, you can start to get near takeout prices for the cheap version of your meal.
I have to admit the $3-4 frozen pizza is hard to beat for feeding the kids lunch a decent lunch when you add some veggies.

 

[jake wells]

I have not ate out in a year i cook at home with my diet of starchy and high fiber foods with a variety of beans and vegetables. I use the cheapest cuts of meat for a side item or to help season items.
I had rice and bean soup tonight with cornbread i seasoned the soup with cheap bacon ends and pieces i buy in a box from the store. Tomorrow a hearty pot of goulash sounds great.

 

[NYEngineer]

The other day my wife wanted chicken and waffles. We were out running errands and the place that makes them really good was close by. We pull up and the sign said Closed Mondays. We went home and I said so what do you want to do for lunch? She said I guess I'd still like a waffle. I was about to make some when I had an idea. I went to the Greek diner. I ordered a waffle to go and asked if they could fry up a chicken breast. The woman says how about an order of chicken fingers? I said cool. Do that. In fact, double it up. Two orders of chicken fingers and two waffles. I figured my son would be home from school soon and would also want lunch.
I was sitting at the counter waiting and she drops the check in front of me. It was like 65 bucks. EACH order of chicken fingers was 27 dollars. I almost fell over. It was plenty of food and we got about five meals out of it. Next time I'll fry up my own chicken.

 

[53' Stude]

This was a two pack of steaks from Giant Eagle; steaks were buy 1 get 2nd free. I got nice pack of 3 filet mignons. Think I pod $14~ as already had potatoes, mushroom soup and onions so cheap, easy crock pot meal