Cooking for 1 cheaper than going out?

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I usually aim to spend no more than $7-8 when I go out to eat. I can frequently spend less than this, so I've never really seen how going to the grocery store and spending 12-15 on a simple meal pays off other than if you eat left overs for 3 days which I can never do unless it's chili.
 
Opinions? Now if you have more than one person to feed I think it might make more sense.
 
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You just aren't "Making" the right kind of "leftovers".

Try making stuff you'll eat later!
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I always cook my own meals. I can't remember how long it's been since I "ate out".
 
Dude *smh*

It costs like a TOTAL of $2 to make spaghetti and that should last you at least two days.

Get filling soups like tomato, cream of potato etc.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
You just aren't "Making" the right kind of "leftovers".

Try making stuff you'll eat later!
grin.gif


I always cook my own meals. I can't remember how long it's been since I "ate out".

Bingo Tango.

I'm still slicing on a roast I made three days ago. Some red wine, good bread, roast with zip sauce & horseradish cream sauce & a fresh baked potato.

Eating out is not only expensive, the prices have really gone out-of-sight. Learning to cook great food has indeed been a great investment. I eat very well cooking for myself.
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The half and half lasagna-ravoli tray at Costco gives me 4 meals, I think it was $15.99.

For less money, Aldi’s Journey to India Tikka Masala sauce is $2 and you get two meals (add your own chicken, and buy some bread to dunk).
 
I eat out 5 or 6 times a week,tough to lose weight,have met alot of great people,always pay for any service men or women in uniform and their families.
 
As others point out, one can do better than that, but I'm in much the same boat as you are. I'm not usually inclined to do a bunch of cooking for one, especially if I can get something out relatively cheap.

Even my mom said the same thing. She had no problem cooking for the family, but on days when she was in the city and we were at the farm or something, she wasn't too inclined to cook.
 
When I was married.... *sigh*

My wife very seldom cooked, and didn't go shopping for groceries.

I either ate fast food on my way home from work, or made my own [very simple] meals when I got home.

I am so sick of fast food, and I ain't payin' no $8-$9 for a burger, fries, & coke.

I much prefer to make my own meals that actually taste good to me and that I enjoy.
 
The story I could tell you about evicting a tenant that was a lead cook at the only restaurant I used to eat at. If you saw the apartment he was living in, or just the stove, kitchen, refrigerator, you would never eat out again. "Never"

"Do you really want someone touching your food"???
 
I KNOW i could live on this "recipe". You mention that you can have Chilli as leftovers, and I agree. but this has lots of veg and fibre and stuff.

a couple of tablespoons reheated (in a pan, not microwave) on a slice of toast works great for breakfast. leftovers with rice nuked at work for lunch. And I could literally go 4-5 nights a week eating it.

(Oh, I really like it).

lb of decent ground beef. browned in oil (coconut best for flavour).
couple of decent sized onions, wilted in the browned mince.
1 tablespoon decent curry powder
1 packet of chicken noodle soup
2 tablespoons soy sauce.
2 big carrots, cut however you want them
Water, dry sherry, marsala, saki, chinese cooking wine or whatever takes your fancy, just to add a simmer liquid. Needs enough liquid that it's bubbling, not dry, but not wet.
half a pound of beans (long green things) cut into about 1.5" lengths
Couple of bell peppers sliced same size as the beans.

Then add half a head of shredded cabbage (red or white, chinese cabbage if you like, or a packet of kale).

Cook until the cabbage is cooked.

Serve over rice (we cook 2 lb at a time, cool in frodge over night to retrograde the starches, and freeze in ziplock bags).

Leftovers keep for 3-4 days. If they last that long.
 
You can certainly eat for less if you are looking for the lowest possible cost to survive.

But the interesting question is if it can be cheaper to eat out rather than cook nice meals for one.

When I was single there was plenty of times where I spent more preparing something at home than I would have ordering it at a restaurant. A bundle of fresh cilantro when you only use a few leaves, a whole red pepper when you need 1/8, a package of fresh ginger, the half pint of heavy cream that is barely less expensive than the quart, etc. Or I could just order the fish, knowing that the cooking time had been already dialed in.
 
You can eat healthier at home than by eating out. Don't just look at the cost of eating out compared to eating in. Factor in your medical co-payments as well.

Food wise, it may cost me more to eat healthy at home however, I am not at my doctor's office or in the cardiac ward at the hospital.

Have you ever seen the news segment(60 min, 20/20) where the mother/wife, only shops by using coupons and the grocery store actually owes her money at the end of her shopping bill?

She then shows the camera crew all of the shelves in her basement/garage filled with food(Pkg'd) & her fridge/freeze is filled with mostly processed food that she only used coupons for.

Most or all of that stuff, I wouldn't even let in my house. Her whole family is of the large size(I love large people) however, they're all heart attacks waiting to happen!
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
You can eat healthier at home than by eating out. Don't just look at the cost of eating out compared to eating in. Factor in your medical co-payments as well.

Food wise, it may cost me more to eat healthy at home however, I am not at my doctor's office or in the cardiac ward at the hospital.


True, "expensive" food is cheap in the long run.

I can't recall who it was on here years ago who read the labels religiously, and then calculated the calories per $ to decide what brand went into the trolley.
 
Eating dinners in restaurants is both fattening and loaded with sodium. Plus nobody is mentioning the 15% tip added to any sit-down, normal dinner, plus the fuel consumed by our vehicles.
 
I think the Mediterranean countries have it right. Cooking healthy meals is an important part of their culture. Quick, convenient (and much of it processed) food is the American and British way. No surprise that in general they are in better shape than us, particularly the incidence of obesity.
When I was a kid Mom prepared and cooked meals for our family of five, and we all sat at the dining table to eat. Not only was it good nourishing food, we interacted with each other, which helped my sisters and me develop social skills which seem sadly aking in the current generation glued to an electronic screen most of their waking hours.

Whether it's cheaper to grab take outs is a moot point, a little imagination and some time in the kitchen would surely make cooking for yourself cheaper. But it depends on your lifestyle.
One thing I think important, convenience food and healthy eating seldom go together.

Claud.
 
Great thread.

The "I won't eat the same thing two days in succession" thing is a needlessly high bar. But then again, I'm not the OP.

The examples of mismatched packaging (bunch of greens when you need a few leaves or the 1/2 pint of cream costing only a bit less than the pint etc.) can be worked around.

The garbage materials you encounter eating out are things you can't even buy.

However, business owners who grind up a customer's leftover steak to make hamburgers may indeed pass some of the savings to you.

I know "dinners" on menus are all but GONE in the industry. This requires you spend more money a la carte.
I know "cheap bulk dishes" are no longer priced cheaply. I used to eat plates of spaghetti and meatballs in Brooklyn (a nice part) for $6 because it was so cheap. No more.
I know if you eat out a lot you're going to be eating the same foods on a horribly recurring basis; maybe not daily but darn near. Don't lie about this one.
Also, the cost of excessive garbage is not in the OP's calculations.

A friend (Dept. of Agriculture) has raided imported food loads destined for fast fooderies.
When asked what he found he said, "The humpty backed camels and the chimpanzees".
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
spending $12-15 on a simple meal


Please explain how you spend $12-15 on the ingredients of a simple meal??? Every now and then we splurge and get a couple of nice steaks, plus baked potatoes, tossed green salad, fresh baked rolls, a good beer, and bake a pan of brownies for under $15/each.... simple meals like spaghetti/sauce/salad, tacos/fruit salad, burgers/fries etc we're under $5 each and would be the same cooking for 1 rather than 2.

So what is your simple home cooked meal for $15??

Heck, around here the pre-cooked chickens that every grocery has are $6-8, good for 2 meals at least, add in some frozen veggies, salad etc first meal and make chicken tacos with sides 2nd meal for under $8. You can eat at home cheaper and better every meal if you want but you have to be willing to spend a little time and can't use 25% of an ingredient on 1 meal and throw the rest away.
 
I can't think of any instance where going out to eat is less expensive than eating at home...plus my cooking is better than any restaurant's...
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
I can't think of any instance where going out to eat is less expensive than eating at home...plus my cooking is better than any restaurant's...


And the CC would bounce eh ???

edit...might be a great retirement source of income, destroying all the restaurants in the vicinity.
 
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