The Cost of Eating Out

It's simple math, really.

If you live in an average American household, and if you spend $100/person on groceries each month (and that is pretty generous, in my opinion, especially with small kids), that is approximately $3.33/person/day. Which is approximately $1.11/person/meal. Remember that is generous.

Now compare that to eating one meal of fast food, approximately $5/person (and that's generous too, unless you feel like you need a combo meal every time). That is 4.5 times the amount you would have spend making your own sandwich.

Or compare it to eating at a middle-of-the-line restaurant, and you spend $10/plate plus 15% tip, which is $11.50. That is 10.36 times the cost of making your own meal. Again, these estimates are generous.

If you have a family of 4, and you never go out (I know this is unrealistic, but just for the numbers' sake), you will spend $4800/year on your grocery bill.

If you go out to just one fast food restaurant a day, you will spend approximately $10,400/year.

Now some of you may say "Cooking is not my thing," or "Yes, but the opportunity cost!" I'm just saying, wouldn't it be worth a little of your time to learn how to cook just a little of the time?

My last argument is this. Restaurant food tastes really good. But they typically multiply the fat content, salt content, sugar content, and calorie content that you might have used at home. There are many recipes where you can cheat the amount of oil, salt, or sugar, and lower the calories, and it will still taste good! Now, I don't know how many calories you might save living off $100/person/month, but I'd be willing to bet it's a whole lot!

If you've got time to work out, maybe you should consider also cooking at home. And lay off the sweet drinks. Water is a better hydrator, and you'll save a whole lot of sugar and calories.