Does eating in really save money?

[jpg7n16]

Salmon at Kroger: $5.99/lb
Salmon at Red Lobster: $15 a plate

Chicken at Target: huge bag of precooked chicken for like $7-8... lasts me weeks
Chicken plate at Black Eyed Pea: $10 lasts me one night

Steak... ummm I don't know on this one. I like steak, but I don't grill at the apt virtually ever, so don't know prices. I need to learn to grill. So many good options, plus it feels more manly to grill steak than to bake precooked chicken.

Healthy Choice steamer meals: on sale 5 for $10 = $2 each
Fast food anywhere around here: $5-8 a meal

DP 12 packs - $3 (lasts 12 meals)
1 soda at (insert restaurant here): $1.5-2

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Hey, I haven't done the math on it to see whether buying the barbecue sauce itself is cheaper than buying it bottled, ready made. But I can tell you that when growing up there was never a bottle of the commercial stuff in our house. I'm pretty sure it would have been an out of reach luxury. It is very easy to stir together in any quantity needed. We kids made barbecue sauce without consulting a cookbook, but here are some recipes to give ideas & confidence. Top 10 Barbecue Sauce Recipes - Most Popular and Best Barbecue Sauce Recipes

If you want to not handicap your kids, they need to see you cooking and participate in it themselves. There is so much to learn from cooking, a good bit of which makes one more financially adept....measuring, following instructions, learning to make substitutions, learning to do without certain ingredients, learning that there are other valid ways (notice that is but one list of 10 barbecue sauce recipes and the variations must be endless) to reach a similar goal. I'm serious: I think cooking has a lot of lessons in it-- life skills, attitude, math, and science.

[jIM_Ohio]

I respectfully disagree, Jim. Where can the OP take 3 people out for a rib dinner for $20? It is true that drinks get marked up a lot but so does food. Have you ever ordered pasta in a restaurant? They charge $10 for a dish of pasta and sauce. I can buy a pound of pasta for $.89 and a jar of sauce for a couple of dollars and feed 4 people.

Steve- a 12 pack of Sam Adams costs me "about" $11. That is
$.92 per bottle.

When I eat out that same bottle usually costs me $3.50 or so, so call that a 300% markup.

I don't know what my wife pays for steak, but if its about $3-5 a pound, and I get a 16 oz (1 lb) steak for about $9 that might only be a 200% markup.

Add to that the steak comes with a salad and potato, the markup on the food is not that much.

Plus in one sitting I usually get 2 beers, sometimes 3... the restaurants make their money on the liquids more than the food.

[jIM_Ohio]

Salmon at Kroger: $5.99/lb
Salmon at Red Lobster: $15 a plate

Chicken at Target: huge bag of precooked chicken for like $7-8... lasts me weeks
Chicken plate at Black Eyed Pea: $10 lasts me one night

Steak... ummm I don't know on this one. I like steak, but I don't grill at the apt virtually ever, so don't know prices. I need to learn to grill. So many good options, plus it feels more manly to grill steak than to bake precooked chicken.

Healthy Choice steamer meals: on sale 5 for $10 = $2 each
Fast food anywhere around here: $5-8 a meal

DP 12 packs - $3 (lasts 12 meals)
1 soda at (insert restaurant here): $1.5-2

The issue to factor in, is when Red Lobster brings you the lobster, there are fries and coleslaw or something else, so while the lobster is 50-90% of the food price (maybe) there are other items that bring that price up.

Not sure what DP is, in general my beverage markup was on alcohol- sure soda gets marked up too, but IMO to get comparison you need to compare 12oz can of coke with cost of a 12 pack of coke at a restaurant (or pepsi) because most restaurants do not serve generic soda.

[WillReggie78]

Overall I'd say eating in definitely saves more money, but obviously it depends on what you're buying at the supermarket. If you pay attention to coupons/deals you can save even more!

[jpg7n16]

The issue to factor in, is when Red Lobster brings you the lobster, there are fries and coleslaw or something else, so while the lobster is 50-90% of the food price (maybe) there are other items that bring that price up.

I think the side items are pretty cheap regardless. So I think its closer to the 80-90% range. Top of what you listed.

but even at 50%, I could get 1 piece of salmon for 15 * 50% = $7.50, or an entire lb of salmon for $6. At home = winner.

I mainly just listed those cause he was asking about prices on various proteins.

Not sure what DP is, in general my beverage markup was on alcohol- sure soda gets marked up too, but IMO to get comparison you need to compare 12oz can of coke with cost of a 12 pack of coke at a restaurant (or pepsi) because most restaurants do not serve generic soda.

DP is only the most awesome soft drink ever - Dr Pepper. If you're not from the south, you just don't understand! hah

I also don't drink alcohol, so can't compare beer costs - but I think your 300% markup is on point.

[disneysteve]

it comes down to time vs convenience

In that case, you should strive to cook less often but in larger batches that can be frozen and used later. It takes the same amount of time to cook 4 chicken breasts as it does to cook 1, so cook 4, eat 1, freeze 3 and you've got dinner for 3 other nights ready to go.

On Saturday, we went to the blueberry festival. That night, I made a big batch of blueberry pancakes for dinner. We ate some and the rest got frozen and will be used for breakfasts (or lunch or dinner) other times.

My wife makes veggie lasagna or stuffed cabbage and gets multiple servings that get frozen for later. I make potstickers and ravioli that we use for a couple of months after I make them.

All of that stuff is healthier, tastier and cheaper than buying ready made stuff or going out to eat. And, a small amount of time and work creates food ready to go for weeks or months.

[disneysteve]

I don't know what my wife pays for steak, but if its about $3-5 a pound, and I get a 16 oz (1 lb) steak for about $9 that might only be a 200% markup.

Add to that the steak comes with a salad and potato, the markup on the food is not that much.

I don't mean to argue but I don't think you are comparing apples to apples. Even if you are, a mark up of "only" 200% is still pretty significant when the question at hand is "Does eating in really save money?"

I eat out fairly often and at some pretty nice restaurants. I could give you dozens of examples of outrageous food mark ups. Maybe not when you are talking about McDonald's dollar menu but definitely when you are talking about fine dining or even moderate dining.

[kork13]

Two parts to this, it seems... Financially, I'd say it's an easy call -- there's almost no cases in which eating out is cheaper than cooking at home. Cooking for myself, I feed myself quite comfortably for ~$150/mo. I could easily spend that much eating out for just one meal daily in just 2 weeks' time.

However, the question Scanner seems to be leaning toward is more personal than that -- the balance between time and money. How much are you willing to pay for convenience? In some cases, eating out is definitely worth it when you consider the time spent in shopping/prep/cooking/clean-up. Cheaper? No. Worth the money? Perhaps.

As long as it's not so often as to be unhealthy or money-hemorrhaging, eating out can be absolutely worth the money, even though it's not cheaper. So who's really comparing apples to oranges here?

[disneysteve]

However, the question Scanner seems to be leaning toward is more personal than that -- the balance between time and money. How much are you willing to pay for convenience? In some cases, eating out is definitely worth it when you consider the time spent in shopping/prep/cooking/clean-up. Cheaper? No. Worth the money? Perhaps.

We eat out regularly, so clearly we think it is worth the money. Is it cheaper than eating at home? Absolutely not. Does it save time? That's debatable. I can throw together a perfectly nice dinner in half an hour or so. Going out certainly takes longer than that. Heck, I can make a nice, healthy and cheap dinner in the time it takes to call and have something delivered.

[zetta]

Is there a Dinner Studio or Dream Dinners in your area? It's not as cheap as homemade, but cheaper than eating out at a Chili's or similar, and healthier. It's hard to beat for convenience, too -- just store in the freezer and cook in the oven. Add a side salad or some veggies.

[Eric80]

Overall I'd say eating in definitely saves more money, but obviously it depends on what you're buying at the supermarket. If you pay attention to coupons/deals you can save even more!

deals can be good because good frozen deals you can stock up while there cheaper, thats what i have been brought up to do and the money you save is always great and then have the option if you get bored or want a treat then to go out.

[JBinKC]

In most cases it is cheaper eating in than out. You certainly have better control of your diet eating in which can be beneficial to your health.

Exceptions:

If you can pack three meals in one sitting at low cost all you can eat place or can function off of the dollar menus

[jIM_Ohio]

If you find the economies of eating out, it can be a tight competition as to what is cheaper.

If I get a $5 footlong at subway, I can get lunch and dinner out of that. For me to get fresh bread and the meats to make that, plus the lettuce and tomatoes, for example, it would cost me more than $5 to get out of grocery store.

I might have more from the grocery store (more bread, more meat, more lettuce) to make a second sandwhich... but many times with only 2 adults we are throwing lettuce away and throwing bread away because it goes stale before we use it all.

Same thing Scanner posted in original thread- if he is getting a pre-made chicken at store for about $5-$15 and getting a whole meal and possibly leftovers from it, that is a good deal.

[disneysteve]

If I get a $5 footlong at subway, I can get lunch and dinner out of that. For me to get fresh bread and the meats to make that, plus the lettuce and tomatoes, for example, it would cost me more than $5 to get out of grocery store.

I might have more from the grocery store (more bread, more meat, more lettuce) to make a second sandwhich... but many times with only 2 adults we are throwing lettuce away and throwing bread away because it goes stale before we use it all.

This is a different issue, though, and goes back to what Scanner said about efficiency. If your goal is to cut costs, part of that will involve better meal planning so that there is less waste. Deli meats can be frozen. Bread can be frozen. Lettuce can't (I don't think it can) so if you are going to buy a head of lettuce, you need to plan meals that week that involve lettuce. Maybe you have deli sandwiches one day, salads another day, wraps another day and tacos another day.

Either that or don't buy a head of lettuce. Go to the salad bar and just buy enough lettuce for what you need. You will pay more per pound but won't have the waste. We do that with fresh spinach. I use it every Thursday for pizza night. I used to buy the prepackaged bag of spinach but found I was always throwing out at least half the bag. Now, I buy the loose spinach. It is $4.99/lb instead of $2.99/lb but I buy just enough for that night's pizza - costs about $.50 - and there is no waste.