How to use the eating out vs cooking at home cost calculator
- Enter how many restaurant or takeout meals you eat in a normal week and the average cost of one, including tax, tip and delivery fees.
- Enter how many meals you cook at home each week and the average cost of one, from your grocery spending.
- Enter how many restaurant meals a week you would cook at home instead.
- Read the monthly cost of each, the extra cost of a restaurant meal and the savings from the shift.
Formula
Weeks per month = 52 / 12 = 4.3333
Monthly cost = meals per week x cost per meal x 4.3333
Savings per month = meals shifted x (restaurant cost - home cost) x 4.3333
Savings per year = savings per month x 12
A year has 52 weeks and a month has an average of 4.3333 weeks. Using that average avoids a month that is too long or too short for the figures you compare.
Six restaurant meals and fifteen home meals a week
Six meals at $18 a week cost 6 x 18 x 4.3333 = $468 a month. Fifteen home meals at $5 cost 15 x 5 x 4.3333 = $325 a month. Together that is $793 a month, and restaurants are 59% of it.
A restaurant meal costs $13 more than a home meal. Cooking 3 of the 6 restaurant meals at home instead saves 3 x 13 x 4.3333 = $169 a month, which is $2,028 a year.
Getting honest averages
The answer is only as good as the two averages. For restaurants, add up a month of card statements for dining and delivery and divide by the number of meals. For home meals, divide the month's grocery spending by the number of servings you actually cooked, including leftovers you ate. Many people find that their home meals cost more than they guessed, and their restaurant meals cost more too.
What the dollars leave out
Cooking takes time and planning, food can spoil, and meals out can be a way to meet friends or a break from a long day. The page puts a number only on money. A smaller shift you can keep up is worth more than a big one you drop after two weeks.
For the cost of a specific dish use the Recipe Cost Calculator, to find small spending that adds up use the Latte Factor Calculator and to plan the whole month use the Budget Planner.
Assumptions and limits
- Meal counts and costs stay the same every week.
- A month is 52 / 12 weeks long and a year is 12 months.
- The sample costs are examples to replace with your own.
- Nothing is uploaded. Calculations run in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out the cost of a home-cooked meal?
Divide your grocery spending for a period by the number of meals you cooked in it. A more detailed way is to cost a recipe and divide by servings. Include staples if you want the real cost.
Should the restaurant cost include the tip?
Yes. Include tax, tip, delivery fees and service charges, because they are part of what you pay. Otherwise the restaurant side looks cheaper than it is.
Why 4.3333 weeks in a month?
There are 52 weeks in a year, and 52 divided by 12 months is 4.3333 weeks a month. Using 4 would undercount the year, and using 4.5 would overcount it.
What if a home meal costs more than a restaurant meal?
The page still works. The extra cost of a restaurant meal is shown as a negative amount in parentheses, and the savings from shifting meals become negative too.