Back in February, I wrote a post about eating out versus buying groceries. My findings may not agree with you you, but my final assessment was this; depending on what you consider saving money, eating out was much more fulfilling and cost effective if done right. Here is why.
I went out and bought about $90 dollars worth of groceries, consisting of steak, soup, hamburger meat and pasta. Remember, you want to eat at home just like you would as if you went out to eat. I didn’t go cheap on the steak and went to Costco to get 3 slabs of boneless ribeye for about $28 bucks. I didn’t eat PBJ’s all week either. Then I made some lasagna and it turned out to be pretty good, but by no means am I a gourmet chef 
. Anywho, most of the food I cooked, I ate, but I didn’t finish it for several reasons. One of which was, I was getting sick of whatever I cooked. I didn’t want the same thing every night. Yes, if penny pinching was an issue, I would finish it. So I ende up throwing away most of the food that I cooked in bulk. This is a major reason why I decide to go out sometimes. A study by the FDA has said that leftovers that have been heated over 140 degrees can only keep in the fridge at 42 degrees for a mere 4 days before bacteria starts growin on it. BLECH.
Out of the ninety dollars that I spent on groceries I would estimate I ate about $45 dollars worth for the week. The first night of eating my cooking was fantastic, but then it got monotonous (boring). If you do go out to eat, you should not just go to Ruth’s Chris Steak House all the time and order the $34 steak, but be thrifty. There are plenty of mom and pop places that make fantastic food and for a single person it’s cheap! Now if you have a date, that’s a different story.
I ended up saving money by eating out at the right places and got the variety that I wanted at local small shops. Eating healthier may be another post, but this is about finances. Throwing out the food I did not finish, the time it takes to do dishes and cooking, probably cost more than just walking downtown on a nice day and getting something nice to eat on the harbor. So, if you live by yourself, go out and enjoy yourself thriftly and see the benefits, but it does cost less if you are cooking dinner for several people and seeing their faces light up with enjoyment. In summary, if you coock for many people or roommates it is MUCH cheaper, but if you are single and like variety, eating out and spending wisely is much much more fulfilling.
jim Says:
April 20th, 2006 at 3:38 pmVisit jim
Very scientific!
» Eat Out, Cooking Isn’t Worth It on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity Says:
April 21st, 2006 at 10:17 amVisit » Eat Out, Cooking Isn’t Worth It on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
[...] Yes, you read that title correctly (because it goes contrary to what everyone else says) but it comes with a caveat, it’s only true if you’re cooking for one. My friend Perry, of pmoa.net fame, did a non-scientific study where he compared buying groceries and eating out. The caveat that you must understand before you go savagely flaming him is that he bought premium food (not cheap bulk stuff in an effort to save money) because when you go out to eat, you’re usually eating better stuff. Now, go over there and savagely flame him. [...]
Dave Says:
April 21st, 2006 at 10:37 amVisit Dave
Although you believe you are buying premium foods I bet a great deal of them you could buy exactly the same in different packaging (obviously this can’t be applied to your meat). Large stores often stock “own” brands which are actually identical to the “branded” product and in some cases even made in the same factory along the same production line.
I have written to request a list of such products from several of my local stores but I am still awaiting a responce.
Interesting experiment to add a different view to most peoples opinions of ‘eating in is cheaper’.
Perry Says:
April 21st, 2006 at 10:53 amVisit Perry
Dave, I absolutely agree with you. You will never know what kind fo rebadged food you are going to buy. You will never get apples for apples when going out vs. eating in. I just wanted to see how it turned out. But being wasteful, to me anyway, is much more expensive and eating the same thing over and over again is just plain boring.
Brian Says:
April 23rd, 2006 at 10:53 pmVisit Brian
As to “premium foods”: Now, it may be a surprise to you, but the majority of restaurants do not use particularly high quality ingrediants. In fact, the majority of them (and almost definately the mom and pop places) use pretty mediocore quality ingrediants. It’s mostly about the same you get buying middle of the road products from your local grocery store. Sure, there are some cost savings from buying from club stores and buying in quantity, but it really isn’t that impressive of a savings for the effort/space required for cooking for just one or two.
As to the benefits of variety: I very much agree with this one. I need variety and dislike boring sandwiches. If you are picky on this matter, you either spend extra money at restaurants or you invest more time in learning to cook. I would definately not recommend making a single dish and eating it for days.
And to the issues of leftovers: I’ll point out that many many people keep leftovers much longer without any troubles. Plus, there is the freezer. When I cook, I aim for 2-4 leftover meals (for my wife and myself), and I usually have them for lunch or dinner a few days later.
SmartCapitalist Says:
April 24th, 2006 at 9:22 amVisit SmartCapitalist
If you are a single person, I would not recomend buying in bulk. I like to prepare plates of food and put them in the freezer for later microwave use. The freezer aproach allows you to not eat the same thing day after day. Same with not buying in bulk, I mean your not a soccer mom with infinite hunger to satisfy.
I spend about $40-60 a week, granted I am not single so I buy for two. Typically I make tacos, salmon, hamburger helper, chicken dishes, and deli sandwitches for lunch. Now if I were to go out to eat, including tip it would cost $20 if I was not pinching pennies.
The difference is that I typically allow nothing to go to waste. I might monitor my spending on food for a week sometime and report back the results on my expirement with two people.
Perry Says:
April 25th, 2006 at 8:45 amVisit Perry
You definitely have an advantage in shopping for two people. This offsets the cost of getting groceries. Honestly, there is a good feeling that you get when you make a good dinner and have some good leftovers. I would typically spend $40-$60 just for myself and it is still too much food. This is just a regular run to the local Safeway or Wegmans. I would like to hear your results for two people. It will be an interesting comaprison.
Blair Says:
May 3rd, 2006 at 7:18 pmVisit Blair
Ok, so I agree: eating for one, not eating all the leftovers and not trying to be thrifty = better to eat out. If you are trying to save and eat every leftover and/or buying the cheapest stuff you can find at the grocery store (I wouldn’t recommend this with meat though) its better to eat at home. Especially for 2! If, like me you are cooking for 2, and really poor – eating out is WAY more expensive – but WAY more enjoyable. So, perry eat out while you have money and no wife! I can’t wait till i have 2 incomes again so I can eat out more than once every few weeks – at a place that sells food that cost more than 7$ a plate!
Blair Says:
May 3rd, 2006 at 7:22 pmVisit Blair
Oh yeah, that crap out leftovers is BS. Being a PhD canidate who works with bacteria everyday, I know how the FDA works. This reccommendation is a cover-your ass bare minimum. Leftovers usually are good for a week – longer if there is no meat products (ie milk,cheese,meat of course) in it. Keep stuff sealed properly and in the fridge and you’ll be good – we all’ve eaten old leftovers to no sicknesses. And trust me, you eat TONS of bacteria everyday, and you rarely get sick from it – you need a serious infection and as long as it didn’t get you sick the first time around you are cool to eat any leftovers as long as you don’t notice a odor or visual change indicating a big mold/bacteria colony growing on your old lasagna!
Anonymous Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:41 pmVisit Anonymous
You are vastly overrating the quality of food at mom and pop places.
The food that you purchased for your eating in element probably out-rated what you got when you ate out on an ingredient by ingredient basis.
Much of the food served in restaurants that are not high end (talking hole in the wall, chain, and mom-and-pop) all use pre-fabbed items that are bought essentially on the cheap.
By buying expensive ingredients to do your own cooking, you spent far more than any restaurant would have. While the unit price for bulk buying has something to do with this, much more of it is buying generic and/or prefabbed food (eg- potstickers, pizza dough, etc).
Later
perry Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pmVisit perry
I agree. I understand that buying in bulk is helping, but I just can’t justify cooking a lot of something and then throwing it away. I feel that no matter how cheap it was per pound or whatever, wasting food equals wasting money.
Soccer Mom Says:
April 24th, 2009 at 4:52 amVisit Soccer Mom
Ok i can agree on you Perry if you are a single. For me buying bulk is almost a must. I have three kids to feed on my own and i do not like to get up early in the morning to make breakfast. Sounds harsh but i am a evening person. Of course i get up in the morning but i make sure i made the breakfast the evening before. For me buying in bulk and freezing a lot of meals and leftovers is normal. As long as my kids don’t complain and they say out themselves it was a good meal, i have no worries.
I’n not your typical housewife, don’t like cooking that much but my house is always clean and my kids never hungry. Often i go to take them out to Pizza Hut or a normal restaurant.
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