How to Use the Home Cooking vs Dining Out Calculator
Enter your household size, monthly home-cooked meals with per-person ingredient cost, and monthly dining out meals with per-person cost. The calculator shows your total monthly food spending and how much you'd save by replacing all dining out with home cooking.
USDA data shows the average American spends about $3,000–$4,000 per year eating out. Home-cooked meals cost roughly 3–5× less per serving than restaurant meals — a $15 restaurant lunch can be replicated at home for $3–5 in ingredients. For a household eating out 20 times per month at $18/person, cutting that to 10 dining-out meals saves $180/month ($2,160/year) for two people.
Note: the "savings" result shows how much you'd save if you replaced all dining out meals with home-cooked ones at your stated ingredient cost. Actual savings may vary based on food waste, ingredient quality, and time cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Include any meal you didn't cook yourself: sit-down restaurants, fast food, food delivery apps, work cafeterias, and takeout. These all carry a restaurant margin on top of ingredient cost. Delivery apps often add 20–30% on top of menu prices through fees and markups.
USDA's Thrifty Food Plan suggests $3–5/person/meal for nutritious home-cooked meals. The Moderate Cost Plan is $5–8/person/meal. At the liberal end, $8–12 covers higher-quality proteins and specialty ingredients. Batch cooking and meal prepping bring per-meal cost toward the lower end.
Start by replacing weekday lunches first — that's where the most meals and highest frequency occur. Pack lunch from Sunday meal prep. Keep dining out as an intentional social activity rather than a default. Even cutting 5 restaurant meals/month saves $75–120 for one person.