How to Use the Meal Kit vs Cooking Calculator
Meal kits come with pre-portioned, pre-measured ingredients that cut cooking time significantly, but they usually cost more than buying the same ingredients yourself. Cooking from scratch can be cheaper on ingredients, but once you add shopping, prep, cooking, and cleanup, it often takes far more time than expected. This calculator compares the total cost difference and total time difference between the two approaches so you can see which one actually works out better for you.
The key question is how much your own time is worth. For example, if a meal kit costs $3.50 more per serving but saves you 35 minutes, that works out to roughly $6 per hour of time bought back. If your target hourly wage is higher than that, the meal kit is the rational choice; if it's lower, cooking from scratch and spending that saved time elsewhere makes more sense.
Keep in mind this comparison only accounts for cost and time — it doesn't capture the enjoyment of cooking as a hobby, the convenience of a meal kit, or differences in taste and freshness. Many people land on a mixed strategy: meal kits on busy weeknights, scratch cooking on relaxed weekends.
Frequently Asked Questions
Even if a meal kit costs more, that extra cost buys you back time. Converting the time saved into your target hourly wage lets you judge whether the extra cost is cheap or expensive compared to the value of your own time.
Yes, for an accurate comparison you should include shopping, prep, cooking, and cleanup in your total cooking time. Counting only active cooking time understates how much time cooking from scratch really takes.