Meal Cost Calculator

Home cooking is typically 5-10x cheaper than eating out. The average restaurant meal costs $15-25 per person. A home-cooked meal with quality ingredients averages $2-5 per serving — saving $10-20 per meal, or $3,000-7,000 per year for a family of 4 eating out 5 nights a week.

The average home-cooked meal costs $2-5 per serving with quality fresh ingredients. Budget meals (lentils, beans, eggs, pasta) can be as low as $0.80-1.50 per serving. Meals with quality proteins (steak, salmon) average $6-12 per serving.

Buy proteins in bulk and freeze individual portions. Use cheaper proteins (eggs, lentils, canned beans, chicken thighs instead of breasts). Shop seasonally and on sale. Batch cook to spread ingredient costs across more servings. Use your full pantry with a tool like Eatvora to avoid waste.

Batch cooking typically reduces per-serving cost by 30-50%. Making 8 servings instead of 2 spreads fixed ingredient costs (oils, spices) and per-unit costs are lower when buying larger quantities. A batch of 8 portions of lentil soup costs less than $0.80 per serving.