Like everyone else, we’ve been hit with inflation both at the grocery store and while dining out. Eating at a sit-down restaurant with our family of five has been a $100+ affair for a while now (gotta tip 20% with the chaos that we bring!), but nowadays even fast casual meals are inching towards the $100 mark. This had led us to cook at home as much as we can, schedule permitting. It’s been probably a year since we’ve used Uber Eats or DoorDash.
So I’m actually a bit surprised by the chart above that says that Americans (again) spend more of their food budget dining out than at the grocery store. I know that we were there already before COVID hit, but I figured that the inflation spike would have kept a damper on things. Image credit to Sherwood News. Data is from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) which separates Food-Away-From-Home (FAFH) and Food-At-Home (FHA).
- Food-Away-From-Home (FAFH) includes meals and snacks supplied by commercial food service establishments (like all restaurants, bars, and hotels) and by eating facilities in non-commercial institutions (like schools, offices, and hospitals).
- Food At Home (FAH) includes food bought at grocery stores, convenience stores, warehouse clubs and supercenters, mail order, and online orders delivered to home.
This means that all those rotisserie chickens, half-baked pizzas, taco kits, and salads that I buy at the grocery store and Costco are still considered food-at-home. Nowadays, 1/3rd of Whole Foods is prepared foods from sushi to rice bowls to salad bar.
Here’s the same data set looking all the way back to 1960 that includes total spending on food as a percentage of personal disposable income. (source).
The trend is clear: We love to dine out at restaurants, even if it costs more than food from the grocery store, and even if it starts to cut into the rest of our overall budget.
To buck this trend, I’ve started watching meal prep videos on YouTube and hoping to get better at cooking multiple meals at once. I don’t know if it’ll work out.
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I try to limit myself to eating out Twice a week. Because I do prefer to cook my own food and try new dishes new methods of cooking and different ingredients. So my grocery bills are much higher than my restaurant.
We have increased cooking at home as well…it is good for health and wealth 🙂
I think these charts are also more reflecting changes in food costs for raw grocery vs restaurant costs more than not. For 2024 alone the cost of food at home is up 1% and the cost of food away from home is up 4%. I think thats the long term trend also. The charts are % of total and % of income. You can see in the second chart that the total % of our spending on food is down a lot over the past few decades. As a whole we spend a lot less on food and that makes it easier to shift some more of it to the more expensive restaurants.
I don’t think the chart shows that Americans “love to eat out.” The issue is that the cost of grocery items has SKYrocketed, meaning there’s less of a difference in “eating out.” Meaning:
1- Single people, like myself, do not save money by eating at home vs eating out, and this gap has narrowed since 2020 since grocery shopping costs SO much more. The people who save money by cooking and eating in are married people and especially families with kids. Cost/pp goes down the more ppl are in the family by eating at home, but when you’re single, costs at the grocery store now is pretty much equal to eating out, but without the cooking, cleaning etc.
2- There are a lot more single people now than decades ago. Every year there’s more single people. Why? Because the newer/younger generations are not getting married and not having kids. Why? Cuz getting married and having kids is WAY too expensive. Most ppl <40yo do not want to get married or have children. Especially the ones <30, Gen Z.
3- After covid, restaurants had a hard time attracting people to come back. The cheaper restaurants (where meals are <$20/pp) are offering discounts and cheaper meal options. Lots of 9.99 meal deals. Even 4.99 and 7.99 deals now.
4- Also, what's considered "eating out"? If I go grab 2 slices of pizza and eat at the pizzeria, is that considered "eating out"? Or if I order tacos and burritos from the taco truck a few blocks away, is that considered eating out? It is. But it's cheap fast food. People are eating cheaper now than before, especially at places that do not require a tip, because ppl have less money. It's not like people are eating out at "middle" cost restaurants- studies show ppl are now eating at budget restaurants and fast food. Lots of middle cost restaurants have gone out of business because ppl can't afford to go there anymore.
5- As a single person, it's always been an argument with married people/families because they're always admonishing me for "eating out" instead of staying at home and cooking. Even before covid, the savings for a single person for eating at home just isn't there. It's honestly easier for me to find a cheap meal deal at a fast food place than at the grocery store. $4.99 for tasty beef sandwich = a nice lunch or dinner. Beats going to the grocery store ANY day, and paying a crapton for ingredients, only to go home and have to cook it myself. No thanks.
I didn't want to write a novel but the chart leads people to believe Americans love to "eat out", which is not true. We are "spending big" on dining out because the cost of food at home has skyrocketed and there's little difference for single people to cook and eat at home. Just look at the disparity between eating out and eating at home- the gap is only 5% (now) vs 18% (past).
If you look at the chart, the title of the chart can easily say "We are spending big on eating in," because that's true too.
Victoria – life is more meaningful when surrounded by family but it requires sacrifice and taking responsibility. It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love. However, not everyone can do it. Also, children are not as unaffordable as one may think so long as you are willing to prioritize ahead of your own wants.
The ideas that eating out is not financially advantageous for single people is a falsehood.
Buy a pound of ground beef for $4.99.
A pack of buns $3.00.
That is four hamburgers for $8.
Four Whoppers are $24.
A pound of Italian sausage, a pound of pasta, an onion, a couple of cans of diced tomatoes and some herbs are less than just one meal at Olive Garden but you get maybe four meals.
I respectfully disagree with Victoria and agree with Mike. If I can add one more item to Mike’s comment: all things being equal, it is impossible for eating out to be cheaper than eating in. You have to pay the vendor for their time and labor. Or, you pay the restaurant for the employees, the cost is baked into the price of the eating out experience, whether it is a restaurant or food truck. Simple economics. Cooking at home, you put in your own time and labor. One more example to add to Mike’s
16oz package of pasta – $2
Butter – $2
Heavy cream – $2
Garlic – $2
Frozen broccoli – $2
Jar of Parmesan cheese – $3
$13 – Full fettuccine Alfredo meal for a family of four, with a serving or two for lunch the next day.
Olive Garden family meal – $50 ???
I’ll even give you $10 extra for chicken or shrimp.
Well, I can definitely see how being single makes it less appealing if you don’t want to eat the same meal 5x a week. It’s just easier to justify your work if it goes farther, which is why in my mind the $100 bill for any restaurant dinner motivates me to cook at home. But making one single burrito bowl at home vs buying one from a fast casual place like Chipotle? Definitely harder to justify. You need the volume to justify your time and labor, which is why creative meal prepping is helpful.
Here’s a video that came up on my YouTube feed (they are watching!) about a single guy from Japan that meal preps to avoid having to take on a second job.
Going to the restaurant, ordering, waiting for your food, paying your tab and going home also takes time and money. And ordering delivery adds another layer of costs and just saves the time coming home from the restaurant and paying.
Aside from cooking every meal from scratch in full recipe quantity a single person can buy things like big bags of frozen orange chicken, spring rolls, green beans, ravioli, vegetable mixes and other frozen food and cook that in more individual sized portions. That doesn’t take a lot of time.
Other things like a four pack of sausage from Aldi can be split in half and cooked at different times.