Even with dollar menu, meal deals, and other cheap options, eating out can cost you a lot more in the long run. The fast food combo meal is usually $4 to $7 per person (Tsakos, n.d.). Depending on the recipe, homemade meals can cost as little as $3 per person. Check out the french bread pizza recipe from Budgetbytes.com that only costs $2.45 (Budgetbytes, 2018). For a whole day, healthy homecooked meals tend to cost only $1.50 more per day (Harvard T.H. Chan, 2013). Homecooked meals are not only good for your budget, but also for your health.
The major difference between eating out and making a meal yourself is the amount of calories, fat, sodium and sugar you consume. Fast food meals can contain over half of your daily calories (1,000 calories) and more saturated fat, sodium and sugar than you are supposed to consume in a day! Home-cooked meals allow you to control the ingredients and nutrients including fat, sodium and sugar. Check out the resources below to compare eating out to eating in.
Resources
https://www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/cost-per-recipe/recipes-under-5/
https://www.fastfoodmenuprices.com/
https://promoneysavings.com/fast-food-vs-home-cooked-meals/#Pros_Of_Homemade_Meals
References
Budgetbytes. (2018). French bread pizza. Retrieved April 18, 2021 from https://www.budgetbytes.com/french-bread-pizza/
Budgetbytes. (2018). French bread pizza [Digital Image]. Retrieved April 18, 2021 from https://www.budgetbytes.com/french-bread-pizza/
Getty Images. (n.d.). [Fast food meal digital image]. Women’s Health. Retrieved April 18, 2021 from https://www.womenshealthmag.com/food/g25573576/healthy-fast-food-restaurants/
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (2013). Eating healthy vs. unhealthy diet costs about $1.50 more per day: Meta-analysis pinpoints the price difference of consuming a healthy diet, which could be burden for low-income families but is trivial compared with health costs of eating an unhealthy diet. Retrieved April 18, 2021 from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/healthy-vs-unhealthy-diet-costs-1-50-more/
Tsakos, L. (n.d.). The real cost of fast food. Naturallysavvy. Retrieved April 18, 2021 from https://naturallysavvy.com/eat/the-real-cost-of-fast-food/
Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union. (2018). [Grocery shopping vs meal kit vs dining out digital image]. Retrieved April 18, 2021 from https://www.psecu.com/learn/financial-tips-for-every-stage-in-life/2018/03/28/grocery-shopping-vs-meal-kit-delivery-vs-dining-out
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