Eating Out vs. Eating

How much you earn has a great deal to do with whether you choose to eat out or eat in. Eating out may not be a problem for you if you make a lot of money. Let’s say you make $15 an hour, $20 or $30. You eat out twice a week, which the cost can range from $20-60. You just spent $20 on a meal that you finished in 30 minutes or less and it took you 60 minutes or more to earn that? Personally I just don’t see the value in that. The amount of time that you have also affects the choice of eating out or eating in. A main drive behind the trend to dine out is time.

After all, it has been said that time is money. At home you can actually sit down, and accordingly plan a well-detailed meal. It also doesn’t take that much time to actually plan a meal. By taking the time out to plan your meal, your food can be just as good as anything made at any restaurant. Depending on where you go, it could take a long time to receive your meal as well. So you will just be sitting there for thirty minutes getting full off of drinks. Usually at restaurants, customers don’t get their moneys worth, for example a person can go to the most expensive restaurant, pay $20 for a meal, and when you get it in front of you, its barely enough to get you only half full reasonsto become a nurse essay.

At home, if enough is made you can usually get more than enough for less time. The table at the bottom describes just that. |Time and Money spent on Eating Out vs. Eating In | |Restaurants |Groceries |Fast Food |Cooking | |Money (Dollars per Month) | $650 | $400 | $280 | $120 | |Time (Minutes per Week) | 525 min | 595 min | 105 min | 210 min | | Another aspect eating out vs. eating in is the location of where you live. Location can also tip the scales.

As turnover in restaurants rise, restaurateurs are able to absorb rising food and gas costs through economies of scale to keep menu prices low. Food is generally more expensive in regional and remote locations because of the costs of shipping and trucking. Add to this, poor economies of scale arising from lower populations and that means restaurants and cafes don't have the turnover needed to offer cheap dining experiences. Low restaurant turnovers are also associated with low-income suburbs and one-income families. In these instances, family dining is likely to be more affordable at home.

There are absolutely no location expenses when it comes to eating at home. According to the Roy Morgan Research conducted for the Department of Tourism, Industry and Resources in 2004, the number of Americans visiting cafes for a snack or a meal has been growing steadily since 2000. If you were to compare eating at McDonalds to eating at home you will see that there’s roughly three ounces of meat on the burger, plus cheese, ketchup, and a bun, meaning you can make 16 burgers of equivalent size from 3 pounds of hamburger meat. Using the global grocery list and other online sources, I obtained some prices for the materials to construct 16 such cheeseburgers.

• 3 pounds hamburger @ $1. 99 lb. = $5. 97 • 16 slices cheese, store brand = $1. 99 • 16 hamburger buns, actually 2 packs of 8 = $3. 98 • 1 small bottle ketchup = $1. 50 … for a total of $13. 44. You don’t have to pay sales tax on these products as your store bought foods. 16 McDonalds double cheeseburgers, on the other hand, cost $17. 12. Conclusion: According to the American Bureau of Statistics Household Expenditure Survey 2003-2004, the mean gross household income per week was $1128.

Of that, expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages totaled $152. 87. Of that, spending on meals at restaurants, hotels and clubs totaled just $18. 98 — or about one eighth of total food spent. So in the final analysis, eating out may be cheaper for some, but for most... definitely not! It is in my opinion that eating at home is the best way to go. So the next time you feel that pain of hunger in the pit of your stomach, don’t waste your valuable time waiting around or risk your chance of getting sick. Eat in the comfort of your own home.