How much does an average dinner at home cost you?

[AquaDame]

We spend more than most on this thread. I am fine with that. It probably has more to do with the fact that I only buy organic food and organic/ grass fed meats. I am picky about fish/dairy etc. It isn't for everyone but I feel that we do pretty well given my feelings on GMOs/ corn syrup free/ all natural foods and the need for organics. I know I pay more because of it.

My average dinners run us $25. Divide that by 6 and I am paying slightly more than $4/pp. I am very happy with that. Going out to eat results in us eating junk that isn't certified organic or healthy and it costs us far more than $25. Usually for the 6 of us it is around $150.

We never eat out unless we are on vacation. I would rather pay more for quality food and reap the benefits. I firmly believe we pay less in medical expenses because of that. I also refuse to let my children eat school lunches for the same reason. Sure $3 for lunch at school is probably less than what I pack it for from home, but knowing their fruits and vegetables are pesticide free gives me peace of mind. You can think I am crazy now. My parents do!!

Before I get flamed, not saying my budget and theories work for everyone, or even should. These are my personal beliefs and how I have chosen to feed my family. No judgement on those that do it differently.

Kinda glad you posted this honestly. We tend to do the same, and my per meal price is out of line with everyone here for it. Or at least I think so... I've never taken the time to figure it out, especially since we would be all over the board depending on if its a meat night or not, or if we had wine...

 

[kalynn]

Excellent question. I signed up to the forum just so I could answer this question. Long time browser but never bothered to sign up until now.

We spend between $10 and $25 per dinner for a family of 5. $25 is very much on the high end, say if we were having a higher end cut of steak, prime rib, or Maui ribs. I'd say on average we're in about the $15 range, so that is about $3 per person.

 

[disneysteve]

or if we had wine...

Glad you mentioned that. We very rarely have alcohol with meals but this is another area where eating at home is so much cheaper than going out. Even a cheap glass of house wine can be $7 at a restaurant. At home, a whole bottle can be under $5. A mixed drink might be $10 or more out but maybe $2 at home (never really figured it out).

The big "restaurant row" around here is in a dry town so it is all BYOB which is nice. Keeps the cost down when you get to bring your own.

 

[MrsPooh]

Excellent question. I signed up to the forum just so I could answer this question. Long time browser but never bothered to sign up until now.

We spend between $10 and $25 per dinner for a family of 5. $25 is very much on the high end, say if we were having a higher end cut of steak, prime rib, or Maui ribs. I'd say on average we're in about the $15 range, so that is about $3 per person.

Hi Kalynn - so glad you joined in!

I guess we are about the same as you. Sometimes we are super budget (our chili/hot dog nights for example which likely totals $6 including extra chili toppings, chips, and drinks) but we also splurge occasionally with steak. With that in mind a NY strip steak dinner with salad, baked potato, rolls and a veggie at home with tea/milk for all of us is still likely less than $20 but if we went out for a similar meal around here we'd pay $7.50 just for the drinks (which is why we only order water when out).

I'm glad I asked this question because I've found the answers so interesting. Thanks for responding and adding to the discussion.

 

[crisi]

Kinda glad you posted this honestly. We tend to do the same, and my per meal price is out of line with everyone here for it. Or at least I think so... I've never taken the time to figure it out, especially since we would be all over the board depending on if its a meat night or not, or if we had wine...

Fr us, the biggest factor is if my husband is home or not. He travels a lot, works late, or goes out with friends. If I'm not expecting him for dinner, which is rare on a Monday through Thursday, I don't tend to do much for the kids and I, honestly for us, sometimes it's cereal.

My kids are also teens, so sometimes we aren't feeding them. Or I'm feeding them on schedules that make cereal night look like a good idea. Or I make dinner and discover my son had a whole frozen pizza an hour before.

Last night it was just me. And a bowl of polenta. And a glass of wine from a box.

 

[threeboysmom]

Ingredients to make one dinner for 2 usually cost me about $15-20 so not sure what I do wrong, lol.

Every time I think I'm "being good" and saving money by running to the store to buy something for dinner instead of eating out (like I WANT to do!), I always think to myself when leaving, "I should have just gone out to eat..."

Dinner tonight is a "cheap" one for me (or so I thought until I read this thread, lol) - steak & cheese subs

Shaved Steak - $5
Am. Cheese - $3.50
Mushrooms - $1.50
Sub rolls - $2 (just for one person, but I still have to buy the whole darn package, lol)
Red Pepper - $1.50
Green Pepper - $1.50
TOTAL: $15.00

That's about the cheapest meal I can do without making a pasta dish (which I'm trying to stay away due to carbs)

For 2 people eating that, that's $7.50 per person. I could go to ANY sub shop around here and eat there for far cheaper (AND NO COOKING OR DISHES TO DO!!)

 

[powellrj]

Ingredients to make one dinner for 2 usually cost me about $15-20 so not sure what I do wrong, lol.

I was used to cooking for a family of 5 and now that its just DH and I most nights, I found that cooking for a family was cheaper most nights. Its just DH and I for the rest of the week and I think I will just have him pick up dinner and bring it home rather than cook. We will do drinks at home and we can have dinner for less than $10 for just the 2 of us. I am still recovering from a car accident last year so getting around is still hard which add to my not wanting to cook this week. The -0 weather is hard on my joints!

 

[crisi]

Ingredients to make one dinner for 2 usually cost me about $15-20 so not sure what I do wrong, lol.

Every time I think I'm "being good" and saving money by running to the store to buy something for dinner instead of eating out (like I WANT to do!), I always think to myself when leaving, "I should have just gone out to eat..."

Dinner tonight is a "cheap" one for me (or so I thought until I read this thread, lol) - steak & cheese subs

Shaved Steak - $5
Am. Cheese - $3.50
Mushrooms - $1.50
Sub rolls - $2 (just for one person, but I still have to buy the whole darn package, lol)
Red Pepper - $1.50
Green Pepper - $1.50
TOTAL: $15.00

That's about the cheapest meal I can do without making a pasta dish (which I'm trying to stay away due to carbs)

For 2 people eating that, that's $7.50 per person. I could go to ANY sub shop around here and eat there for far cheaper (AND NO COOKING OR DISHES TO DO!!)

I suspect this is the difference.

The steak sounds like it might be a whole pound - someone feeding their family cheaper will give everyone 1/4 pound of meat (which is a whole serving) and freeze the rest - then do the accounting at $2.50. Same thing down the line - a whole container of mushrooms? Two whole peppers? $3.50 worth of American Cheese. Most of us would use about half that to feed two people - and again, freeze the rest (or use them in tomorrow's dinner) and half the cost for accounting purposes. (In fact, I suspect my cheese cost would be about $.30 or less per person on Philly Steak sandwiches).

I made a dish the other day with oil packed sun dried tomatoes - a jar of those things are expensive. But I used less than half the jar and when I think of the cost of that meal, I don't count the whole jar, nor the brick of asiago I bought - I count 1/3 of the jar and 1/3 of the asiago - the tomatos will last and eternity, and the asiago goes over a pasta dish next week again.

 

[hsmamato2]

I get what pp's are saying about different ingredients and cost...it can be a big difference, but you can still employ the same money saving tips to get the higher cost foods too...FWIW,I like to buy only free range meats,etc. (If it were more affordable I'd always go free range/organic,etc. for everything,but I chose my battle line)
When I see the meats that I will use on sale I STOCK up......and as mentioned before, separate into usable portions to freeze (case in point, thawing gr. turkey+ gr. beef for tonights dinner right now)
It will still cost more than average, but you can save too. Same goes for organic cheese,milk,eggs,fruits,etc. buy in bulk when it's cheaper,use as needed. Stock a pantry and freezer for recipes you know you like. I used to buy from food coop- now I buy Trader Joes or wherever has the best prices on what I need

 

[TwoMisfits]

Ingredients to make one dinner for 2 usually cost me about $15-20 so not sure what I do wrong, lol.

Every time I think I'm "being good" and saving money by running to the store to buy something for dinner instead of eating out (like I WANT to do!), I always think to myself when leaving, "I should have just gone out to eat..."

Dinner tonight is a "cheap" one for me (or so I thought until I read this thread, lol) - steak & cheese subs

Shaved Steak - $5
Am. Cheese - $3.50
Mushrooms - $1.50
Sub rolls - $2 (just for one person, but I still have to buy the whole darn package, lol)
Red Pepper - $1.50
Green Pepper - $1.50
TOTAL: $15.00

That's about the cheapest meal I can do without making a pasta dish (which I'm trying to stay away due to carbs)

For 2 people eating that, that's $7.50 per person. I could go to ANY sub shop around here and eat there for far cheaper (AND NO COOKING OR DISHES TO DO!!)

Agreeing with the later poster - you aren't using up all the rolls and likely not all the peppers, mushrooms, and cheese, so you already have the makings of a future dish, like sausage and peppers, meatball subs, or french bread pizzas where you would need to spend very little to complete the dinner (outside of the protein and a sauce product). So, while the 1st dinner seems like a lot, the 2nd dinner would come together very, very cheaply. The key to spending less as a smaller family is to use up the products you buy to make a dish before they go bad...if it's a sandwich week (b/c you buy the nice 6 pack of rolls), plan 2 roll-based dinner items, but make them different enough you won't get sick of them...

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

It's hard to break it down by meal as we buy our meat from a local farm. 1/8 cow and 1/4 hog runs last us six months and costs about $90 per month. It works out to about $6 a pound but that's across all cuts, from ground beef to prime steak! So for ground beef it's expensive but for rib eye steaks it's a steal!

If I had to guess, depending on the exact meal I'd say between $8 and $12 per dinner for 2 adults and a toddler with a decent appetite.

Ours is similar, but we raise our own pigs. It works out to about $4/lb for organic. It is harder to price out our lambs, as they share the hay with the horses and we don't always butcher them at a year.

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

I think the one big key is cutting out as much processed stuff as you can. It is far cheaper and healthier to do your own cooking from scratch. The less processed and prepared foods you use, the less you spend, and the better off you are nutritionally.

I have been doing that the last couple of months, for the most part. I grate my own cheese now, and I swear I am an onion and garlic chopping fool! I think part of my problem is I learned to cook from my mother, and she always cooks for an army, so I do the same. I have been looking at leftovers that never get eaten, and I think I found part of my problem. Don't get me wrong, we eat leftovers for lunch the next day and sometimes the day after. If I still have leftover food after 2 or 3 meals, I am cooking way too much.

 

[disneysteve]

Ingredients to make one dinner for 2 usually cost me about $15-20 so not sure what I do wrong, lol.

Shaved Steak - $5
Am. Cheese - $3.50
Mushrooms - $1.50
Sub rolls - $2 (just for one person, but I still have to buy the whole darn package, lol)
Red Pepper - $1.50
Green Pepper - $1.50
TOTAL: $15.00

I don't think you're doing anything wrong - except your math. You listed all of the ingredients you need to make this meal but not all of it is going to get used for this meal. There will be ingredients remaining that will go toward other meals so you need to factor that in. You'll only use 2 rolls so if it is a 6-pack, you've got 4 left. You won't use all of the cheese or peppers and maybe not all of the steak. When you look at what actually gets used for this meal, the true cost is probably considerably less.

 

[delmar411]

Ingredients to make one dinner for 2 usually cost me about $15-20 so not sure what I do wrong, lol.

Every time I think I'm "being good" and saving money by running to the store to buy something for dinner instead of eating out (like I WANT to do!), I always think to myself when leaving, "I should have just gone out to eat..."

Dinner tonight is a "cheap" one for me (or so I thought until I read this thread, lol) - steak & cheese subs

Shaved Steak - $5
Am. Cheese - $3.50
Mushrooms - $1.50
Sub rolls - $2 (just for one person, but I still have to buy the whole darn package, lol)
Red Pepper - $1.50
Green Pepper - $1.50
TOTAL: $15.00

That's about the cheapest meal I can do without making a pasta dish (which I'm trying to stay away due to carbs)

For 2 people eating that, that's $7.50 per person. I could go to ANY sub shop around here and eat there for far cheaper (AND NO COOKING OR DISHES TO DO!!)

You do know that in the bakery section of the store you can buy individual rolls? If you aren't using up all the rolls you buy then this might be a better option instead of wasting money on a full package.

 

[crisi]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong - except your math. You listed all of the ingredients you need to make this meal but not all of it is going to get used for this meal. There will be ingredients remaining that will go toward other meals so you need to factor that in. You'll only use 2 rolls so if it is a 6-pack, you've got 4 left. You won't use all of the cheese or peppers and maybe not all of the steak. When you look at what actually gets used for this meal, the true cost is probably considerably less.

Assuming you can avoid throwing it away. Food waste is a huge problem in a budget. For some people - meal planning helps (for instance, the buns will freeze, so will the steak, but the mushrooms don't freeze well, so you need to plan something that will use up mushrooms before they go bad.

Another thing that helps with food waste is having a go to recipe box of things you usually have in the house that use up extra vegetables and ends of meat - I keep chicken sausage in the house - I can use a few links for the protein to feed the family. Then I'm looking at your mushrooms and peppers and thinking that if I cook up the sausage, with the pepper and mushroom - then throw it over polenta (another staple in our house), I have meal two - polenta is almost free (if I don't make it with milk, and lots of cheese and butter!), and the chicken sausage, used modestly, isn't too expensive.

Last night was the similar "use leftovers" dish we call "mess" but most people know as call "hash" - dehydrated hashbrowns, leftover meat, whatever veggies I have in the fridge that need to be used, eggs if I need to stretch the protein out, maybe a handful of cheese, offer salsa over the top (my son takes it, my daughter doesn't). My kids LOVE this.

Fried rice - another one my kids love and is nearly free - use the leftover meat bits (it doesn't take a lot of meat to make fried rice), an egg, some frozen peas, some onion and some carrots.

 

[disneysteve]

Assuming you can avoid throwing it away. Food waste is a huge problem in a budget.

Food waste is something we've been making a real effort to improve on at our house. Something that has helped us a lot is having leftover ingredients rather than leftover prepared food. For example, if we chop up too much onion or pepper for a meal, we don't cook it all. We put the extra in containers in the fridge so that it's ready to go for the next meal. That way, we are finding that we are able to use it up better. The other advantage is that it is easier to make a meal for one without the hassle of cutting everything up. For example, I'll throw together a quick omelet or quesadilla with the chopped up veggies sitting in the fridge. If I had to start taking everything out and chopping it then, I probably wouldn't bother just for myself.

 

[crisi]

We've learned some things keep better cooked, some things go in the freezer, and some are fridge things. Meat, which you don't have in your house, I cook up...lasts longer in the fridge. Then I plan around the leftovers, veggies are better not cooked. Anything getting to end of life goes into the soup stock freezer bag. I can make extra soup and that can get frozen, but other things won't ever come out of the freezer.

 

[threeboysmom]

Agreeing with the later poster - you aren't using up all the rolls and likely not all the peppers, mushrooms, and cheese, so you already have the makings of a future dish, like sausage and peppers, meatball subs, or french bread pizzas where you would need to spend very little to complete the dinner (outside of the protein and a sauce product). So, while the 1st dinner seems like a lot, the 2nd dinner would come together very, very cheaply. The key to spending less as a smaller family is to use up the products you buy to make a dish before they go bad...if it's a sandwich week (b/c you buy the nice 6 pack of rolls), plan 2 roll-based dinner items, but make them different enough you won't get sick of them...

Well apparently my problem is I eat too much?? We ate most of the steak, all but 2 slices of the cheese, both peppers, and all mushrooms (and quite frankly I didn't have as much as I would have wanted. They cooked down to nothing). So there is nothing left to plan another meal with other than sub rollls which I don't eat and 2 sluces of cheese (which I will eat for a snack). I did take leftover steak to work for lunch so that saves me $5 there.

No way there was enough food for a 3rd person nevermind an entire family lol.

 

[msmama]

I think buying for one meal is always going to be more expensive.

For instance, we had cheesesteaks last night too. I bought meat, had frozen rolls from a previous meal, had peppers and onions frozen from buying a larger pack when they were on sale. I don't like mushrooms, and cheese is a staple that I always have. So while you bought everything your your dinner, I bought meat and that's it.

I do think meal planning would help, even if you didn't have leftovers. Sometimes buying more of something can work out to be cheaper in the long run.

 

[disneysteve]

We've learned some things keep better cooked, some things go in the freezer, and some are fridge things.

Very true. For example, one thing we were forever wasting was beans. I would open a can of black beans for dinner, use a couple of spoonfuls, and put the excess in a container where it would end up rotting.

Now, I open a can and fill an ice cube tray with them. Then we pop them out and put them in a bag and take out a "cube" or two whenever we need beans. No waste. And we end up using beans more often since they're always ready to go. And again, it helps when we're only cooking for one.