Great thread topic @MidwesternerTT
I don’t regularly track expenses really, other than having a sense of what grocery store visits tend to run ($30-40 every week or two, sometimes twice that if protein stocking is being done), and my total credit card bill (which includes meals eaten out).
A Costco trip is always an outlier, and needs severe editing before checkout (eg: do I really need to store a 3-lbs pack of salmon, or am I okay paying a buck or two more per lb for 1-2 portions at the usual store? Answer there is yes because of quality, but in many other instances is no.
This depends so much on what and how people eat.
There was a whole discussion here a while back about how in some big cities (like nyc), it’s actually cheaper to eat out / takeout than to cook at home — especially when you factor in the cost of stocking the kitchen and also of food waste, which must be accounted for. (The last point is also what has provided many folks justification for using services like Blue Apron and their ilk.)
I could get a lunch special from my chinese or thai place for $10-15 and eat it for at least two meals, maybe even a third with a bit of supplementation. To make the same things at home, I first have to stock the specialty ingredients, which is sunk cost going forward, and yet must be factored in. Then I have to get things that are inexpensive per serving, but may not be inexpensive in the quantity in which they are sold (cilantro, scallions, shallots, etc et).
Ditto Indian food — my pantry is fully stocked, but for someone else it could be a whole lot more cost-effective to get a fill-it-yourself flat rate lunch box from the nice restaurant near my old office for $12, which if judiciously filled lasted no less than 3 meals. (When biryani was DOTM on chowhound, I remember recommending a whole spice pack sold on Amazon to someone instead of buying all the individual whole spices needed, because: expensive!)
I don’t cook at home because it’s cheaper, but for a host of other reasons — I am particular about my ingredients, I don’t want as much oil / salt takeout incorporates, I enjoy cooking, I like my cooking, and so on and so forth. But I still eat many meals out for other reasons— it’s social, I enjoy trying different restaurants, etc.
