Cooking for one or ordering takeout?

The calculation is deliberately visible

Divide what you spend by the meals you actually get. Apply the same rule to home cooking and takeout, including leftovers on both sides. One cooked portion and one takeout portion should represent a comparable meal for you.

A positive difference means home cooking costs less on the entered numbers. A negative one means it costs more. The monthly figure is a scenario, not a promise: changing the meal, grocery price or number of leftovers changes the result.

A worked example, not a shopping-price claim

If that same $18 takeout order provides two meals, it costs $9 per meal and the 12-meal difference falls to $60. If the cooked batch yields only one meal you eat, it costs $12 per meal. In that case the two-meal takeout order is cheaper. Neither outcome requires a universal claim about cooking.

Use the receipt without charging for the same food twice

A grocery trip and a meal are different units. A bottle of oil may serve many batches; a sauce bought for one dinner may never get used again. Decide which cost you are comparing before adding up your basket.

1. For the cost of a batch, count the quantity used. If a package costs $6 and you use one-quarter, put $1.50 in the batch total. These are example amounts. Include ingredients from your pantry too; having bought them earlier does not make them free.
2. For the cash needed tonight, count the whole checkout bill. If you need to buy the $6 package, you must have $6 available even though only $1.50 goes into this batch. The calculator shows meal cost, so keep that upfront cash question separate.
3. Count avoidable waste once. Dividing the entire batch cost by fewer portions eaten already includes the cost of the discarded cooked portions. Do not add that cost again. Ingredients discarded before they ever enter the batch are separate; include their allocated cost in the batch total if you want them counted.
4. Use a realistic leftover count. A portion planned for later only belongs in your denominator if you expect to eat it. This is not a food-storage or food-safety check.

Convenience has two clocks

Active time is time spent doing the task: shopping, chopping, stirring, driving to collect food or washing up. Elapsed time is how long until dinner is ready. An oven and a delivery driver can both keep you waiting while your hands are free.

The calculator compares active time only. It divides batch work across the cooked portions eaten and order work across the takeout portions eaten. Include later reheating or pickup consistently. If deciding tonight depends on how soon you can eat, compare elapsed time separately.

When cooking costs less but takes more active time, the result also shows cash saved per extra hour of work. That is not an hourly wage or a price assigned to your free time. It lets you decide whether the exchange feels worthwhile. A zero or negative cash saving does not become a saving because you worked longer.

A seven-meal check you can actually repeat

Before reorganizing a month of dinners around the example, record seven of your own meals. Print this page or copy these columns into a notebook. You do not need to send the record anywhere.

For a group of meals, divide the sum of costs by the sum of portions eaten. Do not take a simple average of a one-portion order and a four-portion batch. Then choose the number of takeout meals you realistically want to replace and run the comparison again.

Decide what to change, if anything

• Cooking costs less, but too much gets thrown away: try a smaller batch or a meal that uses an ingredient you already need elsewhere. Recalculate with the portions you will eat.
• Cooking saves money but demands more time: start with the number of meals you can fit into your week. You can leave some nights as takeout.
• Takeout provides several meals: give those portions full credit. Do not compare a whole takeout bill with a single home-cooked plate.
• The costs are similar: preference, access to a kitchen, energy and the time until dinner may matter more than a small difference.

If cost is settled and choosing a dish is the remaining problem, the Food Roulette can help narrow your options. A random suggestion is a starting point; you choose whether it fits.