Eating out can be easier but costlier
Eating out can be more convenient than eating at home. It can also be more expensive. Here, from surveys, are the stats.
In 2005 and 2006, households in Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties (consisting of 2.9 persons on average) spent $58,404 a year on average, of which 12.4% -- $7,226 -- went for food, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey.
Of that $7,226, 53.6% -- $3,873 -- was spent on food prepared at home, and 46.4% -- $3,353 -- was spent on food prepared away from home (including restaurant meals and carry-outs).
Americans have 21 meal opportunities a week (three per day). On average, they skip two of those, go out to restaurants for six and eat the rest at home, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Assn. In other words, a typical American eats 988 meals a year, 676 of them at home and 312 at restaurants.
Based on these figures, in 2005 and 2006, an average meal at home cost Los Angeles households $5.73, while an average meal at a restaurant cost them $10.75. In other words, eating at restaurants cost about 88% more per meal than eating at home.
This isn't the whole story, of course. If money is scarce, time can be too -- making it hard to find a few spare hours to, say, whip up a pot of ratatouille from scratch.
"Unless your time is worth nothing, eating at fast food restaurants can be cheaper," says Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Obesity Research at the University of Washington in Seattle. And, he adds, it doesn't help that in this country, "cooking skills have all but evaporated."
-- Karen Ravn
