Comparing Nutrition and Costs Between Home Cooking and Dining Out

Does cooking at home confer more health benefits?

Many people find cooking to be a pleasant pastime while others see it as a necessary daily task. Regardless of one's feelings about cooking, preparing meals at home has frequently been identified as the healthiest option.

Meals served in restaurants often contain excessive amounts of salt, fat, and calories that health-conscious individuals may avoid. Cooking at home allows you to have control over the ingredients you use, thereby fostering healthier eating habits.

However, it is also worth noting that over the past decade, restaurants have been increasingly introducing healthy items to their menus, boasting lower-calorie, plant-based, or diet-specific options. The question then arises as to whether these new offerings can rival home-cooked meals in terms of healthfulness and cost.

This article compares the health and financial implications of dining out vs cooking at home and provides advice on how to make home cooking a healthy, sustainable habit.

Notwithstanding the increasing number of dietary options on restaurant menus, the pervading belief that home-cooked meals are healthier remains largely true.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, RDN, a registered dietitian who authored "Read It Before You Eat It—Taking You From Label to Table," told Health that although this is not always the case, home-cooked meals often contain less sodium, calories, and unhealthy fats than restaurant offerings. Said benefits are attributable to the control home cooks have over the ingredients they use, according to Carrie Gabriel, MS, RDN, a registered dietitian behind The Home Cooking Dietitian.

Generally, homemade meal recipes call for ingredients in quantities that contribute fewer calories, sodium, sugar, and saturated fat than restaurant recipes. A classic example lies in the popular sweet potato casserole by Ruth’s Chris, which typically contains 770 calories but can be reduced to 500 calories per serving with a copycat recipe.

Homemade versions of less decadent meals also yielded significantly healthier results. For instance, an all-American club sandwich homemade recipe beats Subway's 530-calorie and 10-gram-saturated-fat serving by offering 280 calories and less than one and a half grams of saturated fat instead.

Apart from permitting better control over calorie consumption, cooking at home also facilitates sourcing fresh ingredients. By doing your grocery shopping, you can personally select produce with vibrant colors and crisp textures—key indicators of high nutrient content. Restaurants, however, don't always guarantee such freshness.

The advantages of home cooking's lighter ingredients and freshness are supported by a 2020 study that revealed better overall dietary habits among adults who cook at home. This supports 2017 research that found frequent home cooks were more likely to adhere to healthy eating patterns such as the Mediterranean and DASH diets.

In light of soaring food costs, it is reasonable to question the monetary savings of home cooking.

The cost savings between dining out and home cooking substantially vary. Shopping for all-organic ingredients, off-season produce, or premium meats could escalate your grocery bill above restaurant prices, contingent on your choice of store and restaurant.

Nevertheless, Gabriel maintains that, on average, cooking at home is still less costly than dining out. A 2017 study corroborates this by revealing frequent dining out being associated with higher per-capita food expenditures and lower dietary guideline adherence.

When debating the cost-effectiveness of home-cooked meals and dining out, Gabriel suggests the time element be considered. While cooking at home may take longer, the cost of addressing health issues resulting from frequent dining out could outweigh the time cost.