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On the other hand, restaurants are operating on economies of scale (and they get wholesale prices for their raw materials -- their groceries are much cheaper pe

by cyphar 7y ago

On the other hand, restaurants are operating on economies of scale (and they get wholesale prices for their raw materials -- their groceries are much cheaper per-portion than yours). Don't get me wrong, cooking at home can be cheaper than eating out -- but only if you're cooking large batches of food or are buying ingredients that can be used for more than one meal. You'd be surprised how cheap individual portions of food are for restaurants.

chii 7y ago
> Don't get me wrong, cooking at home can be cheaper than eating out cost of raw materials in restaurants are a very small portion of the overall bill the customer pays. A large portion is rent, and an even larger portion is labour/wages. I hear the margins are razor thin at around 5-10% (which is low considering the risks). Not to mention capital expenditure (of which the value, i guess, isn't gonna disappear overnight, so there's that). Cooking at home also tends to be food that you get in season and/or on discount. You don't have a menu at home, and hence, costs at home are both lower in raw materials, and labour costs are zero (assuming you don't pay yourself, and your time isn't able to be spent productively anyway so zero opportunity cost).
- cyphar 7y ago
  Yes, that's all true but I don't quite see what you're disagreeing with. I agree that it definitely is cheaper for restaurants to cook large numbers of the same meal, and they have many other expenditures which raise the price of your meal. But for a single meal, the question is whether you can cook it for less than the price at an equivalent restaurant. In many cases, this isn't the case unless you're cooking in large quantities and eating the same meal for several sittings. Yes, using seasonal ingredients is a good idea -- but a lot of restaurants also do that, and their groceries are still much cheaper than yours anyway. For example (in Australia), if you want to make just one portion of Thai curry you need at least $60 worth of ingredients (your protein, chillies, lemongrass, galangal, palm sugar, shrimp paste, fish sauce, peanut oil, coriander, coconut milk, Thai basil, kaffir lime leaves, limes, lychees if that's your thing, and so on). So if you're only making one meal it's seriously not worth it (you can buy a decent Thai curry for a fraction of that price). But if you make 10-12 portions of curry (or you make a large batch of curry paste and use it for different dishes) then it starts to become cheaper per-portion.

by cyphar 7y ago

chii 7y ago

> Don't get me wrong, cooking at home can be cheaper than eating out cost of raw materials in restaurants are a very small portion of the overall bill the customer pays. A large portion is rent, and an even larger portion is labour/wages. I hear the margins are razor thin at around 5-10% (which is low considering the risks). Not to mention capital expenditure (of which the value, i guess, isn't gonna disappear overnight, so there's that). Cooking at home also tends to be food that you get in season and/or on discount. You don't have a menu at home, and hence, costs at home are both lower in raw materials, and labour costs are zero (assuming you don't pay yourself, and your time isn't able to be spent productively anyway so zero opportunity cost).

cyphar 7y ago
Yes, that's all true but I don't quite see what you're disagreeing with. I agree that it definitely is cheaper for restaurants to cook large numbers of the same meal, and they have many other expenditures which raise the price of your meal. But for a single meal, the question is whether you can cook it for less than the price at an equivalent restaurant. In many cases, this isn't the case unless you're cooking in large quantities and eating the same meal for several sittings. Yes, using seasonal ingredients is a good idea -- but a lot of restaurants also do that, and their groceries are still much cheaper than yours anyway. For example (in Australia), if you want to make just one portion of Thai curry you need at least $60 worth of ingredients (your protein, chillies, lemongrass, galangal, palm sugar, shrimp paste, fish sauce, peanut oil, coriander, coconut milk, Thai basil, kaffir lime leaves, limes, lychees if that's your thing, and so on). So if you're only making one meal it's seriously not worth it (you can buy a decent Thai curry for a fraction of that price). But if you make 10-12 portions of curry (or you make a large batch of curry paste and use it for different dishes) then it starts to become cheaper per-portion.