My very first post on my blog was about the cost of eating-out.
I thought it would be interesting to revisit the matter a decade later. With grocery prices surging about 9% in 2022, and another 8% in 2023, Canada-wide, is it cheaper to eat out instead in Canada, as I sometimes hear?
Let’s dive-in into some numbers.
Assumptions
If you ask 50 people about their eating habits, you’d probably get 50 different answers. For simplicity and accuracy, I’m going to use myself as example.
Here’s my “grocery data”:
- I live in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada, i.e. a high cost of living area.
- My diet is omnivorous, i.e. I eat everything.
- I eat 3 meals per day plus a snack
- I buy simple, natural ingredients and try to avoid processed/junk food as much as possible. I usually don’t buy organics.
- No restrictions due to health issues
- No allergies
- Not loyal to any brand; I shop at different retail chains
- I do look at prices and deals
As a PF blogger, I track my spending. In the first half of 2024, I spent an average of $ 15 per day to feed myself.
Tallying the Eating-Out Costs
As above, if you ask 50 people about their eating-out habits, you’d get 50 different answers. Prices vary wildly depending on what you want to eat and where. Once again, for simplicity, I am going to use myself as an example.
Here are my assumptions:
- Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Eating in restaurants or picking-up orders; no delivery services
- Eating as healthy as possible
- Eating in the Vancouver area, in moderately priced joints
- No booze
Breakfast
Let’s assume a cup of coffee, a breakfast sandwich or a muffin. If you go to your local Tim’s, you’re looking at $ 4.00 to $ 6.00. Let’s make that $ 5.00 then.
Lunch
A restaurant near my workplace offers a small soup, a sandwich and a pop for $ 12.60.
If I want a salad, I’m looking at $ 15.75. If I want a burger and fries, I’m looking at $ 20.20.
That’s an average cost of $ 16.00.
Dinner
I know I usually eat something different than a burger or a salad for dinner. I recently went to Cactus Club and ordered the grilled Dijon salmon and a Selzer. With taxes and tip, it came at $ 42.00.
If I had ordered a burger with fries, or pasta, I’d be looking at $ 25.00 to $ 30.00.
Conclusion
By eating out during the course of a day, I spent an average of $ 63.00, here in the Lower Mainland. It was only 3 meals. For that price, I can feed myself for 4 days or 12 meals.
Eating-out in Canada isn’t cheaper than grocery shopping. Restaurants have also been impacted by the surge in food prices but also increases in other costs such as staffing or rent.
Eating out isn’t always healthy. Restaurant foods have more sodium, fat or sugar than your home cooked meals.
I’m aware there are tons of variables when it comes to grocery shopping and eating out. That said, the above numbers aren’t unreasonable.
10 years on, my view on this matter hasn’t changed.
The Money Savvy Blog 