# PSA: you can't make it better and cheaper at home. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2020, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148 "2020-02-19T03:52:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/41 "2020-02-19T19:10:48Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I just made a wild mallard pizza on Sunday night. The duck cost $30 for the hunting licence divided by the two dozen ducks I shot this year but let’s say it cost me $1.5 for the pound of meat we got off it. It was 6 cups of flour, 0.25 cups of sugar and a yeast packet for the dough which ran about $4 total for 3 pounds of dough. I put about a dollar worth of mushrooms and a dollar worth of olives and lets say a dollar worth of cheese and another dollar worth of sauce. So the large pizza cost me about $7 from which I was able to feed 4 people. I can’t buy Domino’s that cheaply and I certainly can’t get a wild game pizza from any pizza place around here so I would say that meet the requirement of cheaper and better. You gotta hook me up with your free shot guy. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/42 "2020-02-19T19:18:24Z")
I don’t see how you come to this conclusion. A restaurant has to charge enough money to make a profit after buying ingredients, renting space, and paying a chef and front of house staff, while someone making a dish at home only has to pay for ingredients. Yeah, restaurants can get some deals because they are buying in bulk, but there’s a huge amount of overhead they have to bake in to their cost. Supermarket deli counters (which seems to be the example you’re using) can cut some costs, but they’re also cutting the quality. “Opportunity cost” isn’t relevant, it’s blatantly obvious that no one saying they can make things cheaper at home is valuing their dinner prep time at professional rates. As far as better, for an individual ‘more to my personal taste’ is equivalent to ‘better’, so I’m not sure why that wouldn’t count. And in other case, the ‘better’ is things like ‘no preservatives’ or ‘less salt’. This doesn’t seem like a sustainable argument at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/43 "2020-02-19T19:35:22Z")
I disagree with the OP in pretty much every way. It’s not just better because of my tastes, it’s better because of feedback from guests and family. There are some things that I just don’t make, like lobster bisque, so yeah, the restaurant version is going to be better than something I never make. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/44 "2020-02-19T19:40:53Z")
If I went to McDonald’s every day I could probably spend under $70 a week. On the other hand I rarely ever spend more than $100 a week for food. But the real question is who wants to eat at McDonald’s every day? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/45 "2020-02-19T20:01:00Z")
Huh. I’m probably spending $50-70 a week on food these days, and I’m buying at least a few things I consider “luxuries” (fancy mushrooms, exotic fruits, etc.). I do most of my cooking from scratch at home. Of course, having food allergies is a big driver for that. The upshot is that I eat pretty damn good. Sometimes I do go out, either with friends (although a number of my friends prefer to stay in and have me cook) or because I just tired of my own cooking. Like others have said - some things I just don’t do at home and I’m sure a restaurant would do it better, often ethnic things I don’t have much practice in. Other things I do routinely at home. Not always cheaper, because sometimes I do splurge on ingredients, but it certainly _can_ be cheaper, and often is. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/46 "2020-02-19T20:15:13Z")
I mean, there’s plenty of stuff I can’t make better or cheaper at home. Last year I looked at five different recipes for restaurant-style pad thai, went to three different grocery stores to buy the ingredients from the highest-rated recipe, spent two hours making it. It was edible, but it was also a waste of time and ingredients, when everyone in my family, myself included, agreed that Pad Thai from a restaurant is way better than what I made. And French fries? The cleanup is significant enough that I’m not gonna take the time to learn how to do them well at home; and we deep fry things so rarely that we’d spend a fortune on oil, not wanting to store the oil for reuse many months later. For similar reasons, it’s been more than a decade since I’ve done homemade doughnuts. Also, the amount of doughnuts you gotta eat to justify making a batch will make you sick. I have no shame in any of that. But there’s a lot of stuff that I can make at home in a way that plenty of folks will prefer to yer average restaurant version, and that’s cheaper. I substitute my time for that cost, and I take way longer on the dish than a restaurant can afford to take. Making it is part of the pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/47 "2020-02-19T21:08:23Z")
Heck, I spend about $70 a month on food. Now, maybe I’m not eating as “well” as I would at a restaurant: That’s totally subjective, after all. But I’m certainly eating cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/48 "2020-02-19T23:11:08Z")
:(Eating a baloney sandwich on white bread, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a Bar-S hot dog with some Kraft Mac and Cheese - that will fill you up for a while till you save up to eat a decent meal in a restaurant. I’ve never made a decent salad for myself at home. Only bought salads, even the little $3 pre-made ones with a bit of chicken or ham cubes, nuts, cherry tomatoes - those are delish. The salad I try to make are limp, warm, icky, drowned in dressing. No hope . No hope at all. ☹ . I don’t know why that is, but for $3 for a nice crispy varie salad, I’ll pay for it! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/49 "2020-02-19T23:20:41Z")
Well, OK, if you aren’t much of a cook (perhaps you are simply not interested in developing that skill, which is totally OK by me, it’s not required). Myself - not only do I make salads at home I enjoy I am now making my own salad dressing as well. To each their own. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/50 "2020-02-19T23:21:38Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > If “better” for you means “healthier,” then you can probably make it better at home 90% of the time if you try. Diabetic-friendly ice cream, for example. Grocery options are notoriously limited but [I finally found one I love](http://grocery.harristeeter.com/pd/Harris-Teeter/Smooth-and-Creamy-Moose-Tracks-Ice-Cream/48-fl-oz/072036711557/). ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/51 "2020-02-20T00:36:53Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > :(Eating a baloney sandwich on white bread, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a Bar-S hot dog with some Kraft Mac and Cheese - that will fill you up for a while till you save up to eat a decent meal in a restaurant. > I’ve never made a decent salad for myself at home. Only bought salads, even the little $3 pre-made ones with a bit of chicken or ham cubes, nuts, cherry tomatoes - those are delish. The salad I try to make are limp, warm, icky, drowned in dressing. No hope . No hope at all. ☹ . I don’t know why that is, but for $3 for a nice crispy varie salad, I’ll pay for it! Bar-S hot dogs are the worst I have ever eaten. I don’t know how a food can be simultaneously slimy and gritty. Salad is one I will not make from scratch. Bagged kits are $3-4, and are the perfect size for the 2 of us. To buy the lettuce, croutons, dressing, shredded Parmesan, and any other additives (we’re very partial to Caesar) would cost much more. Sizes of containers never seem to align well, so many things sit in the fridge for a long time before we buy that other ingredient again. Beans are another I refuse to go “cheap” on. No matter how long I soak them and cook them, or how many different websites I consult, they take forever to get soft enough for us. I’ll drain and rinse canned beans. I can’t speak to restaurants, because we’ve been broke for almost a year (Mr. Celtic Knot’s employment saga has been a nightmare). We love to eat out, but as much for the chance to sit down together and talk as to eat good food we wouldn’t cook ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/52 "2020-02-20T01:36:26Z")
You can’t cook BEANS? People all over the world cook and live on dried beans. Try again. It isn’t hard. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/53 "2020-02-20T12:35:41Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > Salad is one I will not make from scratch. Bagged kits are $3-4, and are the perfect size for the 2 of us. To buy the lettuce, croutons, dressing, shredded Parmesan, and any other additives (we’re very partial to Caesar) would cost much more. Buying “shredded” Parmesan is a big mistake IMO. Buy instead a small piece of Parm and maybe another piece of Asiago. Grate the cheese as needed, I think you can tell the difference. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/54 "2020-02-20T13:14:12Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > You can’t cook BEANS? People all over the world cook and live on dried beans. > > Try again. It isn’t hard. I can certainly see the convenience of canned beans (and I use them a lot, though I also used dried beans). The problem with dried beans is that they can actually get too dry and just refuse to hydrate, no matter how long you cook them. So check those dates. And, for some reason I thought it was a myth until it happened to me, but cooking them in something acidic (like tomatoes), does make them tough for science reasons. However, not cooking them or soaking them in salted water _is_ a myth. Brining beans before cooking is a great way to get them nice and creamy. I actually like to cook them separately these days (especially in my pressure cooker/Instant Pot) which makes the whole thing easy peasy and quick. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/55 "2020-02-20T13:18:05Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There are lots of recipes that are more complicated than spaghetti. Some require lots of training and skill to make properly, sushi being the most obvious example. So when I eat out, I avoid something like spaghetti, which I could make at home and stick to the more complex dishes where the chef’s training is apparent. That’s true, but the OP seems to be taking about \* all\* food and claiming that restaurants are cheaper than home cooking. The vast majority of dishes are cheaper to make at home. Sushi might be an exception price-wise too, because you usually eat very small portions of a number of different items, but I think most people would notice a significant change in their expenditure if they ate the same meals they were planning to have at home but went to a restaurant for them instead. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/56 "2020-02-20T14:32:09Z")
I think there are some things that take some time to make, and aren’t worth the effort at home. My wife and I are New Englanders and like one brand of baked beans. We’ve tried a number or recipes to get it right. We can approximate B&M (the best on the planet) but we really can’t do better. For some items, we can’t do better so it’s not worth the time. And we are both good cooks. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/57 "2020-02-20T16:23:56Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > Salad is one I will not make from scratch. Bagged kits are $3-4, and are the perfect size for the 2 of us. To buy the lettuce, croutons, dressing, shredded Parmesan, and any other additives (we’re very partial to Caesar) would cost much more. Sizes of containers never seem to align well, so many things sit in the fridge for a long time before we buy that other ingredient again. I wonder how the answers align with the frequency with which people actually cook stuff from scratch. A lot of the time I get the impression that non-cooks have really limited stock on hand for cooking. I actually know that we have a bag of croutons and most of a head of romaine lettuce at home, and we have everything to make the dressing (ingredients listed below). Most of the time, we might not have lettuce on hand or possibly croutons or old bread. But there isn’t a thing in that dressing that we don’t keep on hand as standard ingredients that go into all kinds of stuff. Caesar salad dressing is just made of the following: [ul] [li]egg yolk[/li][li]parmesan cheese[/li][li]anchovy fillets[/li][li]oil[/li][li]garlic[/li][li]lemon juice[/li][li]Worcestershire sauce[/li][li]salt & pepper[/li][/ul] All that stuff is always on hand- it either has a super-long shelf life (worcestershire sauce, anchovy fillets), or it’s stuff that anyone who cooks will have on hand anyway (lemons, eggs, garlic, oil, parmesan cheese). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/58 "2020-02-20T19:38:47Z")
I live in Eye-tal-e-yano - ville and every grocery and meat market has several kinds of imported or domestic grated, shredded or powdered parmesan/romano/asiago cheese in little plastic containers. My mother used to buy the kind in the green container when I was growing up but once the ‘good’ cheese started showing up years later, we never went back, and it is a staple along with eggs, hamburg, and cat food. I _can_ make a good Italian dressing at home, in a pinch, the decent parmesan is a necessary ingredient. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/59 "2020-02-20T20:19:36Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > You gotta hook me up with your free shot guy. I reload so I rarely think about it. From checking my records it looks like it costs me about $0.40 per shell. I also miss so maybe it cots me an additional dollar per bird with missed shots and practicing. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148/60 "2020-02-20T21:46:13Z")
I like Manhattans. I can make 30 of them from a standard 1.75L bottle of Bulleit Rye Whiskey, for $50. That’s $1.25 a pop, not counting the bitters or vermouth, so make it $2.00. And they are damn good. I live in Manhattan. You haven’t been able to buy a Manhattan in Manhattan for $2.00 in thirty years. 'Nuff said. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psa-you-cant-make-it-better-and-cheaper-at-home/848148.md?page=4)