These 15 Dishes Cost Less To Order Out Than To Cook At Home

Pizza by the Slice

Here’s something that’ll blow your mind – grabbing pizza by the slice can actually be gentler on your wallet than making it yourself. Pizza orders from restaurants can easily reach $20 to $25 for two people, while the cost of ingredients like oil, flour, yeast, cheese and tomato sauce can come in at under $6 for a basic 12- to 14-inch homemade pizza. But that’s for a full pizza, not individual slices. Many pizza joints sell individual slices for just a couple bucks, making it impossible to compete when you factor in the time, mess, and leftover ingredients you’d need to buy.

Pizza is a popular cost-effective takeout option. Many pizzerias also offer deals and discounts, making it a wallet-friendly choice. Plus, you save on the hassle of buying all those pizza-making ingredients. Several pizzerias provide pizza slices that cost less when compared to making them at home. Unless you’re feeding a crowd regularly, making pizza from scratch means buying specialty ingredients that’ll sit in your pantry gathering dust.

Asian Noodle Soups

Ramen, pho, and pad thai are perfect examples of dishes that cost way more to recreate at home than to simply order out. A tasty and affordable takeout is Asian noodle dishes like ramen, pho, or pad thai. These recipes sometimes ask for a vast variety of ingredients and toppings, which can be pricey to buy separately, said Radwa Khalil, founder of Healthy Life Trainer. Think about it – authentic ramen requires specific broths that simmer for hours, specialty noodles, nori, and toppings like chashu pork that take serious skill to prepare properly.

You can experience these flavors without the trouble and expense of finding all the ingredients by placing an order at a nearby Asian restaurant. The enormous amounts of this dish can yield numerous meals, which is a great value for your money. Most Vietnamese pho restaurants serve huge bowls that could easily feed two people for less than what you’d spend on just the specialty ingredients alone.

Rotisserie Chicken

This one’s a no-brainer that most people overlook. Rotisserie chickens are one of the best meal deals at grocery stores or takeout counters. A fully cooked, seasoned whole chicken is often less expensive than a raw one. Then, when you also factor in the time and energy to prep, season, roast, and clean up after making your own roasted chicken, the takeout version wins every time in both price and effort. It’s like getting free cooking service included with your purchase.

Many grocery stores use rotisserie chicken as a loss leader, pricing them so low they barely break even just to get customers in the door. You’re essentially getting professional cooking skills and seasoning expertise thrown in for free, not to mention skipping the hour-plus of oven time and cleanup.

Fast Food Breakfast Sandwiches

Morning rush hour makes fast food breakfast sandwiches a surprisingly smart financial choice. Popular fast-food chains often have breakfast sandwich deals that are more economical than making them at home. The cost of eggs, bacon, cheese, and bread can quickly add up. When you factor in the time and effort to cook these items, the convenience and price of buying them ready-made becomes apparent. Those value menu breakfast deals? Try making an egg mcmuffin equivalent at home for that price.

Fast food chains buy ingredients in massive quantities, getting prices that regular consumers can’t touch. Plus, they’ve perfected the assembly line process that makes each sandwich cost-effective to produce, savings they pass along through value menus and promotional pricing.

Chinese Takeout Combo Meals

Dishes like General Tso’s chicken or beef with broccoli are often cheaper from a takeout place than making them at home. The variety of ingredients needed for Chinese cuisine can be expensive when purchased individually. Additionally, the time and expertise required to cook these dishes can be substantial. Chinese restaurants benefit from bulk purchasing and streamlined cooking processes. They can also offer meal combos that add further value. Thus, Chinese takeout is typically more economical than home-cooked versions.

Those little bottles of specialty sauces like oyster sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar cost more individually than an entire combo meal from your local Chinese restaurant. And that’s before you even get to the main ingredients!

Fried Chicken

Fried chicken can easily stand alone as a meal, being quite filling, but it’s also versatile enough to be paired with other items for a more varied plate. Even though it is not hard to prepare, the benefit of buying it outweighs frying chicken at home. It’s microwavable, handheld and perfect for those nights when you don’t feel like spending more than a few minutes preparing dinner. Plus, dealing with all that hot oil at home? Not worth the mess or safety risk for most people.

Frying chicken properly requires maintaining precise oil temperatures, having the right coating ingredients, and dealing with splatter cleanup afterward. Fast food chains have industrial equipment that makes the process efficient and consistent, costs they can spread across thousands of daily orders.

Tacos from Local Taquerias

I find that ordering tacos from a local taqueria or fast food restaurant is often far more affordable than making them at home, especially if you are only cooking for one or two people. At home, you would need to purchase tortillas, meat or beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, lettuce, and all the other toppings that you love on your tacos. Not only do all these ingredients add up quickly at the register, but many of them also go unused.

Authentic taquerias often sell tacos for just a buck or two each, using quality ingredients and traditional preparation methods. Try buying all those individual toppings and proteins at the grocery store – you’ll spend way more than if you’d just walked to your neighborhood taco truck.

Pho Vietnamese Soup

Authentic pho is one of those dishes that sounds simple but requires an incredible amount of prep work and specialty ingredients. It truly is a dish that is a labor of love, and not only will you have to invest time, but the ingredients are also quite pricey. Add in fresh herbs, bean sprouts, thinly sliced beef, and rice noodles, and your ingredient list gets long fast. Most pho restaurants serve generous, steaming bowls for just a few bucks, so it makes more sense to grab one to go rather than go shopping for all of those specialty ingredients.

The broth alone takes anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to make properly, requiring beef bones, spices like star anise and cinnamon, and constant attention. Most pho joints charge under ten dollars for a bowl that would cost you way more in time and ingredients to replicate at home.

Fish and Chips

Making this classic at home means getting fresh fish, batter ingredients, potatoes, oil for frying, and don’t forget about the tartar sauce! Frying fish and chips also means dealing with the temperature of deep fryer oil, potential sogginess, and, of course, all the cleanup. At a good fish and chips spot, you can get a crispy, hot, and golden plate ready to eat for less than the price of gathering and preparing everything yourself.

Deep frying at home is honestly more trouble than it’s worth for most dishes. You need gallons of oil, proper temperature monitoring, and you’re left with the challenge of disposing of all that used oil afterward. Fish and chips restaurants have this process down to a science.

Pad Thai

Authentic pad Thai requires a combination of specific ingredients, including tamarind paste, fish sauce, rice noodles, dried shrimp, tofu, bean sprouts, peanuts, and more. It’s a lot! Some of those specialty ingredients can be difficult to find. Even if you skip some of the traditional ingredients of pad Thai, the specialized sauces alone make it a costly dish. Ordering a made-to-order portion from a Thai restaurant is a bargain by comparison and will give you that authentic flavor you are looking for.

Thai restaurants have perfected the balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy that makes pad thai so addictive. Trying to recreate that at home often results in disappointment and wasted ingredients as you struggle to get the ratios right.

Poke Bowls

It may be impossible to create a truly excellent poke bowl at home without incurring a significant expense. That is because you need high-ticket items like sushi-grade fish, sesame oil, seaweed, and perfectly ripe avocados. Unless you regularly cook with these items, making poke bowls at home is not a budget-friendly option. Takeout poke bowls are definitely the way to go.

Sushi-grade fish alone can cost twenty to thirty dollars per pound, and you need to use it quickly once purchased. Most poke bowl restaurants charge around twelve to fifteen dollars for a complete bowl that would cost you significantly more to assemble with quality ingredients at home.

Burgers from Fast Food Chains

Fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King offer burgers at prices that are hard to beat when making them at home. The cost of ground beef, buns, cheese, lettuce, and condiments adds up quickly. These chains purchase ingredients in large quantities at lower prices, which translates to cheaper menu items for customers.

Those value menu burgers exist because of massive economies of scale that individual consumers simply can’t access. Even if you buy the cheapest ground beef available, you’re still spending more per burger than what McDonald’s charges, and that’s before factoring in your time and effort.

Falafel Wraps

While dried chickpeas are cheap, falafel requires soaking, blending with herbs and spices, shaping, and frying. It is a lot of work to make a falafel! Then, once you have made the filling, you still need to purchase pita bread, hummus, vegetables, and sauces. The process is incredibly time-intensive and requires food processor equipment that many home cooks don’t have.

Middle Eastern restaurants that specialize in falafel have the process streamlined and can offer complete wraps or plates for just a few dollars. The amount of labor involved in making authentic falafel from scratch makes ordering out the obvious choice for most people.

Meatball Subs or Stews

Meatball stew is a hearty dish that typically includes meatballs, vegetables and a savory broth. Buying premade frozen meatballs and canned vegetables can be a cost-effective way to prepare this meal quickly. While homemade stew can be delicious, it often requires purchasing various ingredients in larger quantities, which might not be budget-friendly if you don’t regularly use those ingredients.

Italian delis and sub shops often offer meatball dishes at incredibly competitive prices, especially during lunch specials. Making meatballs from scratch requires ground meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, seasonings, plus all the sauce ingredients – costs that add up fast when you’re only making a small batch.

Customizable Rice Bowls

If you’re intentional about your meal quality and the nutrients you get from them while reducing costs, this meal is the ideal option. It is packed with all the essential nutrients for a balanced and healthy diet. It’s got grains, nuts and roasted vegetables, which are natural sources of healthy fats, fibers, carbohydrates, vitamins and proteins. Customizable bowls provide many protein options, including beans and grilled chicken.

Places like Chipotle or local bowl shops let you build a massive, filling meal for around ten dollars that would cost significantly more to replicate at home when you factor in buying multiple proteins, various vegetables, grains, and sauces. The portions are generous enough that many people get two meals out of one order.

The economics of food have shifted dramatically in recent years. According to USDA forecasts, the cost of food at home is expected to rise 1.0-2.0% in 2024, while food away from home is expected to rise 3.0-4.0%, but this doesn’t tell the whole story. For individual dishes, especially complex ones requiring specialty ingredients, ordering out often proves more economical than home cooking. These fifteen examples show that sometimes the smartest financial move is admitting that professionals can do it better and cheaper than you can at home. What surprised you most about this list?