eating out Archives - H is for Home Harbinger

Staying in instead of going out has always been the desirable option for those looking to save money. But when it comes to eating in versus eating out, how much do you really save? How does cooking up a meal for yourself match up to eating in a restaurant?

Here, we look at how much it costs to eat the nation’s favourite dishes – both at home and out – in the UK’s 3 largest cities.

What are the UK’s favourite dishes?

In 2014, to celebrate their 25^th anniversary, BBC Good Food surveyed 100,000 people on YouGov about their eating habits. Respondents cited the following as being ‘food heaven’ for them:

Roast dinner (43%)
Steak and chips (35%)
Scones, jam and clotted cream (30%)
Apple crumble (29%)
Chocolate brownie (23%)
Lasagne (22%)
Pizza (22%)
Spaghetti bolognese (21%)
Strawberry cheesecake (21%)
Steak and ale pie (20%)

How much does it cost to make the nation’s favourite dishes?

We’ve calculated how much it costs to make the dishes at home, to see what the cost of eating in may be.

We’ve chosen to calculate the costs of ingredients from Tesco, the UK’s leading supermarket with 28.1% of the market share, and the top-rated recipe on BBC Good Food. The total cost is based on the cost to buy all of the ingredients needed.

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Roast dinner (43%)

Recipe: One-pan roast dinner

1½ kg chicken
1 lemon, halved
50g softened butter
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
750g potatoes, chopped into roastie size
500g carrots, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
100g frozen peas
300ml chicken stock
1 tsp Marmite

Total cost: £15.54

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Steak and chips (35%)

Recipe: Steak, chips & quick pepper sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large potato, cut into chunky chips, skin left on
1 fillet steak
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
125ml beef stock
2 heaped tbsp extra thick double cream

Total cost: £8.57

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Scones, jam and clotted cream (30%)

Recipe: Classic scones with jam & clotted cream

350g self-raising flour, plus more for dusting
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
85g butter, cut into cubes
3 tbsp caster sugar
175ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Squeeze lemon juice
Beaten egg, to glaze
Jam and clotted cream, to serve

Total cost: £9.23

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Apple crumble (29%)

Recipe: Apple & blackberry crumble

120g plain flour
60g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into pieces
300g Braeburn apple
30g unsalted butter
30g demerara sugar
115g blackberries
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Vanilla
Ice cream, to serve

Total cost: £10.53

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Chocolate brownie (23%)

Recipe: Best-ever brownies

185g unsalted butter
185g best dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
50g white chocolate
50g milk chocolate
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar

Total cost: £10.34

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Lasagne (22%)

Recipe: Lasagne

3 tbsp olive oil
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot (about 100g/4oz) finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
140g pack Cubetti di Pancetta
500g pack beef mince
500g pack of pork mince or British veal mince
200ml milk
2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 rosemary sprig
2 thyme sprigs
2 tsp dried oregano
2 beef stock cubes
500ml red wine
400g dried pasta sheets
50g Parmesan, finely grated
1½ litre of milk
1 onion, thickly sliced
3 bay leaf
3 cloves
100g butter
100g plain flour
Grating of nutmeg

Total cost: £25.38

Pizza (22%)

Recipe: Pizza margherita in 4 easy steps

300g strong bread flour
1 tsp instant yeast (from a sachet or a tub)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
100ml passata
Handful of fresh basil, or 1 tsp dried
1 garlic clove, crushed
125g ball mozzarella, sliced
Handful of grated or shaved Parmesan
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Handful of basil leaves (optional)

Total cost: £8.97

Spaghetti bolognaise (21%)

Recipe: The best spaghetti bolognese

1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, trimmed and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2-3 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and finely chopped
500g beef mince
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
Small pack of basil, leaves picked, ¾ finely chopped and the rest left whole for garnish
1 tsp dried oregano
2 fresh bay leaves
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 beef stock cube
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
125ml red wine
6 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
75g Parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
400g spaghetti
Crusty bread, to serve (optional)

Total cost: £19.29

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Strawberry cheesecake (21%)

Recipe: Strawberry cheesecake in 4 easy steps

250g digestive biscuit
100g butter, melted
1 vanilla pod
600g soft cheese
100g icing sugar
284ml pot of double cream
400g punnet strawberry, halved
25g icing sugar

Total cost: £9.93

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Steak and ale pie (20%)

Recipe: Proper beef, ale & mushroom pie

Small handful of dried porcini mushrooms (about 10g)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1kg braising steak
2 large onions, roughly chopped
4 large carrots, chopped into large chunks
2 tsp golden caster sugar
4 tbsp plain flour
300ml dark ale
2 beef stock cubes mixed with 400ml boiling water
Small bunch each of thyme, bay leaves and parsley, tied together
200g smoked bacon lardons, or chopped rashers
200g chestnut mushroom, halved
650g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
250g lard or cold butter (or half of each), diced, plus extra for greasing
1 egg yolk, beaten, to glaze

Total cost: £27.35

Eating out

The nation’s largest cities

In order to determine the cities to examine in this research, we’ve chosen the 3 largest cities by population size, according to Centre for Cities:

London
Birmingham
Manchester

Calculating the cost of eating out

To determine the cost of eating out, we’ll examine the top restaurants and take-aways on TripAdvisor in that city, that sell the dishes.

Included in the list of restaurants is the average price range as specified by TripAdvisor. This will dictate how much it costs to eat out at the top five places in the 3 cities.