Explain my result
Understanding your Cook vs Dine-Out Budget result
This tool shows the monthly gap between cooking at home and eating out. Here is how to read the split and tune it to your habits.
Where the meal prices come from
Cook cost per meal is derived from the city's cited grocery band spread across ~90 meals a month; dine cost per meal comes from the dining band divided by a default number of meals out per week. Both are editable — they are planning estimates, not menu prices.
What drives the savings
The number of meals you eat out per week is the dominant driver. Cities with a wide gap between grocery and restaurant bands show larger savings from cooking. Your own meal prices override the catalog instantly.
How to act on it
If the monthly gap is large, a modest shift (say two fewer restaurant meals a week) often frees meaningful budget. Feed the cook figure into the family budget or relocation cost tools for a full picture.
Honesty & sources
Pure arithmetic on your meal prices — catalog dining is context only.
What to do next
- Set your real meals-out-per-week to see your actual gap.
- Open the grocery planner to refine the cook-at-home side.
- Open the city-specific version for prefilled, cited local cost bands.