Cooking at Home Costs Five Times Less Than Ordering Out

People order out a lot and don't cook as much anymore. So how much money are you throwing away each time you do it? And the answer is about five times what it costs to make the same thing at home.

Forbes looked at over 80 different dinner recipes, and compared what they cost at the average restaurant to what they cost if you make them from scratch.

They found the average dinner from a restaurant is $20.37, including a $5 delivery fee. Compared to $4.31 if you make the same thing at home, it's a $16 difference. That means if you order delivery three times a week, it costs you about $48 or roughly $200 a month. And that's just for one person.

Some of the meals with the biggest markups include spaghetti with meat sauce, $21 compared to $3 at home, pork chops, $25 compared to $3, and chicken wings, $20 compared to about $2 per person if you make them from scratch.

They also looked at how much more it costs to use a meal kit service. It's about three times more expensive per meal than if you just bought the ingredients and made it yourself.