Most of us know the feeling: you walk out of the store with two bags, you paid $128, and you’re thinking, “How is this even possible?”
The problem is that a grocery total isn’t a “meal” number. It’s a pile of ingredients that will get used across multiple days, multiple meals, and sometimes… not at all.
Why your receipt total lies (kind of)
Receipts are honest about what you paid, but they’re not honest about what you ate.
- You buy a full bottle of olive oil but use two tablespoons.
- You buy a big pack of chicken but freeze half.
- You buy produce with good intentions and then it quietly dies in the crisper drawer.
So if you try to answer “What did dinner cost?” using only the grocery total, you’ll always feel like your numbers are wrong.
A simple way to estimate cost per meal
If you want a quick, low-effort estimate, here’s the best “close enough” approach:
- Pick one dinner you cooked this week.
- List the main ingredients you used.
- For each one, estimate the portion you used (half the package, one quarter, etc.).
- Add those portions up.
- Divide by servings.
Is it perfect? No. But it’s real-world accurate in a way that “$128 groceries” is not.
What usually moves the number the most
In practice, a few categories swing the cost per meal more than everything else:
- Protein (meat, fish, eggs, tofu): the big one.
- Convenience (pre-cut, pre-made): you’re paying for time.
- Waste (food not eaten): the silent budget killer.
- Staples (oil, spices, sauces): “expensive” up front, cheap per use.
Why “it depends” is still useful
People ask for a single number like it’s a fact. But cost per meal depends on:
- Where you live
- How many people you’re feeding
- How often you use leftovers
- How much convenience you buy
The goal isn’t to match someone else’s number. It’s to know your baseline, then notice when it changes.
The practical takeaway
If you do nothing else, do this: pick 5 meals you cook often and estimate their cost once. That alone will give you more clarity than a month of grocery totals.
And if you want the “no-drama” way to do it, logging receipts and building meals from real prices is the whole point of MealCost. Not perfection. Just clarity.