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Food · Eating out audit
Eating Out Budget Audit
How much is dining out, coffee shops, and workplace lunches actually costing per month — and is that proportionate to your household income?
Instant result
Plain-English why
Copyable takeaway
What this means
No waffle. Just the number and how it was worked out.
Formula used
Monthly eating-out cost = (restaurant occasions × avg spend) + (coffee occasions × avg coffee spend) + (work lunch occasions × avg lunch spend). Annual total = monthly × 12. Proportion = monthly cost / monthly income.
Worked example
3 restaurant meals at £40 + 20 coffees at £4 + 20 work lunches at £8 = £360/month. At £3,500 net income, that is 10.3% of take-home — leisure territory. At £1,800 net income, the same spend is 20% — that is where the budget is collapsing.
Common questions
What proportion of income should go on eating out?
There is no universal rule, but under 5% is generally comfortable, 5–15% is a meaningful leisure category, and above 15% of take-home income is where eating out often becomes the reason a savings target is not being reached.
Should I include coffees and work lunches?
Yes. They are the part most people leave out and the part that adds up fastest. A daily £4 coffee and £8 work lunch is £240/month before a single restaurant meal.
Plain-English summary
The result summary for this calculator will live here.
This section translates the result into a short, direct takeaway rather than leaving the page at a bare number.
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