Don't get me wrong, I do love eating out, but sometimes with the increasing costs, and my own skill level in the kitchen, it just doesn't seem worth it.
I also love doing cost analysis, so after I made breakfast I did a little bit of informal analysis. Just for fun. I did not track it all down into the weeds.
This is the breakfast I made myself this morning. Nothing special.
This is toast, with jam, two eggs with a half a hot dog, a has brown patty with ketchup, and two bacon strips. Nothing spectacular.
I cook by what's in the fridge, and I have homemade jam, and an orphaned hot dog. We normally eat them in pairs, as dinner for my wife and I with a side, but there was 5 to a pack. I can't just give us each a half hot dog reasonably, so into breakfast it went.
My cost analysis was that this breakfast cost about $3.04.
What shocked me the most was eggs at Kroger were down to $1.99. I guess corporate greed lost to bad press.
If I were to have this at a restaurant the prices would be much higher. These are loose comparisons, because there isn't a lot of hot dog eggs on menus.
Dennys - All American Slam with Toast, hash browns, eggs, and bacon/sausage: $14.99
IHOP - Quick 2-egg breakfast, with two eggs, toast, hash browns and bacon: $11.99
Little Jerry's (Local Seinfeld themed diner. and no I don't know why the theme, but good food): The Hipster Doofus deal, The Understudy, Sausage, hasn't browns, 2 eggs and toast: $10.00
Grit City Breakfast (Another local diner): Grit City breakfast, same but with a biscuit instead of toast and hash rounds instead of has browns: $9.99
Weird that Denny's is the most, but no matter how you look at it making breakfast at home is the cheapest.
Then we get to quality. My eggs are not cooked until they are hardened overcooked protein tangles. I like my eggs cooked lightly, but am not too picky when I go out.
My jam is homemade jam. You cannot get anything in a store that tastes like homemade canned jam.
I used Costco bacon, which tastes like bacon did in 1975. It's not the weird mass produced overly thin sliced crap that is on sale in most places.
Overall breakfast at home is better, but sometimes, there is just something about being able to go out to a diner, and get a greasy spoon breakfast that is perfect.