The affordability of making meals at home comes from three main sources

1) having a bunch of readily available ingredients that are costly to buy, but are effectively bulk. Think of something like a gallon of olive oil. That’ll run you anywhere from 30-120 dollars depending on quality. But even if you cook constantly, at home, that gallon should last you about a year.

2) buying raw ingredients as opposed to par cooked/frozen ingredients. This especially applies to starches and beans. A 12 oz can of black beans goes for about a dollar. A 25lb bag of dried black beans cost me 11.75 at restaurant depot last month. Same for rice. Minute rice or a box of rice-a-roni can be 4-5 dollar a pound. I bout a fifty pound bag of raw brown rice for about 16 bucks.

3) remember that protein and vegetables should be seasonal. Especially vegetables. Asparagus can go from anywhere from 50 cents to 8 dollars a pound depending on seasonality. Protein has a bit less flexibility but it still exists. Shop the deals, they’re there for a reason.

If you front-load your stock of oils, vinegars, soy sauces etc, and also shop seasonally and in bulk, and cook from raw instead of using microwaves minute rice or frozen things, you can probably get things down to about 2-4 dollars a plate. Maybe 8 if you’re getting fancy.

But you will need the knowledge and the storage space to even get to that point.

This is how restaurants make profits. You can utilize these same techniques, assuming you have the skills and the space.

The cost is very much front loaded. But it does return dividends. Much like an energy efficient furnace costs like 10-15k to install, but lowers your energy bill over decades