Korean cuisine ranks as cheapest cuisine to cook at home: UK study

What the statistics say: In its study, Asian snacks and drinks brand Kelly Loves noted that Korean cuisine, on average, is the most cost-effective cuisine to cook at home in the United Kingdom. A meal for a family of four was estimated to cost up to 10.79 pounds ($13.12), or 2.69 pounds ($3.30) per portion.

Second on the list is Japanese cuisine at 12.98 pounds ($15.90) or 3.24 pounds ($3.97) per portion, followed by Mediterranean food at 13.66 pounds ($16.73) for four or 3.41 pounds ($4.15) per portion. Indian and Chinese cuisines ranked No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, with Indian food estimated to cost 17.57 pounds ($21.52) for four or 4.39 pounds ($5.38) per portion, and Chinese food costing 21.57 pounds ($26.42) for four or 5.39 pounds ($6.60) per portion.

How they did it: Kelly Loves explained that the study took five of the most popular global dishes in the United Kingdom from each of the cuisines and calculated the average price for the ingredients needed to cook those dishes.

The brand also noted that it analyzed data from takeaway giants Deliveroo and Ubereats for the five cuisines and their popular dishes that people can easily recreate at home. This includes fried chicken, green onion pajeon, bibimbap, bulgogi and tteokbokki for Korean cuisine; chicken tikka masala, chicken korma, lamb rogan josh, madras and jalfrezi for Indian cuisine; and sushi, ramen, chicken katsu curry, yakitori and soba for Japanese cuisine.

Cheapest dish on the list: Besides the cheapest overall cuisines, the report also ranked the cheapest dishes people can make at home.

No. 1 on the list is Mediterranean pizza at 4.41 pounds ($5.40) for a family of four or 1.10 pounds ($1.35) per portion, due to the simple ingredients needed for the meal, which only consists of flour, eggs, tomatoes and cheese.

Following the pizza on the list is Korean green onion dish pajeon, which costs 7.07 pounds ($8.66) or 1.76 pounds ($2.16) per portion; Japanese yakitori at 7.67 pounds ($9.40) or 1.97 pounds ($2.41); and Chinese dish chow mein at 8.45 pounds ($10.35) or 2.11 pounds ($2.58) per portion.

Why it matters: The recent study comes as the U.K. reportedly saw an increase in its restaurant and cafe food prices amid the country’s cost of living crisis, which has already risen by 9.1% in the year to September, according to the Office for National Statistics.

With Kelly Loves’ finding, an average UK household that spends around 23 pounds ($28.18) a week or 1,220 pounds ($1,494) a year on takeouts could potentially save up more than 900 pounds ($1,103) a year, according to according to Retail Times.